Smart Hand Sanitisers in the Workplace: A Survey of Attitudes towards an Internet of Things Technology

Abstract

An online survey was circulated to employees from a wide range of organisations to gauge attitudes towards the idea of using smart hand sanitisers in the workplace. The sanitisers are capable of real-time monitoring and providing feedback that varies according to the hand hygiene behaviour of users. In certain circumstances, the sanitisers can monitor individuals, making it possible to identify workers whose hand hygiene falls below a certain standard. The survey was circulated between July and August 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data gathered from 314 respondents indicated support for some features of the technology, but also indicated concern about invasions of privacy and the possibility of coercion. Attitudes towards the possible implementation of the technology varied significantly according to certain characteristics of the sample, but particularly with age. Respondents above the median age were more likely to support the use of data in ways that could facilitate the promotion and enforcement of hand hygiene practices.

Office Workers’ Views About the Uses, Concerns, and Acceptance of Hand Hygiene Data Collected From Smart Sanitizers: Exploratory Qualitative Interview Study

“…Smart sanitizers could, feasibly, make a contribution to the improvement of hygiene practices in offices [21], but for smart systems to be accepted, any data collected would need to be actionable [22]. This study contributes to knowledge by identifying the many potential uses for hygiene data collected from smart systems.…”

“…Our previous study found that office workers thought HH data should only be collected if they can be acted upon [22]. In this study, office workers were able to identify several actions that could usefully be informed by HH data (RQ1).…”

“…To elicit a range of views, additional 7 participants were recruited using the research team's networks. Although half of the participants (9/18, 50%) were from the education sector, sector did not account for differences in responses in the previous survey [22]. There were 18 participants in total, 3 (17%) of whom had some responsibility for hygiene within their organization (Table 1).…”

“…Further to this, we investigated the attitudes toward the use of smart sanitizers in the workplace using a survey of workers in nonclinical settings (n=314), followed up with a qualitative questionnaire (n=12) and interview (n=3) [22]. Survey participants were generally in agreement that at work, high standards of HH is important and that smart sanitizers could usefully inform maintenance staff when to refill.…”

“…The questions were pilot-tested with 2 participants known to the project team. Participants from a previous survey of attitudes toward the use of smart sanitizers in the workplace [22], who had expressed interest in further participation, were invited to participate in this study: 11 participants consented. To elicit a range of views, additional 7 participants were recruited using the research team's networks.…”