Toilet Door Handles

Posted on 2003/03/31 14:24:38 (March 2003) by john.

How to reconcile the washed and unwashed.

During a conversation with my Dad a while back, he poignantly reminded me that the way to achieve peace and harmony in the world is not, as some people may theorise, to make everybody the same, but instead to simply allow everyone to be different and learn to respect the way other people live their lives.

Naturally, I began to consider how this simple yet beautiful philosophy might be applied to toilets.

After using the toilet, especially public toilets, the office toilet, and so on, I make a point of washing my hands. This is not particularly for my own benefit, but more for the benefit of other people who may have to come into contact either directly or indirectly with my hands at some point. Particularly, I think about the toilet door on the way out. More often than not toilet doors (as in the door to the general toilet area, not cubicle doors) are push on the way in (via a flat plate) and pull on the way out (via a handle). It's difficult to open the door on the way out without touching this handle. Clearly this is a medium by which germs and bacteria can be transferred.

Often toilets have signs requesting people to wash their hands, but these are easily ignored, and not to mention a bit totalitarian. I respect that some people just don't want to wash their hands. That's fair enough I suppose - I have no right to dictate someone else's sense of hygiene. Some people argue that too much hygiene is actually bad for you - that we need to become accustomed to a certain level of germs and so on in order to build up a resistance to it. Some people might argue that washing hands is an unnecessary drain on resources (water, soap, electric hand dryers) and therefore bad for the environment. I respect and even agree with both of these arguments to an extent.

The plan I came up with was to give all toilet doors two handles. One is labelled as the handle for people who have washed their hands, and the other is for people who haven't. Clearly this system depends on a degree of trust and respect, as it is otherwise open to abuse, but assuming (perhaps naively) that people do respect it, then I think it could work really well. People who chose, for whatever reason, not to wash their hands, can continue to do so without fear of offending people that do. People that do wash their hands can continue to use public toilets without having to worry about having a load of unwanted bacteria hitch a lift on their digits.

As a political analogy I'm a little concerned it may come across as a form of segregation, and therefore maybe even a bit right wing, which is not what I'm intending. It's meant to be a form of liberalism. We all still use the same toilet, but in slightly different ways. With this model, society isn't going to dictate your behaviour to you (so long as it does not harm others), and it is going to openly embrace and support the different ways people may chose to live their lives.

Maybe it's just a stupid idea though. I don't know.

An alternative is for everyone to carry their own handle. You can keep it as clean as you want. And take it with you. You will know the cleanliness history of your handle, and therefore know you are clean/dirty. If a handle is not appropriate, why not try a hook device (or wait for someone to let you out).

Posted by dsp at 2003/03/31 14:45:56.

Actually Tim that's a great idea. A bit like how in Russia, apparently, you have to take your own bath plug with you.

Posted by John at 2003/03/31 14:53:55.

Name and shame. CCTV camera linked to the rest of the office.

I would like this to be applied to the 2 kitchens at work so that we can see who doesn't fill the coffee machine up AND who it is that leaves the milk out of the fridge to go sour.

Posted by Office repression at 2003/03/31 23:33:19.

Errrr, yes, but... Something makes me uneasy about the suggestion that we should put CCTV cameras in toilets.

Posted by John at 2003/04/01 08:45:39.

Automatic doors.

Posted by Rob Lang at 2003/04/01 11:28:38.

These "double up" principles could be applied anywhere. For example, you could have two sets of seats on trains. One for those who have clean trousers, and one for those who have crapped themselves.

Posted by tom at 2003/04/01 24:56:47.

Tom, that is inspired.

Perhaps two sets of roads: one for people who can drive and the other for wankers.

Posted by Rob Lang at 2003/04/01 15:01:25.

You could have two separate toilets: one for boys and one for girls.

Posted by dsp at 2003/04/01 16:12:04.

That's a preposterous suggestion Tim. Next you'll be telling me men and women should wear different clothes.

Posted by John at 2003/04/01 17:57:13.

Two different roads. One for people who can drive and one for women....

Posted by tom at 2003/04/02 09:05:55.

How about designing bathrooms with the sink outside the door.

Posted by Ryan Gallagher at 2003/07/15 20:02:14.

Use the paper towel you dried your hands with to open the door and discard it once the door is open...you can most likely make it into the wastebin on the first shot. You can use one to turn the water on and off too if you're really a germ freak. If it's a flat plate door handle, use your hips!

Posted by Kimberly at 2003/09/13 10:52:46.

Get a WAKMAH sorted

Posted by Mike at 2004/06/16 15:55:21.

I may have said this already but there is a new thing cal;ed a wakmah and it is available now or something
Mike

Posted by Mike at 2004/06/16 19:14:45.

One problem - after opening the door I have to go back to the sink to wash my Wakmah...

Posted by Ron at 2004/10/23 08:08:51.

Ooh... I am searching the net to see if my simple simple solution exists... I'm pretty sure it doesn't... think I'm going to make a packet this time....
Thanks to you all.

Ask your friends if the toilet door thing bothers them. Prepare to be shocked.

Posted by Peter Marigold at 2005/07/15 12:35:47.

There is a coating which keeps door handles permanently sterile. It scalled lightclean TM.
ONE COATING AND NO BUGS CAN SURVIVE. At about £2 per handle who would want to pay for it?

Posted by chris gummer at 2005/09/29 15:02:22.

To solve this Problem which infact has always irretated me is simply change the door opening so you Pull the door to enter the Public Loo and Push the door to exit. This would allow you not to touch the door as you left with your hands but could push it with your foot or elbow so keeping your hands nice and clean. Ikea stores have this system! Typical, the Swedes obviously know how to design.

Posted by Odd job bob at 2006/10/31 20:20:25.

I have the answer to this problem. Home grown patented invention. A rotating public toilet door handle with provision for an aerosol spray within a chamber which releases air-freshener into the rest room, whilst simultaneously sanitising and deodorizing the handle. In pulling the handle towards you, the system is activated by the rotation and in so doing, leaves the handle germ free for the next individual and so the cycle continues.
Further enquiries: wainman@mweb.co.za

Posted by Ray Wainman - South Africa at 2008/04/16 14:49:59.

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