Soap dispenser sounds alarm when patrons don’t wash their hands

A new campaign from P&G in the Philippines is trialling the Germ Alarm, a soap dispenser and warning device that only turns off when guests wash their hands.

We recently saw PullClean develop a door handle with an incorporated sanitizer dispenser to help improve hygiene rates in hospitals, but what about public restrooms? A new campaign from P&G Safeguard in the Philippines is now trialling the Germ Alarm, a soap dispenser and warning device that only turns off when guests wash their hands.

According to the developers of the campaign, there are around 3 million disease-causing germs per square inch of public toilets, but not everyone makes sure they’ve cleaned their hands after using them. In fact, 1 in 3 people don’t bother, American Society for Microbiology statistics show. To tackle this problem, Safeguard installed a special red soap dispenser that was connected to the doors of the stalls in several restrooms. Pressure sensors detected whenever a door was unlocked and set off the alarm, along with a flashing light on the soap dispenser. The alarm continued to sound until the button on the front was pressed, dispensing some soap in the process. Watch the video below to find out if the campaign was successful:

The initiative served to encourage restroom users to wash their hands in order to stop the annoying alarm, while also promoting the use of Safeguard anti-microbial soap to curb the spread of germs. Could a similar device be installed in every public restroom?