Frost & Sullivan: Rising Hand Hygiene awareness presents new opportunities for hand care chemical suppliers

- Awareness and regulatory compliance to drive growth of the Industrial & Institutional Hand Hygiene chemicals market

SYDNEY, June 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Australian employees are growing increasingly aware of the importance of proper hand hygiene to curb the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace. The recent campaign in the healthcare sector to reduce nosocomial infections (infections acquired at hospitals) among patients, through better hand hygiene practices is one example of sector-wide initiatives that are helping raise awareness. Thanks to the size and ubiquity of the healthcare industry, the basic tenants of this campaign have trickled through to other industries as well.

In 2009, the World Health Organization introduced the '5 Moments of Hand Hygiene', which details the frequency with which healthcare workers should be cleaning and sanitising their hands. The global adoption of these guidelines has driven the demand for hand hygiene chemical products, in particular Alcohol Based Hand Rubs (ABHR) or hand sanitizers, to record levels.

Frost & Sullivan recently completed a supply-side study, analysing feedback from 16 key hand hygiene suppliers in Australia, to accurately map the competitive landscape of this industry. "Both employers and employees are beginning to understand the importance of hand hygiene in the Australian workplace," said Frost & Sullivan Consultant, Dev Anand Dorasamy. "While periodic outbreaks of highly infectious diseases, such as the H1N1 in 2009, can have a drastic impact on sales of hand hygiene chemicals, they are nevertheless short lived. Real growth is driven by the increasing knowledge that the hands are the primary medium for the spread of many diseases that Australians have to contend with every day."

"In the Australian workspace, the topic of hand hygiene is now finding its way into the spotlight," he adds. "The government is doing its part in promoting hand hygiene practices in industrial and institutional (I&I) settings through a 'carrot and stick' approach. While investing heavily in the promotion of good hand hygiene practices through organizations such as Hand Hygiene Australia, the government is also concurrently stepping up regulations and compliance monitoring across all industries where hand hygiene is an important factor."

However, future growth for hand hygiene chemical suppliers is against the background of very significant challenges. While the average I&I entity is aware of the need to keep their employees' hands clean, they are still in the dark as to how best to do it. The efficacy of hand hygiene products is rarely questioned outside the healthcare arena and cheap bulk soaps, which are prone to contamination in dispensers, are still the industry norm in many sectors. Also, the steady decline of the general industrial sector (especially manufacturing) in Australia, traditionally a high-use sector, is reducing the total addressable market for this industry.

If you are interested in more information on this research, please send an email to Donna Jeremiah, Corporate Communications, at djeremiah@frost.com, with your full name, company name, job title, telephone number, company email address, company website, city, state and country.

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'Analysis of the Industrial & Institutional Hand Hygiene Chemicals Market in Australia'

Contact:
Donna Jeremiah
Corporate Communications – Asia Pacific
P: +61 (02) 8247 8927
F: +61 (02) 9252 8066
E: djeremiah@frost.com
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