According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, employees in Oz are growing increasingly aware of the importance of proper hand hygiene to curb the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace.
This is combined with the recent campaign in the healthcare sector to reduce infections acquired at hospitals among patients, through better hand hygiene practices as one example of sector-wide initiatives that are helping raise awareness.
Although originally started by the healthcare industry, this then branched out into others, such as personal care as well.
Increasing knowledge of infection
Frost & Sullivan’s recently completed study analyzed 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.
“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."
Anand Dorasamy explains that the topic of hand hygiene is now taking centre stage in the country, and 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,” he says.
Challenges
However, despite this aiding the growth of the personal care segment in Down Under, Frost & Sullivan warns that 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,” says the report.
“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.”
The report also points out that 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.