state and federal regulations governing drinkingwaterquality, there are locations around site where bottled water is used instead. Bottled water is provided either when a building does
not have plumbing and cannot economically be connected to BNL’s water-distribution system, or when testing determines that a building’s plumbing system negatively impacts the
water’s quality. So, while some employees and others at the
Lab meet around their building’s water fountain, others gather around the office watercoler. While illness caused by bottled
water is rare in the U.S., it has been well documented that the users of a bottled water cooler are its principal source of contamination.
In fact, the quality of bottled
water in a cooler depends upon four
things:
• bottle storage: how long and where the water bottle was stored
• bottle handling and installation: how hygienically the bottle was handled and installed.
• cooler cleanliness: how clean and sanitary the inside of the water cooler and its spigots are
• cooler users: how clean and sanitary the hands, cups, sports bottles and other things that come into contact with the water cooler and its spigots are.
How to keep my cooler clean?
So that water-cooler users around site can helpmaintain the quality of their bottled water,
Brookhaven’s Safety & Health Services (S&HS) Division has developed recommendations covering bottle storage, handling and installation; cooler cleanliness and sanitization; and hygienic cooler use. Developed by S&HS’s Industrial Hygiene Group
For instance, in addition to recommending that the water cooler be cleaned with every bottle
change or every six weeks, the procedure covers how to replace a bottle properly. The reason is that, while the inside of the bottle is clean and sanitized at the bottler, the outside of the bottle — particularly the neck — is handled by everyone from the factory to you. Since the neck of the bottle sits inside the cooler’s reservoir once the bottle is installed, the bottle’s neck can contaminate the water.To reduce contamination of the cooler itself, another recommendation is that bottled-water users wash their hands before using the water
cooler, and that they never touch the ends of the cooler’s spigots with their hands or water glasses, cups, sports bottles, etc.
not have plumbing and cannot economically be connected to BNL’s water-distribution system, or when testing determines that a building’s plumbing system negatively impacts the
water’s quality. So, while some employees and others at the
Lab meet around their building’s water fountain, others gather around the office watercoler. While illness caused by bottled
water is rare in the U.S., it has been well documented that the users of a bottled water cooler are its principal source of contamination.
In fact, the quality of bottled
water in a cooler depends upon four
things:
• bottle storage: how long and where the water bottle was stored
• bottle handling and installation: how hygienically the bottle was handled and installed.
• cooler cleanliness: how clean and sanitary the inside of the water cooler and its spigots are
• cooler users: how clean and sanitary the hands, cups, sports bottles and other things that come into contact with the water cooler and its spigots are.
How to keep my cooler clean?
So that water-cooler users around site can helpmaintain the quality of their bottled water,
Brookhaven’s Safety & Health Services (S&HS) Division has developed recommendations covering bottle storage, handling and installation; cooler cleanliness and sanitization; and hygienic cooler use. Developed by S&HS’s Industrial Hygiene Group
For instance, in addition to recommending that the water cooler be cleaned with every bottle
change or every six weeks, the procedure covers how to replace a bottle properly. The reason is that, while the inside of the bottle is clean and sanitized at the bottler, the outside of the bottle — particularly the neck — is handled by everyone from the factory to you. Since the neck of the bottle sits inside the cooler’s reservoir once the bottle is installed, the bottle’s neck can contaminate the water.To reduce contamination of the cooler itself, another recommendation is that bottled-water users wash their hands before using the water
cooler, and that they never touch the ends of the cooler’s spigots with their hands or water glasses, cups, sports bottles, etc.
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