Aibu about hygiene at work?

[Charingcrossbun]

I'm 27 weeks and have 7 work weeks before mat leave. I'm a teacher and was concerned about the high level of absence of my kids. Looking into to it loads have D&V, looking further there is no soap in any of the pupil toilets!!! I have asked and raised this on my maternity risk assessment but still nothing. Am I being extra sensitive? I just think the chances of me getting.a big are raised hugely I I know all the kids in the school - using my pens, working on the same keyboards as me etc,- have not washed their hands after going to the loo....
Any tips on what I could do?

You're not wrong and there really should (must) be soap in the toilets. Not sure it's maternity related though, just required!

Don't the children/parents complain? IME there would be a small number who would be horrified at this but the reality is that the vast majority wouldn't use it, even if it was there.

There should definitely be soap in the toilets, especially with a bug going round. Until its sorted take one of those antibacterial gel thingys into school & put it on your desk?

Eh???? Erm yeah there should be soap in the kids toilets, why would you be being sensitive. Complain until they get some. You can raise this with your midwife and they can write your head a letter expressing concerns.

It's a health and safety risk for you and the children. I would be tempted to contact my union about it. It should be taken very seriously by management. It's not a difficult thing to rectify.

Eww. There should be an assembly about the importance of hand washing - obviously everyone touches door handles/ keyboards, stuff can spread that way especially if none of the kids are washing hands even once in the day! That's just horrible.

I have a perminant supply of antibacterial gel and wipes on my desk. I'm also the only one who buys soap myself for our staff toilet so I agree with you. But having none in a school?! Wow...

You definitely should have soap in the school toilets, I would be really annoyed if my childrens school didn't have any. The school should be buying this, it's pretty standard hygiene to wash your hands after going to the loo well for most people anyway. Do the staff have separate toilets to the kids? do the staff get soap?, if so I would be tempted to move it to the kids toilets so it was there for them to use. Is there any one else you can report it to that might do something about it? Yanbu. Imo

We have had many cases of gastro in the past few weeks. The teachers got round it by getting antibacterial hand stuff for the kids to use, they because very good at using it. I don't like it very much, but in this case, was happy that my daughter wasn't brining gastro home for the third week in a row.

And ask at the pharmacist's - there's some anti bac stuff that will kill the germs on your hands there and then, but don't offer much ongoing protection. That's most of the normal stuff.

There is also anti bac stuff that will offer protection for several hours, so in a situation like yours, touching lots of stuff that kids have also touched and might have contaminated, you stand a better chance of being protected. Definitely worth asking which one to get and getting this sort if possible.

Oh and definitely there should be soap in the loos for kids and staff. It's bad enough that some kids won't use it - but horrible and a recipe for site wide epidemics if they can't use soap even if they do want to.

Would have thought it was a small price to pay for soap in relation to the number of days off had by kids due to stomach bugs... might be one way of raising it with senior staff to persuade them that it really should be provided.