The research identified a fundamental disconnect: The public experiences one handwashing system. The industry has been managing five separate components.

Those components—soap dispensing, faucets, warm water, hand drying and restroom exits—may each be specified, purchased, installed and maintained independently. For the person washing their hands, however, they form one continuous experience. The result is a significant performance gap.

Only 7.1% of evaluated public handwashing experiences met all five criteria established by the research.

The findings are particularly relevant to the plumbing industry because water delivery represents a critical part of that experience. A well-designed faucet provides little benefit to the user if activation is unreliable, warm water is unavailable, soap is missing, drying is inadequate or the user must touch a door handle immediately after washing.

"The plumbing industry has done extraordinary work improving fixture technology, water efficiency and touch-free operation," said Tim Cromley, founder of Clean Hands Certified and creator of the 2026 Clean Hands Index. "The opportunity now is to look at what happens when all of those individual decisions come together in an operating public restroom."

Public Expectations Are Changing

The research found that the public increasingly expects handwashing environments to minimize contact after hands have been washed.

Among public survey respondents:

• 68% said they want a completely touch-free experience after washing their hands, touching only a single-use paper towel.
• 76% said Clean Hands Certified recognition would improve their impression of a business.
• 75% said they would be more likely to return to a business providing an excellent handwashing experience.

These expectations have implications extending from fixture design and specification to installation, commissioning, maintenance and renovation.

From Installed to Performing

The research led to the creation of Clean Hands Certified, a new performance standard that evaluates the complete public handwashing experience using five criteria:

• Touch-Free Soap
• Touch-Free Faucet
• Warm Water
• Hygienic Hand Drying
• Hands-Free Exit

Rather than evaluating plumbing fixtures in isolation, the standard asks whether all five components work together to allow a user to complete the handwashing process hygienically.

For plumbing engineers, contractors, manufacturers and distributors, the framework also creates a clearer way to identify where facilities are falling short and where targeted improvements can make the greatest difference.

A facility with four of the five elements, for example, may not require a complete restroom renovation. It may need one specific improvement to deliver a complete experience.

Creating Post-Installation Intelligence

Clean Hands Certified also introduces a new connection between installed plumbing products and real-world public experience.

Participating manufacturers can provide product photographs and SKUs within applicable Clean Hands Certified categories. When facilities register, installed products can be identified within the platform. Ongoing public feedback can then contribute to a growing body of intelligence about how identified products perform within actual handwashing environments.

Manufacturer participation is nonexclusive. Multiple manufacturers can participate within each category, creating a broader body of category intelligence as adoption grows.

This addresses an important information gap in the traditional commercial product lifecycle.

Manufacturers know how products are designed, tested, specified, sold and shipped. What has historically been much more difficult to understand is what happens years after installation and how those products contribute to the complete experience of the people using them.

"The next evolution isn't simply better fixtures," Cromley said. "It's better information about how fixtures perform after installation and how they work with everything around them."

A New Benchmark for Public Handwashing

The 2026 Clean Hands Index establishes a baseline for evaluating public handwashing as a complete system which is used as the basis for Clean Hands Certified.

For the plumbing industry, the findings create an opportunity to extend the conversation beyond whether equipment has been installed correctly to whether the complete system ultimately delivers the experience it was intended to provide.

The public experiences the finished system. Clean Hands Certified now provides a way to measure it.