Locker rooms offer the perfect incubator for several common bacteria, viruses, molds, and fungi — and it’s putting your team at risk.
Not only do these germs cause overwhelming odor, but they can also cause severe illnesses that could result in your players sitting on the bench. Check out just a few of the reasons why you need to take extra precautions to rid your locker room of germs.
Humid Environment
Between post-workout showers, sweaty gear, and poor ventilation, locker rooms create the perfect humid conditions for bacteria, mold, and fungi to grow.
In fact, bacteria need water to reproduce — so those puddles of sweat on the floor provide a breeding ground for bacteria. Worse, when you don’t allow personal items (like towels and sweaty clothes) to completely dry, they can also encourage bacterial growth.
Similarly, mold needs moisture to grow and survive. With so much moisture in the air from shower steam and sweat, molds can grow inside your lockers, on towels, and even on gear. Molds can cause respiratory problems and itchy red eyes — not ideal for athletes preparing for a big game.
And of course, Athlete’s Foot is one of the most notorious locker room conditions. It’s caused by the tinea fungus, which thrives in moist, humid conditions like locker room showers. Most people think you can avoid it with just shower shoes, but even damp shoes and socks can result in an itchy case of Athlete’s Foot.
Contact with Skin
Does your team come in and sit down for the pre-game without even thinking about it? When skin comes in contact with any surface, it spreads a number of germs, including staph and MRSA bacteria.
Since athletes spend so much time in the locker room, they might think nothing of taking a seat on the floor or leaning up against the lockers, but this provides another opportunity for germs to spread from their skin onto your locker room surfaces and infect your team.
Shared Gear
Ideally, every athlete would have gear that only belongs to them — preventing the spread of germs from athlete to athlete. But not every team has the budget to avoid sharing gear.
With gear being passed between JV and varsity, germs can travel from player to player and eventually to the surfaces in your locker room. From there, they can flourish into full-blown colonies of microbial growth.
The biggest risk of sharing gear is MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can cause a frustrating, hard-to-treat rash at best or severe bloodstream infections at its worst. Not only can MRSA be spread by the athletes who share gear, but it can also spread when contaminated gear is tossed into a bag with the rest of the team’s equipment.
Improper Sanitizing Practices
With all these risk factors lurking in your locker room, you need to take extra precautions when disinfecting. And some of the traditional sanitizing methods aren’t up to the task.
- Wiping down gear may leave residues that actually encourage microbial growth
- Soap and water may not be suitable for all gear (and will wear it down faster)
- Aerosol sprays often mask odors but don’t treat the root cause — microbial growth
- Not all cleaners are proven to kill MRSA bacteria
While you may be making every effort to sanitize your locker room with these methods, there’s a lot of room for error, leaving your team vulnerable.
Sanitize with Ozone
Looking to prevent outbreaks of disease within your team? Use a powerful sanitizing solution to rid your gear and locker room of germs. Ozone is proven to significantly reduce 99% of bacteria, viruses, fungi and molds — all without using liquid sanitizers.
With our Sports-O-Zone sanitizing chamber, you can simply toss athletic gear into the machine between practices, and you’ll have fresh, disinfected gear that will be safe for the next athlete to use. Even better, our dry cycle won’t cause damage to your gear, so athletes can continue using it for seasons to come.
The Gear Blaster can also be used to sanitize rooms up to 2,000 square feet with ozone, ridding your locker room surfaces of the dangerous germs overnight to prevent odor and outbreaks.
Ready to kick germs out of your locker room for good? Get in touch with us today.
