Handrails - Safety or Hazard?

I am both clumsy and uncoordinated and need all the assistance I can get when traversing both up and down stairs, escalators, ramps, and any moving walkway or change in elevation.  Also buses and trains which may at any given hour of heavy commuter usage require me to stand. These are all equally perilous for me without something to brace myself against and hold on to.

Technology and design have provided us with these nifty little things called, Handrails...time to marvel for a moment.  .......O.k. we're done... moving on.  But are they really more safety than hazard?  

On the Safe side, they provide stability to the otherwise unstable. They bring balance to the unbalanced. They allow the dizzy to feel undizzy (new word), and the wobbly to unwobble (new word #2 - lookout Webster). Handrails help us as we climb the stairs and as we go down.  They are in restrooms and elevators. You can use them in airports, and shopping malls on the escalators and people movers.  You find them on commuter trains and buses in the form of stationary rails and flexible leather straps that are above your head within arms reach in case your in an aisle where rails aren't feasible. Hand rails are all around us and are intended to be a measure of safety.  But are they? Really? One word......Germs.

Think about it. Think about all the hands that touch those wonderful safety devices each and every day.  Have you ever seen the movie Contagion?  I have, and for the record, it's not a good movie for an already germaphobe person to see.  Talk about spinning out of control.  There is not enough hand sanitizer in the world to calm the fears of a germaphobe after watching that movie. (Inner monologue....shake it off Lisa, back to the blog....Shake it off). 

Germs,  yes they are all around us, and with reasonable care and precautions we can typically avert some of the passing around, but hand rails (not to mention doorknobs and door rails) are a veritable smorgasbord for germs and bacteria. Looking for a cold, a flu, e-coli, or some other dastardly demon,  visit your local mall.  You know how poorly people wash their hands, if they wash them at all, now imagine the thousands of people from all walks of life, at all ages, all economic classes, touching the handrails that you touch every day.

Its worse than imagining the diseases being passed around by a hooker at an adult film convention without condoms.  Gross, right? 

So are handrails more safety than hazard?  The risks are high, but there are ways to help diminish them.  I am always in close proximity to a bottle of hand sanitizer.  I also carry a small supply of single use hand wipes (the kind you find in first aid kits) which can be used to cleanse after the fact or you can tear one open and use it as a barrier between you and the rail (this works great for commuter trains and buses because of the time spent holding on).  I also frequently pull my sleeve over the heel of my hand and use that to brace myself as I use the stairs. I open doors with my elbow, or the sleeve covered hand, and in short sleeve weather I may resort to using my blouse hem.  I am very aware of when I am using a rail and I always use some measure of barrier protection and anti- bacterial cleanse. 

I think that handrails are equally safety and hazard unless you use precautionary means to prevent to spread of nasty germs.