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Big Brother in the Bathroom?

A new high-tech watchdog may soon monitor the personal hygiene habits of health care, food service and other workers every time they use the bathroom at work.

The first system of its kind, dubbed Hygiene Guard, was installed at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City yesterday to track whether 20 chefs, dishwashers and waiters use soap dispensers and wash their hands after using the toilet.

Similar equipment will be delivered Tuesday to Georgetown University Hospital. Researchers in the nursing school hope it will help them find a way to encourage workers to wash up more often after they come into contact with saliva, mucus and other bodily fluids full of disease-causing bacteria.

Although privacy advocates complain Hygiene Guard represents an unprecedented intrusion, its developers say the equipment could soon help restaurants, hotels, hospitals and other institutions across the country head off millions of cases of food-borne illnesses caused by lax employees every year. "This is a public health issue, not a privacy issue," said Glenn Cohen, president of the New Jersey-based Net/Tech International Inc., adding that the system of computers, infrared technology and tracking software will enable employers to improve hygiene. "You need to find solutions."

Under the system, employees will be required to wear a battery-powered "smart badge." The badge communicates with sensors in the bathroom that are connected to a computer in a manager's office. It also beeps periodically to remind employees to wash their hands.

Unless an employee uses the soap dispenser and stands for a required amount of time in front of a sink with running water, an infraction will be recorded on the computer. In some instances, the employee's badge will flash. The system costs a minimum of $3,600 to buy and $90 a month to rent, Net/Tech officials said.

The release of Hygiene Guard comes amid a growing national concern about the safety of food. This month, 25 million pounds of hamburger processed by an Arkansas manufacturer at a plant in Nebraska was recalled after federal investigators determined it caused 16 cases of food poisoning in Colorado. Earlier this summer, at least 126 people in the Washington area became ill after eating basil and pesto from several Sutton Place Gourmet stores.

It also follows a recent study showing that only two-thirds of all people wash their hands after using the bathroom, even though more than nine of 10 report in interviews that they do so.

Efforts to change people's habits through rules, education and more user-friendly sinks generally fall short, even though "there seems to be a real interest right now in this country in germs," said Elaine Larson, dean of Georgetown's nursing school and a leading researcher of hand-washing.

"We know that in the general public, the frequency of hand-washing is much less than desirable," said Larson, who added that Georgetown and another area hospital intend to use Hygiene Guard in studies of hand-washing behavior if the equipment performs well in a test run next month. "We know it's a problem in the health care industry."

But privacy specialists said the solution is not to intrude more on individual privacy. Civil libertarians described Hygiene Guard as "Big Brother in the bathroom" and said it is part of a growing pattern of employees being electronically monitored.

A recent survey of more than 900 major employers found nearly two-thirds reviewed e-mail, taped telephone conversations, tracked the number of keystrokes on a computer or took other measures to assess employees. A growing number of companies also have installed electronic networks that can track the location of employees in a building.

"The increasing use of technology to pry into [people's] affairs poses a fundamental threat to privacy," said Loren Siegel, director of public education for the American Civil Liberties Union, adding the bathroom should be nearly inviolable. "Every American has an expectation that when they go to the bathroom what they do is their own private business."

Tropicana Casino officials, operating the system on a trial basis, said they will warn employees who do not wash up and discipline repeat offenders.

Spokeswoman Susan Kotzen said the casino does not have a problem with germs. It only wants to improve service.

"There's always a need to improve sanitary conditions," she said. "We're looking specifically that you spend the appropriate amount of time washing up. . . . It's the type of device that can only benefit someone."

Casino employees who will be monitored this weekend were not allowed to discuss the matter. But their representatives, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union Local 54 said they fear Hygiene Guard will be used to punish workers who linger in the bathrooms or go there too often.

"They're starting with these little badges. The next thing, they're using video cameras," said Debbie Feliciano, the assistant to the union president. "Some people feel violated. It's an insult."