State institution "Minsk City Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology"

State institution "Minsk City Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology"

Baths are public service institutions; they have a sanitary and preventive purpose, and the sanitary and epidemiological service attaches great importance to the supervision of them. The basic requirements for the design and equipment of baths are contained in the sanitary norms, rules and hygienic standards “Hygienic requirements for the design, equipment and maintenance of baths and saunas”, approved by the resolution of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus dated March 18, 2009. No. 27 with the addition approved by the resolution of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus dated November 3, 2011. No. 111.

Depending on the device, washing means, and microclimate characteristics, several types of baths can be distinguished: Russian bath, shower-type bath, sauna, access-type bath.

The steam room is a traditional element of the baths. High steam (air) temperature causes a number of temporary physiological changes in the body: body temperature rises, heart rate and breathing accelerate, blood pressure decreases, muscle strength weakens, and the tone of the cardiovascular system increases. Regular use of the steam room promotes training, strengthening the body, and sometimes is a therapeutic method for diseases such as rheumatism, gout, kidney disease, and some neuroses.

Also, when visiting a bathhouse, the body is strengthened, the immune system is strengthened, and resistance to colds increases.

When going to the bathhouse, it is recommended to take with you the following accessories: sheets for wrapping up, terry towels, a felt cap to protect your head and hair from overheating, detergents for the head and body, washable slippers to prevent infection with fungal diseases.

Rules for visiting the bathhouse:

• before entering the steam room, you need to take a warm shower, but do not wet your head to avoid overheating;
• before the steam room you should not wash with soap, since in this case fat is removed from the surface of the skin, which protects it from burning, especially if you are whipped with a broom. It is necessary to wash with soap after completing the steam procedure;
• You should not eat food 1.5-2 hours before visiting the bathhouse (digestion processes slow down due to the flow of blood from the internal organs to the skin);
• in the steam room you need to breathe through your nose to prevent the hot steam from drying out the bronchi and lungs;
• when leaving the steam room, it is recommended to take a cool shower or sit wrapped in a sheet, and then you can dive into a snowdrift and ice water;
• during rest and between visits to the steam room, you need to drink herbal teas or drinks made from berries and fruits to replenish fluid loss through sweat. It is not recommended to drink alcohol, as the load on the body increases and the healing effect of the bath procedure decreases.

Contraindications for visiting the bathhouse:

• during exacerbation of chronic diseases;
• for acute colds of an infectious nature;
• for hypertension;
• for gynecological and cardiovascular diseases;
• for malignant neoplasms;
• with a tendency to bleeding, thrombosis and embolism;
• with varicose veins;
• with severe metabolic disorders;
• for psychoses and psychopathy.

All areas of the baths must be kept clean. To prevent the spread of infectious diseases, every day after the bathhouse is closed, wet cleaning of all premises and disinfection of equipment and equipment is carried out.

Enjoy Your Bath!

Classification of baths

In Russia they are classified according to a number of criteria:

• First of all, technological: The services provided by the baths are divided according to the type of steam room available (they are usually divided into national ones: Finnish, Russian...), as well as by the presence of a swimming pool or its absence;
• Services provided by showers. Can be provided in closed cabins with a bathtub and shower installed there;
• Services of complexes that are bathing and recreational;

Main regulatory regulations

The requirements of the SES are organically linked to the provisions of current legislative and by-laws, departmental documents and standards. Among the main documents it is necessary to note:

• Law No. 52-FZ, dated 03/30/99. the document is valid as amended on July 29, 2017;
• SaNPiN: registered under No. 2.1.2.3150-13. The text was approved by Decree No. 70, issued by the Acting Executive Office of the State Service for Military Inspection of the Russian Federation on December 20, 2013. regulates a set of requirements for baths of various types;
• rules number 2.1.2.1188-03. They set out the requirements for the quality of water that fills the pool (if any);
• 2.1.4.1074-01. The document, as amended on June 28, 2010, regulates the requirements for cold water supplied to the bathhouse;

Personnel requirements

When applying for a job in a bathhouse, the future employee is required to undergo a medical examination and provide (get) a medical record.

In the process of work, he is obliged, according to existing schedules, to regularly undergo a medical examination with a note in his personal medical record. It must include:

• Laboratory test results;
• Information about past infectious diseases;
• Information about vaccinations received;
• About the hygienic training completed (taken once every couple of years);

The “Qualification Directory”, which was approved on February 20, 1984 by a joint resolution of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and the USSR State Committee for Labor No. 58/3-102 (as amended on March 15, 1991), establishes that a worker serving a bathhouse must know and comply with:

• Current sanitary rules and standards for customer service in the bathhouse;
• Equipment design and procedure for its operation;
• Fire protection rules and safety measures;
• Price list of the cost of services provided;
• Rules approved as the internal regulations of a particular bathhouse;
• Massage therapists, medical workers and employees of the health and prevention department must have specialized education and medical books.

equipment requirements

If you plan to equip shower cabins with special showers (needle, rain, circular), they, if possible, are installed in closed cabins.

Open showers in the washing compartments are equipped with special shelves and hooks for placing washing accessories on them, and the booths themselves are separated by a solid partition.

Enclosed showers and baths must include a changing room. Its obligatory attributes are a hanger and a small mirror. It is prohibited to operate bathtubs with damaged enamel in accordance with the provisions of current regulations. Only enamel bathtubs are allowed to be used. As a last resort, it is allowed to install bathtubs with other artificial coatings.

The faucet handles in the washing compartment and steam room must be made from heat-insulating materials.

Visitors are offered basins for washing, which must be made of materials that have high anti-corrosion resistance and immunity to the negative effects of household chemicals (cleaners, disinfectants, detergents). The number of basins is determined by the number of available seats at the rate of 2 basins per visitor.

Basins used to wash feet must be appropriately marked and different in color or shape. Basins with defects (cracks, loose handles, nicks) are prohibited from use. It is also not allowed to use wooden washers for washing.

In the washing department and locker room, bins with lids are installed to collect garbage (brooms, soap) and returned linen. With appropriate markings.

Any bathhouse is equipped with the necessary cleaning equipment. The latter is marked and used strictly differentiated: for the toilet, washing room, locker room. Inventory is stored in a special cabinet or a separate room is allocated for these purposes.

During the operation of the bathhouse, routine cleaning of the premises is carried out periodically. Upon completion of the bath, cleaning and disinfection are carried out.

General cleaning is required weekly. All surfaces of each of the bathhouse premises and the furniture installed in it are disinfected. Identified technical defects are eliminated during general cleaning.

Two types of planned treatment are carried out monthly: disinsection and, in parallel with it, deratization.

Cleaning work is carried out in accordance with the requirements of standard 51870-2002 (GOST).

At the dawn of history

Since ancient times, since the times of the sages of Ancient Greece, public baths have been the concentration of giants of thought and the fathers of democracy there. It was there that, in addition to the adoption of hygienic and general health procedures, heated and, at times, fierce disputes arose regarding the meaning of existence and the essence of the mortal world.

There, great discoveries in the fields of arithmetic, physics and geometry were often born. The good initiative of the Greeks was picked up by no less great Rome. The Romans gradually began to introduce mass baths for citizens of the empire. The famous city baths of Diocletian were able to simultaneously accommodate about 3,000 people.

In addition to the bath areas themselves, there were lecture halls, gymnastics, playgrounds and other useful bonuses. Not bad at this time, isn’t it?

The water supply system, advanced at that time, was provided by the abundant flow of aqueducts and included almost full-fledged water supply and sewerage. The benefits of ancient Roman civilization were successfully destroyed by the barbarians in 537, who considered such achievements unnecessary. From this time on, the decline of the classical Roman bath began.

It was remembered only in 1856, when the Irish doctor Richard Barter, in collaboration with the famous popularizer of Turkish baths in the British Isles, David Urquhart, built classic Roman baths, but somewhat modernized, on the Irish hills near Blarney.

Due to the introduction into the design of elements of Irish dry-air baths with their perfect air supply and ventilation systems, and stoves heated by inexpensive, but extremely high-calorie fuel - British Cardiff coal.

The public liked the baths so much that they immediately moved from the islands to the continent and from there began their triumphal march across Europe.

Sandunovo baths - the pride of the empire

In Russia, the bath industry loudly declared itself in 1808 with the opening of the legendary Sandunovsky baths, or Sandun, in common parlance. It was there, in the floodplain of the Neglinnaya River, that an establishment was formed that has retained its main profile to this day.

Moscow poured into them, especially into the men’s and women’s “noble” departments, arranged with amenities previously unheard of in Moscow: a dressing room with a mirrored hall, with clean sheets on soft sofas, well-trained servants, experienced bath attendants and bath attendants. The dressing room became a club where the most diverse society met - everyone found here their own circle of acquaintances, and, moreover, a buffet with all kinds of drinks, from kvass to Moët and Aya champagne. Both Griboyedov's and Pushkin's Moscow visited these baths, the one that gathered in the salon of Zinaida Volkonskaya and in the English Club.

Reporter Gilyarovsky, a great connoisseur of metropolitan life, wrote in his book “Moscow and Muscovites”.

It was this circumstance, a certain club component and innovation that created the name and well-deserved fame for the Sandunov Baths.

It is worth noting the technical equipment. After reconstruction at the end of the 19th century, water was delivered by steam pumps through a separate drinking water supply from a water intake on the Moscow River and a deep artesian well. In addition, there was electric lighting, which was rare at that time. The decoration was amazing and was made by the best craftsmen from European materials. The pricing policy also remained reasonable and balanced, general departments were priced from 5 to 50 kopecks, individual rooms and apartments from 60 kopecks to a considerable 5 rubles in those well-fed times.

Age of Industrialization

In the country of victorious socialism, the city bathhouse continued to play a very important role, as an effective means of personal hygiene and simply as an iconic public platform. Few houses could boast of having not only a bathroom, but also running water and sewerage as such.

The rapidly growing industrial centers in the European part of the country required workers, but could not always provide their owners with at least some living space. Old barracks and landowner stables were also used for settlement. The dormitories under construction were also not always famous for their relative comfort. Under these conditions, factory baths came to the aid of city baths.

Nowadays

In the modern world, when the bathroom has ceased to be exotic, there has been an increase in interest among the population of large cities in public baths. Thus, on the website of one large city with a population of one million, a public initiative appeared on the establishment of such seemingly forgotten entities as municipal baths. The initiative was joyfully received and supported by the population in the shortest possible time.