When washing your hands, why is it important to stand back from the sink?

Standing back from the sink while washing your hands is crucial to prevent contamination. When you're very close to the sink, water splashes can carry germs and bacteria from the sink back onto your hands, negating the hygiene efforts you are making. By maintaining some distance, you help ensure that any splashes do not re-contaminate your clean hands, allowing the handwashing process to be effective in removing pathogens.

Conserving water, avoiding slips, and allowing soap to lather are important aspects of hand hygiene as well, but they do not specifically address the risk of contamination in the same way that maintaining a distance from the sink does. The primary focus during handwashing is to ensure that hands are free from harmful microorganisms, which is best achieved by preventing any possibility of coming into contact with contaminants from the sink area.