A hand-washing monitor and hand washing monitoring system are provided. The hand-washing monitoring system includes a motion detector mounted near, to or in a sink and configured to detect a scrubbing motion near a location of an outlet of a sink faucet. Both the hand-washing monitor and the hand-washing monitoring system include a processor coupled to the motion detector and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to monitor the motion detector for signals indicative of the scrubbing motion that is continuous during a predetermined scrubbing interval and to provide signal indicating a successful scrubbing operation when the scrubbing motion is continuously detected during the entire interval. The hand-washing monitor includes a housing containing the processor, the motion detector, the memory and proximity sensors for detecting the application of soap.