Cover Story
Hygiene is a lot of hot air for some...
Emma Nourry, Trade Marketing Manager at Georgia-Pacific for the Lotus Professional® brand, discusses the hygiene benefits of each hand drying method, in addition to other considerations you should make when selecting washroom products.
Hand washing is only half of the battle in maintaining high levels of hand hygiene. How washroom users choose to dry their hands varies and is often dependant on the hand drying methods available to them as they visit washroom facilities. Although 92% state that hygiene and speed are important i to them in washrooms, many are blissfully unaware that their chosen hand drying method could result in more bacteria being present on their hands than before they washed them.
Whether you’re a facilities manager, caterer, leisure provider or hotelier, understanding the benefits of hand hygiene products is important in selecting the most hygiene solutions for your washroom users. From hot air and jet air hand dryers to paper towels, there are numerous hand drying solutions on offer, but which provide the quickest and most hygienic way to dry hands?
Hygiene- hot air? In research carried out by Westminster University ii, specialist researchers analysed the levels of bacteria spread on hands after washroom users used each drying method. Hot air dyers proved to be the least hygienic, increasing bacteria spread on hands by up to 194%, whilst jet air dryers, encourage bacteria spread on hands by 42%.
by Dyson, stated that: “… the use of paper towels consistently out- performed all of the drying techniques, especially with regard to bacteria left on the palms and finger tips. iii”
Passive contamination is also prevalent amongst hot air and jet air hand dryers. Westminster University established that whilst hot air dryers can blow out bacteria up to 0.5cms away, the powerful airflow from jet air dryers means that bacteria can be blown up to 2 metres away, allowing germs to spread to door handles, sinks and even washroom users, increasing the number of potential sources of cross contamination in washrooms.
In contrast, a single paper towel proved to be the most hygienic method of drying hands, presenting a reduction of bacteria spread on hands by 77%. It's no surprise that the research conducted by Bradford University and funded
COVER STORY 16 | TOMORROW’S CLEANING YEARBOOK 2012/2013 | The future of our cleaning industry
The Lotus Professional®, range of hand towel dispensers is designed specifically with hygiene in mind. For example, the Marathon™ hand towel dispenser offers single sheet dispensing, ensuring users only touch the paper towel they take, and has an inclined dispensing mouth for optimised hygienic dispensing.
The enMotion® touchless range takes this one step further by integrating touchless technology into washroom products. Encasing paper towels in a secure dispenser, users wave their hand in front of a sensor to retrieve a clean paper towel, removing the need for dispenser contact all together.
Beat the queues
Waiting in washroom queues is one of the major frustrations expressed by washroom users. Air dyers can take up to 45 seconds, four times longer than the 10 second average drying time for paper towels.
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