Are Electric Hand Dryers More Hygienic Than Paper?
One piece of knowledge reinforced constantly by healthcare professionals is that proper hand-washing is essential for protection from germs. What isn't always clear is what the best method for drying your hands is. It doesn't make sense to carefully wash away germs only to acquire new ones when you try to dry your hands, so knowing whether or not an electric dryer or paper is more hygienic becomes an important question. Does this Spark an idea?
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Drying Ability
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One significant problem with electric dryers is that a person's hands are unlikely to get as dry using one as when using paper towels to dry the hands. Wet hands provide a surface primed for bacterial transfer and survival. A study done through the University of Westminster showed that people who used electric hand dryers only achieved between 55 and 68 percent hand dryness. People who used paper had hands over 93 percent dry.
Types of Electric Dryers
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Different types of electric hand dryers provide differing levels of efficiency when compared to paper towels. The University of Bradford did a study on different hand-drying methods and found that electric dryers that use strong blasts of air to blow water off the hands are more effective than those that use warm air to evaporate the water. However, the study also concluded that paper towels were still more effective than either of these methods.
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Methods
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Although paper towels are the most hygienic method of hand drying, if an electric hand dryer is the only method of drying available, it is important that it is used properly. You should not simply place your hands under the dryer and allow the air to blow on your hands. You need to rub your hands together vigorously and dry them for 45 seconds or longer in order to achieve an adequate level of protection from bacteria.
Bacterial Removal
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Ultimately, this is the comparison which matters most when deciding which method of hand drying is the most effective. Paper towels have been shown to remove far more bacteria than electric dryers. One study showed a 55 percent removal of bacteria when paper towels were used, with a paltry 9 percent removed with an electric dryer.
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References
- European Tissue Symposium; A Comparative Study of Three Different Hand Drying Methods: Paper Towel, Warm Air Dryer, Jet Air Dryer; Keith Redway, et al.; November 2008
- University of Bradford; Is Hand Washing Enough to Stop the Spread of Disease? Published in Journal of Applied Microbiology; September 2010
- Auckland Regional Public Health Service: Hand Hygiene and Influenza-Like Illness
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design; Designing a Hand Dryer: Hygiene and Comparative Hand Drying Systems; Arthur Bono, et al.
Resources
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