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Viki Dringer focuses on how washing your hands is no good unless you can dry them properly

As the world gets a timely reminder on the importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of virus’ and bathroom footfall increases, facilities managers are likely to face the double challenge of keeping bathrooms clean whilst minimising costs.

Businesses that rely on paper towels will now be facing increased cost in terms of both the number of towels used and the amount of time the bathrooms take to maintain. We’ve all been in washrooms where the hand towel dispenser is empty and that means people wiping their hands on their clothes and leaving with wet hands, a breeding ground for germs. Overfilled bins will also be on the increase, meaning additional work for cleaners.

That’s a huge saving in both costs and carbon emissions

Viki Dringer Viki Dringer Marketing Assistant for Jet Towels

Clean AND dry

Bacteria thrives in wet conditions, therefore by drying hands correctly cross-contamination is reduced to a minimum. My advice to the public would be to dry your hands thoroughly with whatever method is available in the washroom you are visiting.  My only exception being roller towels that are re-used by multiple people. These should be avoided!

For managers responsible for washrooms, it’s important to note that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that paper towels are any more hygienic which the Guardian clarified recently:       “Science has tried and failed to come to a consensus about the hygienic superiority of one product over the other.”

What can be proven is that they are a slower method for the user and more expensive for the provider. For example our hand dryers take as little as 9 seconds to get hands dry. Old style warm air dryers and paper towels can take as long as 40 seconds which results in most people giving up so facilities that have these are also recommended to upgrade to a high-speed air-curtain hand dryer.

Recent market research conducted by an independent company told us that facilities managers are not recommending paper towels due to the sheer expense and the extra work they require to refill and clear bins and because ultimately once they’ve been used they end up in landfill. Hand dryers are ultra energy efficient as the below example shows.

Paper versus hand dryers

Research completed by Intelligent Hand Dryers (the UK and Ireland’s first Carbon Trust accredited supplier of hand dryers) shows that electric hand dryers win hands down over paper in terms of cost as the following example shows.

Cost comparison

If we take the example of an office with 200 people using hand towels, then each person would use 3 hand towels on average 4.5 times a day.

Over a year this would be 702,000 paper towels and this would cost approximately £2,106-£3,510 (based on an average cost of towels).

In comparison an energy efficient hand dryer like a Jet Towel serving the same amount of people would use 2.7 – 5.0 watt/hours per dry, making a total consumption of 627.9 – 1170 Kw/hours of electricity a year.

Using a normal tariff of about 12p per kW/h, that equates to just £75.35 – £140.40 a year to run.

A HUGE saving of between £1,965.60 – £3,434.65 a year

Hand drying

Jido Kanso diagram

This method strips water off the hand in a controlled manner

What makes our hand dryers unique?

Mitsubishi Electric developed the first high-speed air-curtain hand dryer in Japan in 1993. A revolutionary way to dry hands more energy efficiently than ever before and an invention that eliminated the need to touch surfaces.

We have spent over 25 years refining our leading hand dryers so that they are quicker, quieter and more energy efficient than ever.

  • Our air filters remove dust and bacteria and subsequently sterilise them thanks to the embedded silver ions which provide antibacterial properties
  • Mitsubishi Electric hand dryers are made with an antibacterial coating
  • Hygiene tray collects water neatly and is easily emptied so that the washroom environment is not contaminated
  • NSF accredited in recognition for their hygienic   

The way you use our hand dryers is also important and is demonstrated by the Jido Kanso movement below.

This is a circular movement starting with inserting the hands from the sides of the drying area instead of from the top. This method allows water on the hands to be stripped off in a controlled manner where water is then collected in the hand dryer hygiene tray and not scattered out of the drying area.

If you would like to know more about our advance and innovative Jet Towels click here.

A comparative study of the hygiene impact of using various hand drying methods is also available.

Viki Dringer is Marketing Assistant for Jet Towels