Hand Dryers vs Paper Towels: An Experiment

When it comes to healthcare environments, the main focus of every aspect of the building is hygiene. This is because often, in healthcare environments, there’s a concern about the risk of bacteria being spread, which is why hygiene is taken so seriously. Bearing that in mind, a common issue that healthcare environments come across is whether hand dryers or paper towels should be used for hand drying in restrooms.
 

The answer to this question will depend on what your goals actually are - these will determine why you should install one drying system and not the other. So, how can you decide which option is best for your healthcare facility? For everything that you need to know, read on!

 

Hand Dryers vs Paper Towels: which is best?
 

Paper towels can eliminate higher amounts of bacteria: Various studies, such as those performed by Westminster University have determined that drying your hands using a hand dryer actually increases the number of germs on your hands, whereas paper towels don’t affect the amount of bacteria that is present. It is thought that the cause of this increase in bacteria when using electric hand dryers is linked to the heat that is used in hand dryers.
 

Paper towels can remove extra bacteria: Interestingly, another study found that in an instance where only water was used to wash hands, rather than using antibacterial soap and water as recommended by WHO, it was clearly demonstrated that hand towels actively removed bacteria from the hands, and a large amount of it. While the reason that these germs were removed was because the hands were dried and both the paper towels and hand dryers did complete the job eventually, hand towels removed around 70% of the germs found, while hand dryers could only remove 23% of them.
 

Paper towels dry faster: Hand dryers take a long time to work, even the modern, high volume electric dryers still take 10 seconds to dry the hands properly, with the older dryers taking up to 45 seconds to dry your hands. Whereas, paper towels work in around three to five seconds. Time is precious and few people in healthcare can afford to stand around spending extra time drying their hands.
 

Hand Dryers have a lower environmental impact: One of the major benefits of hand dryers is the fact that over time they tend to have a lower environmental impact. However, that is only if you choose to invest in an ultra-modern, eco-friendly hand dryer that will cost a large amount of money to have installed and the ongoing power to run needs to be considered.
 

People prefer paper towels: Studies have shown that most people prefer paper towels to hand dryers. According to the Mayo Clinic, 62% of people prefer paper towels, with the rest preferring towel rollers or hand dryers. Why do people prefer paper towels? Firstly because they are quick and efficient to use. Secondly, because electric hand dryers are loud and take a while to work, which means that some people skip drying their hands altogether which is an extremely unhygienic practice.

 

Paper towels came out top, but which are the best ones to buy?
 

At CLH we have a wide range of paper towels on offer because we know that every company has their own specific hand drying needs. With multiple designs to choose from, finding the right one can be somewhat of a struggle, because there’s so much to consider, from the price of the product to the design that offers the most absorption.
 

Out of the 4500 products we regularly stock, we offer 15 different types of hand towels, which means that you have plenty of choice in terms of what you opt to buy. We understand that you need to select the ideal paper towel to meet your needs, which can, of course, make the task of selecting a hand towel an even more complex task.
 

While a large number of people choose hand towels due to their price, it’s actually far more important to take other factors into account, such as which offers the best product for the price, for instance. To help you make the right choice when it comes to choosing a hand towel for your healthcare environment, below we have shared some useful tips!
 

• Ply is important: Each of the hand towels that we sell at CLH are labeled as one ply or two ply, but a lot of people don’t know what the difference is - the good news is that it’s pretty simple. Two-ply paper towels are made out of two sheets of paper formed together while one-ply paper towels are only made of one piece of paper. This means two-ply paper towels offer double the strength and absorbency.
• Absorbency is crucial: What it’s important to remember when choosing a paper towel is that it’s not just the ply that impacts the absorbency, it’s also factors such as the pattern that the towel has on it. Did you know that paper towels that incorporate a pattern tend to be more absorbent than the ones that don’t? This is because of the grooves and ridges within the design, which pull water into them. A great example of this type of paper towel is the Tork Advanced ZigZag Fold White Paper Hand Towels in 2 Ply that we sell.
• Folds matter: Paper towels come with different folds and these folds matter, you see there are some vital differences in terms of how hand towels are folded, and it’s important to understand that. The way a paper towel is folded impacts the cost and the ease of use, which is why understanding what’s what is so vital. To learn more about paper towel folds, head over to our guide to choosing the best paper towels for your needs.

While both hand dryers and paper towels offer a suitable means of hand drying for care environments, various factors point to the fact that paper towels are a far superior hand drying option. They are quicker, easier and more efficient to use. They also tend to kill more germs than hand dryers do and therefore single-use towels are the most hygienic way to reduce the risk of the transmission of viruses when drying hands in the washroom. There are many benefits of choosing this option as opposed to having an electric hand dryer in your bathrooms at your care or medical facility.