Are Hand Dryers Hygienic?

The topic of whether a hand dryer is hygienic or not is a debate that has been going on for years now, with many claiming you are better just sticking with paper towels as the more hygienic option. But is this true; and how hygienic are hand dryers exactly? Read on to find out more.

Types of Hand Dryer

When discussing how hygienic hand dryers are, it is important to distinguish between the different types of hand dryers. The two main types of hand dryer are Hot Air dryers, which work to dry your hands by using heat to evaporate the moisture, and then there’s High Speed or Blade Hand Dryers; these work slightly differently in that they use high-speed winds to whip away moisture rather than evaporating it.

Hygiene Benefits of Hand Dryers

With both Hot Air and High-Speed Dryers, most have the advantage of having automatic sensors to activate them, meaning that you don’t have to touch anything to get them to work; this is a clear advantage when it comes to hygiene since you don’t have to touch potentially germ-riddled surfaces in order to dry your hands.

Both types of hand dryers also have the advantage of not needing regular cleaning and maintaining in the same way that waste bins for paper towels do; these bins can be a source of very poor hygiene if they are not maintained effectively and emptied out routinely.

Hand Dryer Hygiene Misconceptions

One of the main reasons that many believe hand dryers to not be hygienic at all, is actually down to the fact that lots of people don’t use hand dryers correctly. Hot Air Hand Dryers take around 45 seconds to completely dry your hands, and Blade Hand Dryers take less time, at around approximately 10 seconds.

When people don’t dry their hands off completely, the likelihood of spreading germs increases exponentially, with the spread of germs being much easier from moist surfaces. What many people attribute to hand dryers being inherently unhygienic, can actually be attributed to people simply not drying their hands off properly.

Some studies suggest that high-speed hand dryers shoot germs into the air, although the validity of these claims has been questioned, from a scientific perspective. And there have even been blade hand dryers designed to actively collect the water they blast from hands, to combat this issue.

To conclude, we believe that hand dryers, so long as they are used properly by the user, are as hygienic, if not more hygienic than using a paper towel; and they also come with a whole host of other benefits, such as having quicker drying speeds, low maintenance costs, and a reduced carbon footprint. If you’re interested in buying some automatic hand dryers for your commercial washroom, you can browse our range of hand dryers here.