Any public facility such as an office, store, shopping center, etc must provide customers and staff with washroom facilities. When it comes to drying hands after washing there are really only two accepted approaches; one is the use of paper towels and the other is the installation and use of an air hand dryer.
For years there has been an ongoing debate about which of these two approaches is better. When all the benefits of air hand dryers are added up there is little doubt that these devices are superior. Air hand dryers save a great deal of money, they can easily last five or more years and pay for themselves within a matter of months as there is no need to spend on paper towels.
What are the concerns buyers have?
For years people have complained that air hand dryers take too long to do the job properly and they are simply too noisy. There may have been some truth to this some years ago, but those days are long past. New technology has been employed in modern hand dryers; they dry as quickly as 10 seconds and are far quieter than ever before.
The major argument has always been the issue of hygiene. The manufacturers of paper towels have financed numerous studies comparing their product; paper towels to older model air hand dryers. Today, air hand dryers are fitted with HEPA filters which effectively eliminate over 99 percent of all bacteria from the air before it reaches the users hands. The air that is used to dry the hands is actually much cleaner than the air in the room. It is a known fact that bacteria thrive in warm, damp places; bacteria will thrive on wet paper towels that are thrown in a trash receptacle.
And then there is the issue of rubbish; a good number of paper towels don’t ever see the rubbish container, they end up on the floor. This is just one more reason to support the contention that an air hand dryer is the better choice.
