Everyone in the cleaning industry has always been told that hand dryers in restrooms are not sanitary, they spread germs and bacteria around. I always thought that this just came from the paper companies because they are loosing sales to the hand dryers.
A couple of years ago, I was working with a rep, and I noticed that after he washed his hands and noticed that there were no paper towels, only a hand dryer he left the restroom with wet hands. I asked him about it.. He said that hand dryers blow a lot of germs and bacteria around. He also told me to take a look under the hand dryer next time I was in a restroom. There is a filter underneath the hand dryer that is supposed to be cleaned on a weekly basis... I looked at one and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. It had layers and layers of caked on gunk (disgusting).
Additionally, most of the older hand dryers in use (and even some of the newer ones) have an internal screen that should be changed every 1-2 weeks. Unfortunately, most are lucky if they are changed every 1-2 years. This sad reality is not only is a waste of energy, but also keeps more bacteria, germs, and viruses trapped in the dust on the screens, which then is blown directly onto our hands when we dry them. Since then I will not use hand dryers in restrooms. Now this is where the story gets really interesting.
Every time you use an air dryer, the amount of bacteria on your hands increases by 254% and on the finger pads by 194%.
The schools and universities that have had the H1N1 (swine flu) and other outbreaks are being told by the health department that they have to take out all of their hand dryers and replace them with towel dispensers because the hand dryers are spreading disease.
**Please pass this along so everyone knows not to use hand dryers.
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