Will it all come out in the wash?
March 1st 2006

Washing and drying hands properly doesn't require a degree in microbiology - yet failure to do so is generally regarded as a prime culprit in spreading bacteria . Kimberly Clark claims older hand dryers are partially to blame - but hopes its 10 step hand washing and drying guide will help

The issue of hygiene continues to dominate the news. There are campaigns to wipe out MRSA, combat food poisoning incidents in food service establishments, and to improve hygiene in the workplace. Good hygiene equates to good health - meaning everyone has a responsibility to reduce the risk of infection.

One location where hygiene is crucial is the public washroom - potentially fertile pasture for germs and bacteria. Poor hand hygiene is usually considered to be one of the most common ways that cross contamination can occur, and research has shown that improper hand drying is one of the major causes of bacteria spread outside of the washroom.

This is of particular concern in the battle against Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI's), such as MRSA, and has led to the Royal College of Nursing launching its 'Wipe It Out'campaign on MRSA.

Sponsored by Kimberly-Clark, the campaign includes a '10-steps to effective hand hygiene'which includes a guide to thorough hand washing and drying hands effectively with paper towels helping to remove remaining bacteria.

There are, of course, different methods of drying hands and a number of studies have been conducted. The University of Westminster produced a study which concluded hot air dryers are not as effective as paper towels at removing bacteria after washing.

Since this study was conducted in 1998, technology in air dryers may have improved, yet many institutions will not have upgraded their washrooms, resulting in old, bacteria-infested air dryers still in operation. This study also demonstrated that hot air dryers did not perform as well as paper towels in terms of speed, drying efficiency, hygiene and microbial environmental contamination. The main reason for this is that users will tend to dry their hands thoroughly with paper towels, rather than the partial dryness obtained with hot air dryers.

Kimberly-Clark Professional also believes there is also a strong consumer preference for 'personal' paper towels over municipal hand dryers.

The technology behind paper towels has certainly advanced in recent years with, for example, the introduction of Kimberly-Clark Professional's AIRFLEX Fabric offering a higher performing hand towel. Also, the availability of 'interleafed' paper towels means that each new towel presented to the user is untouched, reducing the chance of any transference of bacteria from one user to another.

However, organisations always have to consider the cost of different methods of hand drying. Kimberly Clark believes that, compared with the cost of installation, maintenance and power supply of air dryers, paper towels provide washroom managers with a cost-effective product.

Not only are they low-maintenance but the interleafed technology only allows the extraction of one sheet at a time, making them more costeffective.

To prevent needless contamination, it is vital to follow the correct procedures and use products to enable them. Kimberly-Clark Professional believes its '10-steps to effective hand hygiene' should help counter the spread of disease and infection.

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