Assessment of the bacterial contamination of hand air dryer in washrooms

Alharbi, Sulaiman Ali; Salmen, Saleh H.; Chinnathambi, Arunachalam; Alharbi, Naiyf S.; Zayed, Mohamed E.; Johny, Bassam Oudh Al; Wainwright, Milton

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2015.06.020

Cited by 22 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Most of the international studies focused on the hygienic efficacy of different hand drying methods [9,10,12,[36][37][38][39][40]. When analyzing hand drying options, hygiene is also an aspect of interest, but it was not considered herein.…”

Section: C) Environmental Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and Economic Perspectives in the Analysis of Two Options for Hand Drying At an University Campus

Carvalho¹,

Abrahão²

2017

IJERMT

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Abstract-nvironmental criteria can be part of global energy policies for the establishment of support and development actions for different technologies. Minimization of greenhouse gas emissions is a benefit to all citizens of the world, as these emissions have global scope. The objective of this study was to determine the best option for hand drying in a university campus building, from economic and environmental viewpoints, for a range of commercially available equipment. For the economic analysis, the capital and operation costs were considered along with the lifetime of the equipment. For the environmental analysis, the Life Cycle Assessment methodology was utilized. Eight options for hand drying were considered on an annual basis: five electric hand dryers and three types of paper towels. Electric hand dryers presented lower annual environmental impacts and lower annual economic costs. It is discussed that environmental impacts can and must be an active factor for the selection of one technology or another. The novelty of this study was the application of the LCA methodology to compare the carbon footprint associated with different commercially available options for hand drying in public restrooms, providing information to the consumer on which alternative is more environmentally-friendly.

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Section: C) Environmental Sensitivity Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and Economic Perspectives in the Analysis of Two Options for Hand Drying At an University Campus

Carvalho¹,

Abrahão²

2017

IJERMT

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“…Most research has shown that warm air dryers may increase the number of bacteria on the hands after use [144,[146][147][148][149], with some exceptions showing no change [148,[150][151][152][153][154] or a reduction [155][156][157]. This increase in bacterial counts could be the result of the existing bacteria within the dryer mechanism [146,149], the re-circulation of microbe-enriched air [129,158] (including an enrichment of fecal-associated bacteria [144,149]), the liberation of resident bacteria from deeper layers of the skin through hand rubbing while drying [38,147,157], or some combination of the above. It is also important to note that the temperature of warm air dryers is not hot enough to kill bacteria [151]; the purpose of heating the air is solely to aid in evaporation.…”

Section: Hand Drying and Hygienic Efficacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also important to note that the temperature of warm air dryers is not hot enough to kill bacteria [151]; the purpose of heating the air is solely to aid in evaporation. Additionally, warm air dryers are slower at drying the hands [38,39,48,144,[146][147][148][149][158][159][160], which is thought to reduce compliance with drying (i.e., people walk away with wet hands).…”

Section: Hand Drying and Hygienic Efficacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The hand drying literature can be separated into two opposing divisions: one attempting to demonstrate that the newer air dryers are as hygienically efficacious as paper towels [38,150,155,166], and the other attempting to discredit the newer technology in favor of paper towels [39,48,146,160,161,163,164]. While both divisions utilize bulk reduction in microbial load as a proxy for hand hygiene [38,160], research from the first division largely focuses on the potential of wet hands to transfer microbes [49] and the ability of air dryers (whether warm or jet) to effectively dry hands [38,39,150,153]: the hypothesis in this case is drying is hygienically efficacious if hands are dry and new microbes are not acquired through the process.…”

Section: Recontextualizing Cleanliness In Hand Dryingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cleanliness in context: reconciling hygiene with a modern microbial perspective

Vandegrift

Bateman

Siemens

et al. 2016

Preprint

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The concept of hygiene is rooted in the relationship between cleanliness and the maintenance of good health. Since the widespread acceptance of the germ theory of disease, hygiene has become increasingly conflated with sterilization. In reviewing studies across the hygiene literature (most often hand hygiene), we found that nearly all studies of hand hygiene utilize bulk reduction in bacterial load as a proxy for reduced transmission of pathogenic organisms. This treatment of hygiene may be insufficient in light of recent microbial ecology research, which has demonstrated that humans have intimate and evolutionarily significant relationships with a diverse assemblage of microorganisms (our microbiota). The human skin is home to a diverse and specific community of microorganisms, which include members that exist across the ecological spectrum from pathogen through commensal to mutualist. Most evidence suggests that the skin microbiota is likely of direct benefit to the host and only rarely exhibits pathogenicity. This complex ecological context suggests that the conception of hygiene as a unilateral reduction or removal of microbes has outlived its usefulness. As such, we suggest the explicit definition of hygiene as "those actions and practices that reduce the spread or transmission of pathogenic microorganisms, and thus reduce the incidence of disease."

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“…This is because previously conducted studies have established that public restrooms can harbour various communicable pathogens including salmonella and faecal pathogens amongst others [6,7]. These pathogens typically concentrate in wet areas such as around wash hand basins or underneath hand-dryers [8][9][10], or on physical surfaces not properly cleaned [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of a Poster Intervention on Hand Hygiene Practice and Compliance When Using Public Restrooms in a University Setting

Lawson¹,

Vaganay-Miller²

2019

IJERPH

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Background: Most research on hand hygiene compliance in community settings indicates that compliance is poor. It is not conclusive as to whether poster interventions are effective at improving compliance. Methods: An independent, self-designed poster intervention was installed in one set of male and female public restrooms in a university campus in the UK. The hand hygiene practice and compliance of the university population was measured via indirect observation over a 60 day period. Results: During the pre-intervention observation period, 51.09% of the university population practiced basic hand hygiene compliance (washed hands with water, soap and dried afterwards), and 7.88% practiced adequate hand hygiene compliance (washed hands with water and soap for 20 s or more and dried afterwards for 20 s or more). During the post-intervention observation period, 55.39% of the university population were observed practicing basic hand hygiene compliance, and 7.97% practicing adequate hand hygiene compliance. Gender differences revealed that more females practiced basic hand hygiene in the post-intervention observation period (62.81%) than during the pre-intervention period (49.23%) and this was statistically significant (χ 2 = 13.49, p = < 0.01). Discussion: The poster intervention had a limited effect on improving the basic and adequate hand hygiene compliance of the general population when using public restrooms. The use of independent, self-designed posters to improve hand hygiene practice and compliance is largely ineffective in the short term and should be used with caution in future intervention strategies.

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Assessment of the bacterial contamination of hand air dryer in washrooms

Cited by 22 publications

References 16 publications

Environmental and Economic Perspectives in the Analysis of Two Options for Hand Drying At an University Campus

Environmental and Economic Perspectives in the Analysis of Two Options for Hand Drying At an University Campus

Cleanliness in context: reconciling hygiene with a modern microbial perspective

The Effectiveness of a Poster Intervention on Hand Hygiene Practice and Compliance When Using Public Restrooms in a University Setting

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