An independent study on the hygiene of hand dryers

New independent study confirms that hand dryers are as safe and hygienic as paper towels

The results of the new study show that small droplets spread in washrooms during normal activities such as walking and using the tap. Drying hands with a hand dryer or paper towels has no effect on the amount of aerosols in the air.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a lot of focus on good hand hygiene. For this reason, Dyson commissioned Airmid Healthgroup testing laboratory to investigate the formation of aerosols and the potential spread of bacteria in different drying methods. This new independent study confirms that Dyson hand dryers are a safe and hygienic choice for sanitary facilities.

The study was conducted under realistic conditions: participants dried their hands after rinsing or washing them first. The researchers focused on analyzing the effect of different drying methods on the concentration of aerosols and bacteria in the air. This topic has been widely discussed since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis.

Research method

Half of the participants rinsed their hands with water (without soap) and half washed their hands for 20 seconds (with soap) in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). Afterwards, the participants dried their hands with a Dyson hand dryer (Airblade Wash+Dry, Airblade 9kJ, Airblade V, or Airblade dB) or paper towels. The results show that small droplets spread in the washroom mainly through normal activities such as walking and using the tap. Drying hands with a Dyson Airblade hand dryer has no significant effect on this and does not increase the spread of aerosols through the air.

The study also shows that the increase in aerosols and bacteria after drying with paper towels or the Dyson hand dryer is similar. This shows that hand dryers are as safe and hygienic as paper towels.

Previous hygiene studies

Immediately after the launch of the first Dyson Airblade model in 2008, unrealistic studies on hand dryers were published. Testing the performance of hand dryers in extreme, unrepresentative conditions meant that several companies sought to cast these hand dryers in a bad light. In these studies, researchers spread unusually large amounts of microbes on hands (ETS, 2008[1) and VSR, 2012[2]) or even rubber gloves (Wilcox, 2014[3] and Redway, 2015[4]), after which the hands were placed in the hand dryer without first washing or even rinsing them. In reality, no one tries to dry really dirty hands without first rinsing them.

Several representative studies in which hands were not artificially soiled (SCA, 2013[5]) or which were conducted in real washrooms (Wilcox, 2018[6]) have already shown that there is no significant difference between different drying methods in terms of aerosol dispersion. The Dyson Airblade hand dryer proved to be just as hygienic as paper towels. This new study (Airmid, 2020) also confirms that Dyson Airblade hand dryers are a safe and hygienic solution for washrooms. The result is consistent with the studies referred to above.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have also concluded that hand dryers are as hygienic as paper towels and describe both drying methods as the best ways to dry hands.