Airport Business - 22

MAINTENANCE
AUTHOR Robert Kravitz

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

Electric Hand Drying

Protect passengers through proper cleaning and
testing for bacterial in your restrooms.

IN APRIL 2018, a study titled, "Deposition of Bacteria
and Bacterial Spores by Bathroom Hot-Air Hand
Dryers," was conducted in healthcare facilities to
determine if electric hand dryers, now installed in
many airports around the world, were releasing
bacteria, germs and other pathogens into the air
that could potentially spread disease.
This research was the latest in a series
of similar studies on this subject going
back several years. This study made it
clear, however, that they were not looking
to see if these airborne contaminants
caused a specific disease. They wanted
to confirm, that if this was happening,
what potential problems could occur.
They discovered that, yes, it was
happening. The researchers found
evidence that restroom electric hand
dryers do disperse bacteria from hands
and it can be inhaled, as well as land on
touchable surfaces such as walls, partitions,
countertops, faucets and dispenser and
restroom fixture handles.
Further, the researchers suggested
that when electric hand dryers release
pathogens "within a large building,
[these] potentially pathogenic bacteria,

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ROBERT KRAVITZ

Robert Kravitz is a frequent writer for the
professional cleaning industry.

including bacterial spores, may travel
between rooms... spreading of infectious
bacteria, including spores of potential
pathogens if present."
It would follow that this study, and
the others similar, would make the leap
and recommend that one way to prevent
the problem would be to remove electric
dryers and replace them with paper hand
towels. While this situation would likely
be minimized, if not eliminated, if hand
towels were installed, the hand dryers are
not solely to blame.
The other culprit is people. The
simple fact is that many people often
"wash" their hands in a "hit or miss"
fashion. This issue might be even more
evident in an airport where people
are rushing to catch their plane. They
generally do not take the time to rinse
their hands thoroughly with warm water,
place soap on their hands, gently scrub
their hands for about twenty seconds and
then rinse. As a result, pathogens remain
on hands and once placed under a hand
dryer, the electric hand dryer acts merely
as a conduit, blowing the pathogens into
the air.
Instead of blaming something,
electric hand dryers, or somebody, airport
users, the best approach is to realize the

22 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019

serious health implications and figure out
what to do about it. For example, the
researchers in this last study did find that
many different strains of bacteria were
released into the air, some potentially
dangerous to human health. They also
noted that this was true whether or not
the electric hand dryer included a HEPA
filter, which some of the newer systems
now have. An installed HEPA filter does
seem to reduce the number of pathogens
released into the air during the hand
drying process but does not eliminate
the problem.
So, because we cannot only blame
electric hand dryers for this situation,
and because many airports around
the world like electric hand dryers for
several reasons, including paper reduction
and related costs, it leaves airport
administrators with two steps to take to
Airport Business

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Airport Business
