How Paper Towel Dispensers Help To Stop the Spread of Germs

It’s a well-known figure that 80% of common infectious diseases are spread by our hands, so the most effective way to combat this is to make sure that we wash our hands regularly and effectively. However, washing your hands is not an effective way of stopping the spread of germs if you don’t dry them properly. The spread of bacteria is much more likely to occur with wet skin than dry skin, so making sure your hands are dry after washing them is very important.

For any business, preventing the spread of germs and bacteria should be a priority as spreading illness can lead to staff absences which can be costly when productivity is affected. So how can businesses go about preventing the spread of bacteria in the workplace? The answer is simple, encourage a handwashing policy and provide soap dispensers and paper towel dispensers.

The biggest pros of paper towels?

There are some great benefits to installing paper towel dispensers in your workplace washrooms:

• Paper towels dry your hands very quickly – disposable paper towels can effectively dry your hands in just five to ten seconds. Studies show that in just ten seconds of using a single paper towel, residual water on the hands after washing is reduce to as low as 4%, dropping to 1% after fifteen seconds of drying. As well as stopping the spread of germs, the speed of paper towels can also help to improve productivity as staff can get back to their work quickly.
• Friction helps to remove bacteria – when drying your hands with a paper towel, friction is inevitable as you rub the towel on your hands. This friction helps to stop the spread of germs as the force involved means that bacteria is rubbed off the hands and transferred onto the towel. Once your hands are dry, the used paper towel can then be disposed of.

By providing paper towel dispensers, you can help to reduce the amount of all types of bacteria on the hands, helping to reduce absences in the office.

If you are concerned about the environmental impact of providing disposable paper towels, you can promote to staff that they need only use a single towel with the shake and fold method. After washing your hands, it’s important to shake your hands around 12 times to remove as much water as possible, before folding a single paper towel and rubbing it over both hands and in between the fingers. This way you can get your hands dry in only a few seconds, without the need to waste more towels than necessary.

To learn about the range of different towel dispensers available to suit your business, you can browse the SP Hygiene website or call our sales team on 0113 245 8157.