Are Cloth Hand Towels from a Roll Dispenser Sanitary? 

Hand hygiene is crucial to preventing the spread of infection in the workplace.  While hand hygiene has always been important, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought more attention lately to effective hand washing in the workplace.

Unfortunately, there are widespread misconceptions about the effectiveness of hand drying, particularly in the US.

This article summarizes independent research findings and helps answer these commonly asked questions –Are cloth roll towels sanitary?  Are towels cleaner than air dryers?

Why hand drying is important

While washing and rinsing get a fair amount of attention, they are only part of the equation.  Drying hands after washing is a vital part of the process.  According to an article published by the Mayo Clinic, “Wet hands spread germs more easily than dry hands do.”

In fact, studies show that damp hands transmit 1,000 times more bacteria than dry hands. Thus, you are more likely to transmit bacteria back onto your clean hands after touching surfaces such as a doorknob or light switch if they are still wet.

Therefore, it’s important to thoroughly dry your hands after washing.

An independent study of hand drying effectiveness

The Hjelt Institute of Hygiene and Microbiology (University of Helsinki) studied the effectiveness of four common hand-drying systems in terms of hand hygiene.*

These four hand drying methods include paper towel rolls or sheets, jet air dryer, warm air dryer, and cotton roll towels (also referred to as cloth roll towels or continuous roll towels).

Here is a quick summary of the finding of this research study:

• Cotton towels are more effective and hygienic than air dryers;
• Cotton towels eliminate the highest number of bacteria from wet hands;
• The mechanical action of rubbing one’s hands with cotton is essential to effectively removing bacteria;
• Good hand hygiene involves both washing and drying hands.

Which hand drying method removes the most bacteria?

Testing was done to determine the number of bacteria removed from hands by hand drying method. The following results were reported:

• Hands dried with cotton show a log reduction of 4.41;
• Hands dried with paper show a log reduction of 4.41;
• Hands dried with jet air show a log reduction of 2.48;
• Hands dried with warm air show a log reduction of 1.79.

This study shows that both washroom roller towels and paper towels effectively remove bacteria from hands.

Are cloth roll dispenser surfaces hygienic? 

When testing the contamination of the surfaces of the four drying methods, the most commonly touched parts of each dispenser or dryer were swabbed (see chart below). The jet-air dryer is the only device that showed heavy contamination, including E-coli, with a particularly heavy concentration at the inside bottom of the dryer. The cloth towel roll dispenser showed the least amount of bacteria.