Think the lounge gave you food poisoning, try the toilet hand dryer!

[markis10]

We often get travel sickness reports here, so this article is not a bad guide as far as possibilities for the cause of such illness:

Whether it's people coughing on the train, spluttering in the bus queue or sneezing in the office lift, it's easy to see how germs spread. But where are those unlikely haunts harbouring millions of bacteria that can make you sick without you even knowing?
Often it's the places you don't think twice about touching that carry the most germs, and with 884 confirmed cases of influenza in the first six months of this year alone, it has never been more important to know where they are.
1. Warm-air hand dryers
So you're in a public bathroom and have scrubbed your hands clean - now to dry them off and you're set, right? Wrong. A UK study has found that hand dryers cause a 254 per cent increase in a bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause food poisoning and other infections.
The new super-fast jet dryers aren't much better, increasing bacteria an average of 42 per cent and spreading germs two metres around the bathroom thanks to their high speeds. So what is the advice? Go back to basics. Paper towels decrease bacteria by about 77 per cent.

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Read more: Top 10 germ traps | News.com.au
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[whatmeworry]

There is a journal article that actually showed washing your hands and drying them with paper towels is more effective then washing your hands combined with hand dryers.

 

[markis10]

There is a journal article that actually showed washing your hands and drying them with paper towels is more effective then washing your hands combined with hand dryers.

This one (hosted on the tork website )

http://www.tork.com.au/Global/10_Au... Study of 3 hand drying methods full text.pdf

 

[medhead]

At my last workplace I had to fight to get paper towels in the kitchen. ("green" organisation in a green 6 star building). The number of people who thought it was acceptable to dry hands on a tea towel was stunning.

 

[mannej]

The number of people who thought it was acceptable to dry hands on a tea towel was stunting.

Were they all vertically challenged?

 

[medhead]

Were they all vertically challenged?

........

 

[Newk]

interesting post thanks

 

[samh004]

Never been a fan of the air dryers, so at least ice got a reason to more completely ignore them now.

 

[robd]

So if the air dryers are shooting germs 2 metres around the room, drying your hands on paper towel isn't going to make much difference. In all likelihood, you've gotta walk through the "germ cloud" to exit.

 

[jetlagger]

Interesting report!
My hand sanitiser always travels with me, also providing some defence against germs & which without being obsessive, I use to 'sanitise" the IFE controls & tray tables inflight.

 

[The Rok]

You can wash your hands 50 times, dry them with sterilised hand towels, then sterilise your hands with a Dettol anti bacterial hand sanitiser, but its all pointless because in Australia some idiot decided that most toilet doors open inwards, requiring you to use your hands again. (Unless you can do what I do which is try to strategically time my exit with someone else's entry/exit and use my feet to hold the door)

Why don't public toilet doors either have an auto open/close or simply open outwards?

 

[drron]

You can wash your hands 50 times, dry them with sterilised hand towels, then sterilise your hands with a Dettol anti bacterial hand sanitiser, but its all pointless because in Australia some idiot decided that most toilet doors open inwards, requiring you to use your hands again. (Unless you can do what I do which is try to strategically time my exit with someone else's entry/exit and use my feet to hold the door)

Why don't public toilet doors either have an auto open/close or simply open outwards?

That would require too much (un)common sense.

 

[flyingfan]

Why don't public toilet doors either have an auto open/close or simply open outwards?

A welcome trend is to not have doors at all but zig-zagging walls to prevent line of sight from the outside. Not enough of these yet unfortunately.

 

[medhead]

You can wash your hands 50 times, dry them with sterilised hand towels, then sterilise your hands with a Dettol anti bacterial hand sanitiser, but its all pointless because in Australia some idiot decided that most toilet doors open inwards, requiring you to use your hands again. (Unless you can do what I do which is try to strategically time my exit with someone else's entry/exit and use my feet to hold the door)

Why don't public toilet doors either have an auto open/close or simply open outwards?

One thing I love about a large number of euro toilets. Everything is auto, taps, soap dispenser, etcs. No doors either. So no need to touch anything.

 

[markis10]

A welcome trend is to not have doors at all but zig-zagging walls to prevent line of sight from the outside. Not enough of these yet unfortunately.

Have they put the door back on for the mens room in Syd J?

 

[flyingfan]

Have they put the door back on for the mens room in Syd J?

Pretty sure I had to push a door open when I was last there just before the year-end maintenance. But there are two sets of toilets there aren't there? Behind the kitchen and another at the far corner?

 

[jetlagger]

One thing I love about a large number of euro toilets. Everything is auto, taps, soap dispenser, etcs. No doors either. So no need to touch anything.

I'm with you on that one. Why do we always seem far behind the adapting & adopting technological advancement in Australia.

 

[medhead]

I'm with you on that one. Why do we always seem far behind the adapting & adopting technological advancement in Australia.

Tea Tree plaza in Adelaide has moved that way. It's a Westfield, so hopefully it rolls out to other shopping centres.

 

[whatmeworry]

So if the air dryers are shooting germs 2 metres around the room, drying your hands on paper towel isn't going to make much difference. In all likelihood, you've gotta walk through the "germ cloud" to exit.

Germs are everywhere. It is all about minimising the dose you receive. The Body can fight off small doses but even a healthy immune struggles if it gets a higher enough dose of germs.

Coincidently you should have heard the fuss at Parkville CSIRO when Dyson put in some of them new hand dryers for free. Most of the Phd's kept washing their with paper towels.

 

[Poisson]

I have to agree with the first respondent on the News site - this obsessing with "germs" is leading to an overall reduction in the immune system of the whole community. I'm not saying we shouldn't practice common hygiene (and courtesy) but let's not get all hung up on it.

First world problem!