How Washroom Roller Towels Help Keep the Germs Away
Hand hygiene has been a hot topic over the last 18 months with soaps and sanitisers on everyone’s weekly shopping list. While still a crucial part of keeping our hands clean, hand towels, washroom roller towels and hand dryers have had much less attention.
Singing ‘Happy Birthday’ several times a day, following handwashing diagrams and repeatedly using sanitiser dispensers have all become normal. But the topic of drying our hands with roller towels or other methods, and importance that the hand towel plays in the battle to fight germs, seems to have been largely forgotten.
Why do we need roller towels?
It’s not just the water and soap or sanitising chemicals that rid our hands of virus-causing bacteria. The rubbing action plays a large part too by scraping microbes off your hands. Completing your handwashing routine by drying your hands with the friction of a roller hand towel, increases your chances of being germ free.
Bacteria thrive on warm, wet hands that haven’t made use of washroom roller towel dispensers, making them a breeding ground for any germs that you come into contact with as soon as you have finished washing. Even after the use of hand dryers, moisture can remain on the palms of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails – the perfect breeding ground for microbes which can be passed on to anything, and anyone, you touch.
Rubbing hands together under a warm air hand dryer could potentially just transfer germs from one hand to another. By installing a roller towel holder, you are providing your staff and visitors with the facility to literally rub away any bacteria that remains after handwashing.
What are the advantages of a cabinet roller towel machine?
All good roller towel suppliers, such as phs Group and phs Besafe will ensure that roller towel machines are suited to the area and usage levels that you need. Here’s just some of the reasons why the humble roller hand towel might win you over:
More hygienic – the best roller towel dispensers keep used and unused roller towel fabric in separate compartments to avoid cross infection. Couple this with an effective laundry process which is designed to remove all viruses from the roller towel fabric, while minimising environmental impact, and you can be certain that you’ve made a choice that will benefit the health of your staff and visitors, as well as your business.
Less mess – used paper hand towels and sheets from industrial paper towel rolls can cause an unsightly mess in the washroom, not to mention proving an attractive breeding ground for germs. How often do we remove two or three paper towels when one will do, throwing unused towels straight into an often overflowing bin or down the loo? Not so with cabinet roller towel machines that automatically rewind the used section of hand towel into a separate compartment within the unit, leaving washrooms clean and tidy and germ-ridden roller towel fabric away from the clean, ready-to-use towel roller.
More economical – the cost of paper towel rolls bulk buying can soon mount up, along with the expense of regular cleaning to remove paper towel waste and the added refuse collection costs. You might be surprised at how soon the cost of roller towels for sale or rent can soon save you money. You may also discover reduced costs resulting from not having to pay call out fees for plumbers to deal with toilets, urinals and sinks that have been blocked with paper mess.
No power required – a roller towel holder can be located on any wall, regardless of access to electricity. This makes roller towel dispensers ideal for old buildings where cabling is limited and mobile sites where electricity is unavailable. Of course, the lack of requirement for electricity also means saving on your power bills.
Quieter – in many circumstances, the noise of hand dryers can be invasive - interrupting office meetings, drowning out school or college lessons, preventing patient rest and frightening small children. Roller hand towels make little noise and can’t be accidentally set off when a washroom user walks past. Their quiet operation also makes roller towel cabinets suitable for already noisy environments, such as kitchens and staff rooms.
Comfortable – made from soft cotton, roller towels are far gentler on the hands than paper alternatives and the repeated use of hand sanitisers.
How to change a roller towel
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, state that washrooms must contain a suitable hand drying option, which means that towel rolls, paper towels or hand dryers must always be available to employees.
If you retain the roller towel services of phs Besafe, we’ll provide regular deliveries of hygienically clean roller towel refills to your door, and show your staff how to change roller towels so that they can ensure uninterrupted access to hand drying facilities, without having to call out an electrician at any stage. We’ll also remove your used roller towels for intensive cleaning (washing AND drying) at one of our state-of-the-art, award-winning laundries, ready to go again.
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