Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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New child-friendly hand-dryer should help allay some youngsters' fears
A leading UK hand-dryer manufacturer has just launched an ultra-quiet, customisable hand-dryer aimed at primary schools, soft play centres and any venue aiming to make their washroom facilities more child-friendly.
Oxford-based Airdri has released the new Kiddi Quad, one of its quietest models to date, just as its research has uncovered that 38% of UK children are scared of hand-dryers; a higher percentage than are frightened of the dark, monsters, ghosts, nightmares, sharks, doctors and 'bad guys'.
The Kiddi Quad aims to help get young children used to the sight and sounds of hand-dryers in washrooms. With an extremely low sound output, it addresses the reasons behind the high numbers of children suffering with manussiccusphobia (fear of hand-dryers).
It comes in three different designs or alternatively the front of the dryer can be printed with any design, making it look less clinical and more fun and engaging for children.
The brand has also enlisted the help of a team of squeaky-clean superheroes - The Handwashing Heroes - to help remind children of the importance of hand hygiene.
Free resources including posters, sticker charts and stickers aimed at encouraging children to wash and dry their hands properly have been sent to all schools in the area local to the company. Posters are free for any school or organisation to download and print from the brand's website at the link here:
https://airdri.com/kiddi-quad-schools-pack
With extremely low running costs, Kiddi Quad could also save schools tens of thousands of pounds. It costs just £83 per year to run, compared to £940 for a paper towel dispenser, reports Airdri, which estimates that the average primary school could save over £8,000 a year by switching from paper towels to eco hand dryers, such as the Kiddi Quad. Over a seven-year period this could add up to over £60,000 in savings - positive news for schools with stretched budgets!
"Sound is a major factor in manussiccusphobia in children," notes Steve Whittall, chief operating officer at Airdri.
"Some models of hand-dryers can be incredibly noisy and often they're placed in busy spaces just at the right height for a small child to walk underneath them and set them off accidentally.
"In bringing our most child-friendly hand-dryer model to market, we've significantly reduced the sound output of the dryer when compared with other dryers from our range, which will result in lessening the 'shock factor' if a child does set one off accidentally.
"Hand hygiene is hugely important right now, especially in schools. We know that even when washed properly, bacteria and germs multiply more quickly on wet hands so we've created a campaign to go alongside the launch of the dryer, which aims to remind children of the importance of good hand hygiene - including drying their hands properly.
"In a bid to reach as many schools as possible, we're making resources available to download on our website and requests for printed materials can also be made via our website."
https://airdri.com/hand-dryers/kiddi-quad/
13th January 2022