#100 Hand-Dryer Height

I have previously blogged about handwashing, but I have not yet blogged about hand drying. It's not the act of hand drying (or lack of hand drying) that bothers me, but rather the location of the hand dryers in some public restrooms.

It is my opinion that a hand dryer of any sort, whether it be an electric warm-air dryer, or even a paper towel dispenser (either touch-free or manual, like the one pictured here), be located at or below the height of the sink. I recently had to use the restroom featured in this photo over the course of three days, and it annoyed me every time I used the restroom.

In this restroom, the paper towel dispenser is a good two to two and a half feet above the sink. When this situation occurs, after someone washes their hands they actually have to reach up to pull down the paper towel... which (let's not forget about gravity here) means that the excess water from their hands will run down the length of their forearm until the water can be removed via the paper towel. Also consider manually operating this dispenser: one has to pull the lever down several times in order to get their desired length of paper towel to dry their hands. The act of pulling the lever downward several times also exacerbates this problem. This problem can be avoided by operating the paper towel dispenser before handwashing begins, if it is thought of initially.

Why install these hand dryers so high on the wall? I suspect the person who installed this particular hand dryer was a tall male who found it much easier to install at eye-level instead of bending over or crouching down to install it at a lower height. Installing the dispenser at a lower height would also make replenshing the paper towel much easier as well!