UAE ahead in hand washing, share concerns for public washrooms, air quality at work, and overall environmental impact
Dyson has released the findings from its global hygiene research, revealing the latest on attitudes around hygiene habits in public spaces such as washrooms, common areas, and workplaces. This is Dyson’s second iteration of the survey, and includes respondents from the United Arab Emirates. 
 
According to the research, people living in the UAE are concerned with the hygienic quality of public washrooms. The areas that residents found the most unhygienic included unclean toilets, lack of soap or paper towels, and having to press physical buttons. UAE respondents preferred cutting-edge devices with clean air filters and non-contact hand drying over traditional technologies.  Residents expressed their concerns about air quality in indoor and common areas, with an emphasis that air cleanliness is crucial in schools as well as workplaces. When it comes to the impact on the environment, UAE respondents said they were concerned about the current use of disposable and single-use products, demonstrating a need for more sustainable solutions. 

Hand washing decreases, yet public washroom concern is high
In Dyson’s 2020 study, 84% of respondents said they were washing their hands with soap and water 5 or more times a day, with the majority washing hands 8 or more times per day, since the pandemic started. In 2021, the percentage washing 5 or more times per day dropped to just 74% globally, with only 1 in 2 people doing so in Japan. The United Arab Emirates was above the global average with 87% of respondents washing more than 5 times a day. 

Simultaneously, however, the percentage of people concerned about visiting washrooms remains high. Globally, 65% of respondents said they were more concerned about visiting a public washroom in July 2021 than they were the previous year. There are many possible explanations for this, including but not limited to the easing or increased disregard for measures like masks, or timings - some early lockdowns lifted throughout summer 2020, prior to the dramatic spike in cases through the second half of the year. The UAE, Taiwan, and Turkey report the highest concern levels, with at least 74% claiming to be more concerned in 2021. 

Older technologies drive hygiene fears
Echoing results from the 2020 survey, the technologies that continue to drive hygiene concerns with using hand dryers may be more associated with conventional evaporative hand dryers and could be avoided with an alternative choice of machine. When asked about the biggest concerns when using a hand dryer, 32% globally are still concerned about drying hands with unclean air and 38% worry about having to press physical buttons, just 2 percentage points down compared to last year. Technology solutions can negate these concerns: the inclusion of air-cleaning filters, a feature that 45% of respondents were reassured by, ensures hands are dried with clean air, and touchless technology, which would reassure 57% of respondents, are both Dyson standards. Interestingly, UAE respondents said if they were made aware that a hand dryer had been supplied by Dyson, 71% would feel more comfortable to use it.

In a new question for 2021, respondents were asked how concerned they were about the impact of single-use, disposable products on the environment. Asked to consider items such as face masks, gloves, disposable cups, and paper towels, 3 in 4 UAE respondents expressed their concern about the associated environmental impact, which could demonstrate an appetite for more sustainable solutions such as reusable cups, washable masks, and hand dryers. 

Awareness up but education needed
Despite the uplift in public education campaigns focused on health and hygiene throughout the pandemic, less than 1 in 3 (29%) across the world claim they dry their hands for hygiene reasons, with many drying hands for convenience or just doing it out of habit. This number represents a decrease vs 2020, when 40% of respondents dried their hands for hygiene purposes. 

Dr. Salome Giao, Senior Microbiologist and Scientist at Dyson explains, “These results highlight the need for further education on hand hygiene. We know damp hands can transfer up to 1000 times more bacteria than dry hands while wiping hands on clothes can jeopardise the hand washing process, as they can add bacteria to the washed hands if they are not clean.”

Asked for the first time in 2021, UAE respondents who have a workplace away from home demonstrated significant concern (68%) over the air quality in their indoor place of work. Globally, 67% claimed to be concerned and in some regions, the proportion was as high as 90% (India and Mexico). When asked specifically about both office and education environments, an overwhelming 82% answered that air purification was important in both types of space.