Controlling Infection on Touchpoints With Antimicrobial Technology

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24 November 2020

As a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping touchpoints in any building clean and safe has taken on an urgent significance in 2020.

Despite UK government’s COVID-secure workplace guidance, recent research shows that three out of four people in the UK do not feel safe going back to the workplace, while 86 per cent said they would avoid a location if they didn’t think it was COVID secure.

As confidence around hygiene remains low, P-Wave^® is working with facilities managers to ensure they’re taking the right safety precautions, around touchpoints in particular.

Door Furniture Amongst Most Touched Points in Business Premises 

One of the biggest challenges in any building is keeping regularly touched surfaces, or hotspots clean and free from bacteria and viruses. Door furniture is among the most-touched of all of these in business premises, and is one of the fastest ways for infections and viruses to spread. 

The typical handle in a public toilet is home to up to 40,000 germs per square inch, and standard handles are one of the largest carriers of healthcare-associated infections.

Keeping surfaces clean can only ever be a temporary measure as each person who touches a door handle transfers new bacteria, which multiplies and spreads to other users. Traditional stainless steel or painted handles increase the spread of infections by providing an area for transmission to occur, creating more carriers.

P-Wave^® Sales and Marketing Manager Mark Wintle explained:

“What if the door furniture was antimicrobial and anti-bacterial, creating a permanent solution, which is effective against bacteria and viruses and continues to protect in between your standard cleaning intervals?”

Antimicrobial Silver Ion Technology

P-Wave’s Steri-Core antimicrobial silver ion technology door furniture helps reduce the spread of bacteria and viruses. Tested and proven effective against MRSA, E-Coli, Salmonella and Norovirus, the products feature a high concentration of antimicrobial which is blended with the polymer during the manufacturing process and forms part of the molecular structure of the product.

This ensures that the silver Ion technology is active all the way through to the core of the handles. So unlike coated products or films, even if they become scratched or damaged, Steri-Core handles will continue to kill pathogens effectively for the life of the product, and each handle has a 10-year manufacturer guarantee.

Patents have been granted for the range and independent tests prove that P-Wave’s Steri-Core products are made from the world’s only material clinically proven to kill the non-enveloped EPA FCA Strain F9 of Human Norovirus (ISO 22196:2011). 

P-Wave^® is currently awaiting results of tests to prove that its Steri-Core products are also effective against coronavirus, which – according to the American Chemistry Council – is an enveloped virus and easier to kill than non-enveloped viruses.

Picture: a photograph of a person touching a door handle

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 24 November 2020

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