Laboratory tests have shown it to be greater than 99.96% effective at destroying the SARS-CoV-2 virus, significantly reducing the microbial load on surfaces like taps, door furniture, and worktops. The coating has been installed in time for the UKAEA to provide enhanced surface protection against the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Raising hygiene standards
Also important for the UKAEA was a solution that protected against other pathogens with a long history of causing sickness and millions of lost working days every year. These include flu, norovirus, and the bacteria, such as staphylococcus, that cause gastro infections.
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted employers to want to raise workplace hygiene standards across the board to a new level. This is driven, in part, by the huge swathes of extra – and more accurate – data they now have, thanks to the pandemic, about infection risks and transmission, and the advantages of improved controls.
It is also the result of the heightened anxiety about workplace hygiene. Employers who have been persuading colleagues to return to offices know that, for many, COVID-19 has been a gamechanger. For many, there is no going back to pre-pandemic hygiene standards. Levels of knowledge and concern about all harmful microorganisms have increased and need to be addressed to support wellbeing and mental health.
“The COVID-19 pandemic may (we all hope) be entering an end phase, but its influence will remain.”
Workplace trial success
For the UKAEA, the nature of its work has also been a key concern. Its research is highly collaborative – scientists and engineers from around the world visit the CCFE, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, to work on complex experiments. Providing these teams with assurance that hygiene control measures are as effective as possible is a high priority.
It came as no surprise to us that the UKAEA wanted proof that Touchpoint Shield was the solution it needed. It is, after all, a leading scientific institution and follows the stringent evidence-based health and safety protocols shared across the energy sector. As a result, we worked with the authority’s facilities management team to carry out a series of trials.
Keith Musgrave, the UKAEA’s Head of Buildings and Facilities Management, explained: “SafeGroup has worked with us to undergo pilot testing of Touchpoint Shield over a six-week period at the height of the pandemic.
“Following the results of controlled testing over several locations, the results were conclusive as to the coating’s effectiveness. Touchpoint Shield has now been applied to areas throughout the site.
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“It is our intention to continue to add this process to our new builds and building refurbishment projects. The level of service from SafeGroup throughout the whole process has been efficient, collaborative and totally professional.”
Fast installation
The installation programme was carried out by a team of SafeGroup technicians. Touchpoint Shield has been applied to showers, toilets, and taps at multiple locations across the 200-acre fusion energy research site. The application process is relatively quick and simple, and treated areas can be returned to use in a matter of hours.
SafeGroup’s technicians are trained to ensure all targeted surfaces are thoroughly coated, that the product is applied efficiently, with a high-quality finish, and accurate installation data is recorded.
What has also impressed the UKAEA is the quality of the finish the coating provides. Its active antimicrobial agent is silver ions, which have long been proven to destroy many viruses, bacteria, mould, fungi and many parasites. These are impregnated within a ‘liquid glass’ coating of billions of nano-ceramic particles. It’s these particles that give Touchpoint Shield its toughness, and they also make it extremely smooth.
Controlling cleaning costs
Adam Clark, Building and Refurbishment Manager at the UKAEA, commented: “Touchpoint Shield provides long- lasting antimicrobial protection on all surfaces while also making them so much easier to keep clean. Treated surfaces also look excellent.”
This means the coating is not just providing extra anti- microbial protection, it’s also improving cleaning efficiency. This is a point proven by previous trials.
Applying Touchpoint Shield is far more effective at suppressing microorganisms than high frequency cleaning, so cleaning regimes can be returned to pre-pandemic levels, significantly reducing costs. Nor do you need to be one of the world’s leading fusion energy research centres to benefit.
Among other key clients are shopping centres that have many hundreds of metres of handrail on staircases and around upper floor balconies. Applying Touchpoint Shield protects these high-touch surfaces against SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens, and prevents the build-up of dirt and grease.
For brass handrails, it also prevents tarnishing. Before being coated, this tarnish had to be removed every day. By applying one coating of Touchpoint Shield, our clients are benefiting from quite astonishing savings in cleaning costs.
Meeting a long-term need
We are certainly pleased that a scientific establishment of the UKAEA’s rigor is installing our coating, but it is already proving to have wider application than perhaps at first envisaged. The same will certainly be the case for other antimicrobial technologies in a changing workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic may (we all hope) be entering an end phase, but its influence will remain.
www.touchpointshield.co.uk twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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