Can biotech support the healthcare sector with deeper cleaning and reduced emissions
The COVID-19 pandemic has once again shown healthcare to be arguably the most important sector. And cleaning and sanitisation within healthcare are absolutely essential. Healthcare therefore uses an exceptionally high volume of cleaning and sanitisation products.
The products used need to be highly effective but what if the range of products used were not only efficient in keeping surfaces clean but also helped the healthcare sector reduce its Co2 emissions at the same time?
How cleaning biotechnology works
Biotech-based cleaning products work by attacking dirt on surfaces. They do this by emulsifying, lifting, dispersing, sequestering, suspending, and decomposing soils. Active agents - known as surfactants - stir up surface activity to help trap and remove dirt. Surfactants can act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, or dispersants.
At BioHygiene, its cleaning products harness the power of microbes, enzymes and natural plant extracts that work deep into surfaces to break down and remove dirt, grime and grease quickly.
The microbes used within the products, specifically bacteria, are present in the spore form. When the bacteria are introduced to suitable conditions, the spores germinate, and the bacteria begin to grow, colonising the application area.
Enzymes are added directly to its formulations where they are referred to as ‘free enzymes’. They work the same way as bacterial enzymes, providing immediate action by breaking down organic matter and eliminating odours. Free enzymes are used in conjunction with bacteria to provide an initial kick-start of activity until the microbial population is established and the bacteria start to do their work.
Residual cleaning
Residual cleaning is an advantage of biotech cleaning that can particularly benefit hospitals and the healthcare sector. Whereas many traditional and non-biotech products simply clean when applied, biotech formulas continue to clean long after the standard cleaning process has finished.
Microbes break down organic matter and continue to ‘feed’ so long as there is a food source. They colonise an area, creating what’s known as a biofilm, and continue to work long after application, keeping odours at bay for longer. This means that the product doesn’t need to be applied as often, resulting in much-needed cost savings for the healthcare sector, as well as leading to a cut in CO2e.
CO2e reductions
There are many ways using certain products can help contribute to a reduction in CO2e. Where and how raw materials are sourced, the need to use less product and the type of packaging used can all have a substantial impact.
BioHygiene uses a combination of ecotec and biotech ingredients including plant extracts, microbes, enzymes, and fermentation extracts, all with favourable ecotoxicity profiles and low health hazards. Extraction of raw materials is carried out in Europe, reducing transport-related CO2e from sourcing ingredients. The eco-solvents used are made entirely from renewable, biobased resources that replace and reduce conventional solvents and hazardous chemicals and achieve a neutral or positive CO2e impact. Additionally, a long-lasting cleaning action enables customers to use less product, resulting in fewer deliveries and fewer CO2 emissions from transport. Less product also means fewer bottles are used, reducing overall plastic waste. For instance, the plastic bottles used to package its range use 100% post-consumer resin (PCR), saving a further 85% CO2e.
Clearly, if the products are sourced from the right place, with the right ethics, it is plausible that switching to something biotech-based can help keep surfaces cleaner for longer whilst keeping CO2e lower.
What are the NHS efficacy and external audits?
The National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness introduced three auditing systems for NHS Trusts, but we’ve heard enough about the technical audit and its 50-point check, so what are the other two? Dan Teare, sector director at mpro5, explains.
What is the efficacy audit?
In short, the efficacy audit is designed to measure how you clean as opposed to what you clean and how frequently. Efficaciousness is determined using evidence-based, scientific methods. This will include:
• Checking that the cleaning operative is using the right colour coding and following all correct cleaning procedures.
• Wearing appropriate uniform and personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Using gloves and chemicals safely and adhering to safe ways of working.
• Safely moving furniture and equipment in order to clean.
• Rectifying actions are being taken in a timely manner.
There are many more metrics to be measured on, and all these questions are rated on a simple scale, it’s either a 1 or a 0.
When should I do an efficacy audit?
While trusts have the freedom to determine audit frequency, patient and visitor-facing areas must be audited for cleaning effectiveness at least once a year. But I’d say once a year is a low bar: your operations will benefit from doing these audits more often, possibly even on a monthly basis.
Unfortunately, you can’t only audit your shiniest areas. With one exception, you will need to select areas at random.
That exception is areas specifically targeted for performance review as they have not achieved safe standards consistently, or because they have high rates of infection. For areas that score 80% or less the audit findings should be used to create an improvement plan with support such as further training, investment in new equipment and materials, increased supervision, more resources, and changing cleaning times.
The external audit
Then there’s the external audit that involves collaborating with neighbouring facilities (also known as ‘auditing your mates’). Teaming up is a quick and easy way to find suitably qualified staff to act as auditors, often on a reciprocal basis.
This third-party audit performs a vital role. There are no scores involved - it’s all about the systems you have in place. Are your functional risk areas divided sensibly? Have you got a system to identify low-performing areas and how effective is your remediation process?
Admittedly, this audit is entirely subjective but it’s no less valuable for that. It’s a way of learning from others’ experiences and sharing best practice. Like the efficacy audit, this check is purely advisory but, recognising how powerful a fresh pair of eyes can be, switched-on trusts will perform this independent assessment anyway for the often eye-opening insights it can reveal.
How can a digital solution help?
I’d be remiss not to point out that all three of these audits are enhanced drastically with a digital solution. You can turn your audit from a fixed event to a continuous process: cleaning operatives can gather data as they work via a works management app and send this data straight to the cloud.
Such systems enable managers to see which areas of the healthcare facility are cleaned well and which not so well by viewing dashboard reports - and these comparisons can provide valuable insight.
For example, if you’re getting a low score for your technical audit but a high score for your efficacy audit, the mismatch tells you your cleaning operatives are doing their jobs properly but they’re simply stretched too thin. Conversely, if you score highly on your technical audit but poorly on the efficacy audit, this could mean the cleaning operatives are not doing their jobs well and you’re overstaffed in that space: they’re all doing half a job.
All audits are created equal
I’ll end by pointing out the obvious. The standards’ three-audit system has been expressly designed to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts - to give a comprehensive view of all aspects of cleaning performance, from what areas are cleaned to how well they’re cleaned and, lastly, ideas for improvement. If your trust focuses on the technical audit to the exclusion of everything else, you really are missing a trick.
Boosting cleaning productivity and efficiency in healthcare
Matt Gellie, key account manager - public services, at Kärcher UK discusses ways facilities managers can help their businesses to meet cleaning standards in a productive and efficient manner.
Maintaining high levels of cleanliness and hygiene has long been a priority for healthcare facility managers to create a safe environment for patients and staff. From the risk of bacteria proliferating in wards and treatment rooms, to trips and slips caused by spillages and waste in common passageways, to the risks to patients and hospital staff from poorly managed amenities, facilities managers must ensure hygiene standards are consistently met all year round.
The impact of the pandemic has led to increased pressures on facilities managers due to heightened patient sensitivity around what it means for something to be ‘clean’. Patients are increasingly aware of general cleanliness and whether surfaces have been disinfected or sanitised.
This increased awareness has amplified the demand on facilities managers to minimise risks to protect the health of patients and hospital staff. With the same number of hours in the day and more cleaning to be done, it is imperative that effective cleaning measures are undertaken to boost efficiency, minimise disruption and meet high cleaning standards.
Boosting efficiency
To help facilities managers tackle unwanted dirt build-up, Kärcher has devised the PDIR cleaning method. The ‘preventative, daily, interim, and restorative’ cleaning method is a strategic approach to facility cleaning that starts by tackling outdoor pollutants to stop them entering the building.
Traditional intensive and restorative cleaning requires vast amounts of time, energy, chemical usage, and disruption as areas need to be closed off to allow for the process to take place. Instead, by focusing on the P, D, and I of PDIR, cost and time can be saved by implementing regular maintenance training practices that enable facilities managers to tackle dirt head-on by preventing dirt from entering facilities, daily cleaning and disinfection of carpets and hard floors, and interim maintenance to protect appearance.
Minimising disruption
With increased cleaning demands, downtime greatly disrupts cleaning efficiency and places patients and workers at risk from the build-up of unwanted dirt and pathogens. To mitigate this, facilities managers should choose a reliable equipment provider to obtain a fleet of machines that will run 24/7 with minimal breakdown risk.
To support equipment managers, Kärcher has recently extended its servicing model to include video diagnostics where its trained engineers will help guide them remotely through fixing the machine so it can get back up and running again quickly on-site. If it cannot be solved remotely, Kärcher’s engineers will visit the site to fix the machine in person.
Meeting standards
With different teams working to maintain hospital cleanliness through all hours of the day and night, it is important that all staff can deliver a consistent quality of clean. Unique solutions such as the Kärcher Intelligent Key (KIK) system allow users to achieve this as facilities managers can pre-set cleaning modes so that all operators can ensure the same level of cleanliness no matter who is on shift.
Alongside this, it is important to ensure that staff are trained on the latest methods and how to use the machines most efficiently. Utilising training academies such as the Kärcher Academy will allow facilities managers to easily meet their targets through more robust, efficient and productive cleaning.
Keeping up with the demand and increased pressures of hospital and healthcare hygiene is one of the greatest challenges for facilities managers. However, ensuring that they have the right cleaning methods in place, the right equipment and the right training, they can meet these demands both productively and efficiently.
Sepsis: is this a breakthrough?
Could a new digital alert system help to reduce the nation’s sepsis death toll? Essity’s Liam Mynes looks at the latest sepsis breakthroughs and considers the role of hand hygiene in controlling the condition.
Sepsis is often referred to as the ‘silent killer’ and with good reason. It affects around 250,000 people in the UK each year, with hospital patients being at a particularly high risk. If sepsis is not swiftly detected it can rapidly lead to organ failure and death. In fact an estimated 52,000 people in Britain die of sepsis annually.
But the condition is notoriously hard to diagnose. Typical symptoms include fever, chills, nausea, a rapid pulse rate, and diarrhoea, all of which are also signs of less serious ailments. So it is all too easy for sepsis sufferers to slip through the net and remain untreated - until it is too late.
Scientists have been working tirelessly over the past few years to develop new ways of diagnosing the condition. And in December 2021 there came a breakthrough. Imperial Research announced that it had created a new digital alert system capable of monitoring at-risk patients for a range of infection responses. Common sepsis markers such as body temperature changes and fluctuations in heart rate can be assessed via the system. Health workers are then automatically alerted when a patient’s symptoms show signs of requiring further investigation.
While the digital alert tool is still in the development stage, it has been associated with a 24% reduction in deaths during trials involving sepsis patients. This development spells promising news. And it is just one of a series of new breakthroughs designed to improve sepsis diagnosis and treatment.
In September 2018 the NHS launched a ‘Suspicion of Sepsis Dashboard’ tool that provides staff with an overall picture of hospital admissions. This gives an indication of how far sepsis interventions are improving patient outcomes while also helping staff to assess the scale of the problem at local, regional and national level.
In 2020, researchers at the Laboratory of Bionanophotonic Systems at EPFL's School of Engineering developed an optical biosensor designed to reduce the time required for diagnosing sepsis from a number of days to just a few minutes. The portable device works by rapidly detecting sepsis biomarkers in a patient's bloodstream. And also in 2020, researchers at Ohio State University discovered that Injecting patients with genetically-edited white blood cells could be key to fighting sepsis. White blood cells were taken from healthy mice and modified to become macrophages capable of ‘eating’ bacteria and viruses. When these edited cells were transplanted into the bodies of mice with sepsis, they significantly reduced the levels of bacteria present.
These developments have all been pivotal in helping to diagnose and treat the silent killer, which is a particular issue in hospitals. Many patients are elderly and frail and have compromised immune systems, while also being surrounded by other people who are ill.
However, sepsis only takes hold in response to an infection. And according to the Sepsis Alliance, many infections can be prevented in the first place via good wound care and by practising consistent hand hygiene. Any break in the skin could allow bacteria to enter and cause an infection. It is therefore vital that all wounds are constantly monitored by healthcare staff and cleaned thoroughly between dressing changes.
High standards of hand hygiene are also of paramount importance. According to the World Health Organization, hand hygiene is thought to be able to cut the number of healthcare-related infections in general by up to 40%. The Sepsis Alliance advises frequent hand washing with soap and water followed by a thorough dry using a clean towel. Meanwhile, WHO urges all healthcare workers to adopt its ‘My five moments of hand hygiene’ which states that healthcare staff should wash their hands before touching a patient, before carrying out any aseptic procedure, after exposure to body fluid, after touching a patient, and after touching the patient’s surroundings. But while frequent hand washing is crucial to preventing cross-contamination, around 70% of healthcare workers globally still fail to practise hand hygiene on a regular basis according to the WHO’s Clean Hands 2020 campaign.
The reasons behind this poor compliance include a shortage of time, the non-availability of products and a low level of understanding about the importance of good hand hygiene protocols. Some healthcare workers also complain of poor skin health due to frequent hand washing using harsh soaps and abrasive hand towels. So it is important to ensure that skin-friendly products are always available and that healthcare workers understand the importance of using them.
Mild soaps and soft hand towels make hand washing and drying a much more pleasant experience. For example, Tork Extra Mild Foam Soap is allergy-friendly and certified by ECARF, the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation, while Tork Xpress Extra Soft Multifold Hand Towels are soft, absorbent and gentle on the skin. And a fragrance-free conditioning cream such as Tork Non-perfumed Hand & Body Lotion will help to prevent chapping and soreness when used after hand washing.
Staff should also be instructed on the optimum way of washing their hands. Essity’s own Tork Clean Hands Training module invites users into a digital world where they are confronted with a series of scenarios where hand hygiene needs to be carried out. Developed in collaboration with behavioural scientists and hand hygiene experts, the training aims to provide hand hygiene guidance in an engaging way.
Besides being skin-friendly, all hand hygiene products should be easy to use to facilitate the process for harassed healthcare workers. The Tork Skincare Dispenser has been designed to be particularly easy to use even for people with low hand strength, and the unit houses 2500 shots of foam soap which ensures that it will not run out when a hand wash is urgently needed.
In cases where hand washing is impractical or inconvenient, staff should be encouraged to sanitise their hands using an alcohol gel or hand rub. Tork Alcohol Hand Sanitisers are available in a range of formats designed for the medical worker’s convenience.
Research into finding new ways of diagnosing and tackling sepsis is continuing at pace. In February this year it was announced that a five-year US study into the role that artificial intelligence could play in Improving sepsis diagnoses and enhancing patient outcomes was to begin at Emory University, Atlanta. So the fight against sepsis has entered a promising new phase. But in the meantime, hospitals should do what they can to remain vigilant and to improve hand hygiene to help reduce the number of infections.
Jangro enhances sustainability with new range
Jangro has launched a new range of cleaning products, working with its customers to make more sustainable purchases and reduce their carbon footprint. The ntrl portfolio comprises 13 products ideal for cleaning surfaces in a variety of environments, from kitchens through to washrooms.
Produced to ISO 9001 and 14001 QMS standards, the ntrl range includes washroom cleaners, toilet cleaners, foam hand soap, multi-surface cleaner, and much more. All products within the range feature plant-based extracts and are vegan friendly. Their natural formulas are 100% biodegradable, contain zero petrochemicals and can reduce the product’s carbon footprint by up to 85%.
The ntrl Washroom Cleaner and the ntrl Multi-Surface Cleaner also contain probiotics. Rather than killing germs with chemicals, probiotics use beneficial bacteria to colonise surfaces, in effect taking over the area, including deep into hard-to-reach cracks and crevices. This means they can help to reduce the presence of harmful bacteria on surfaces.
All packaging is recycled and recyclable. Since products are packaged into PCR (post-consumer recycled bottles), CO2 emissions are reduced and physical plastic pollution removed. Outer boxes are made from 100% recycled and FSC certified cardboard. 100% of the range is made in the UK and has not been tested on animals.
Championing safer patient care for WHHD
Good hand hygiene prevents up to 50% of healthcare-acquired infections, according to the World Health Organisation - and research carried out by Essity reveals that eight out of 10 healthcare professionals would like to improve their hand hygiene compliance.
Essity’s Tork brand is calling on all healthcare organisations around the globe to establish an ‘institutional safety climate’ as it prepares to recognise this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day. The aim of the move would be to encourage hand hygiene role models and build safer patient environments.
“Proper hand hygiene saves lives,” said Essity Professional Hygiene’s marketing director healthcare, Thomas Bergin. “It’s the collective responsibility of everyone within healthcare worldwide to maintain high standards and fostering a culture of institutional safety within healthcare organisations keeps hand hygiene top of mind.”
In order to support healthcare professionals and enable safer healthcare environments, Essity has developed Tork Clean Hands Training in collaboration with behavioural scientists and world-leading hand hygiene experts. Tork Clean Hands Training invites users into a digital world where they can interact and train using WHO’s own ‘My five moments of hand hygiene’ in a realistic environment. Accessed almost 15,000 times since the end of 2019, Tork Clean Hands Training empowers healthcare professionals to achieve the highest possible safety standards. Also from Tork are a range of soaps, hand towels and hand sanitisers along with a useful dispenser placement guide based on WHO’s ‘My five moments of hand hygiene’.
“Research shows that hand hygiene dispensers have a significant impact on compliance rates, and the key to success is making sure they are correctly placed,” continued Bergin.
Does your healthcare washroom deliver?
Hand hygiene has never been more important - especially in healthcare and hospital settings where patients are more prone to picking up infections. Paul Mulready, marketing manager at Northwood Hygiene Products Ltd, looks at how washrooms play their part.
A study conducted at Leeds General Infirmary last year investigated whether viruses carried beyond washroom surfaces to the hospital’s public and clinical spaces. It found that hand washing and drying with paper towels resulted in lower rates of virus contamination compared to air dryers. The levels of contamination of surfaces after hand drying with air dryers was, on average, 10 times higher than with paper towels.
Hands up
We all know how important washing our hands is but drying them after washing is equally essential as damp hands can spread 1000 times more bacteria than dry hands [1]. It’s imperative, therefore, that washrooms in hospital and healthcare settings must be well equipped to keep staff, patients and visitors safe.
The Raphael proprietary washroom system from Northwood continues to help healthcare and hospital washrooms to deliver optimum hygiene credentials, whilst achieving performance and sustainability.
Helping to support good hand hygiene in the highest traffic washrooms, Raphael combines a number of hygiene-promoting features and offers users a choice of four hand towel dispensers. The dispensers provide contactless dispensing to minimise bacteria and the sheets are dispensed at a consistent length to facilitate effective hand drying and reduce waste. All Raphael hand drying systems dispense one at a time flat sheets to prevent overuse and, because the user only touches the paper they are using, they help to reduce the spread of germs. Made from a single-piece shell, the dispensers are easy to wipe clean and all towels are fully enclosed for added hygiene.
The roll towel dispensers hold up to 250 sheets each, providing around 500 dries, with some offering stub-roll transfer to ensure zero waste, and the folded towel dispenser has a 1000-sheet capacity. The dispensers are designed not to free roll to help reduce over usage and minimise rubbish in the washroom.
In addition to the hand drying dispensers, the high-capacity Raphael collection also includes a soap dispenser and two toilet tissue dispensers, which incorporate BioKleen technology to inhibit the growth and spread of bacteria.
Well-equipped washrooms are vital and we’re proud to support the healthcare sector with solutions that optimise hygiene, reduce consumption and minimise waste.
Carpet care in healthcare facilities
The XP range of upright vacuum cleaners from Sebo are suited for use in healthcare environments. They feature independently proven filtration, hygienic dirt disposal using sealable bags and are exceptionally quiet and light to use.
Clearly, a vacuum cleaner’s number one task is to clean. The XP range harnesses the power of an on-board computer to measure performance on the floor and continuously adjust the floor head to the optimum cleaning height, completely automatically. The integrated wand and hose mean that cleaning above the floor and reaching into awkward places is easy. The computer can also advise when the bag needs changing, or when there is a blockage, and the multiple access points and cassette style brush roller make the XP easy to maintain.
Of course, once dirt is picked up, it is essential in hospital and healthcare scenarios that it is retained in the vacuum cleaner and not released back into the air. The Health and Safety Executive recommends that we never assume that any dust is safe and that all uncontrolled dusts are potentially hazardous. Virtually all the dust and dirt which is picked up by an XP vacuum cleaner is safely trapped in the high filtration bag, which can be sealed and hygienically disposed of. The filtration of the XP has been independently tested by the DMT Test Institute in Germany to filter 99.97% of particles of 0.3 micron. Above this particle size, the filtration level is very close to 100%.
Healthcare facilities generally operate 24/7 so it is not always possible to clean when no one is around. Although there are regulations limiting the sound power level that a vacuum cleaner can reach, the quality of that sound can still be unpleasant, even where the vacuum cleaner meets the regulations. Sebo sound engineers have successfully muted the harsh frequencies to which the human ear is sensitive. The consequence is that the sound from the XP virtually disappears, making it suitable in many cases for daytime cleaning. Indeed, in any situation where low noise levels are important, the XP range is ideal.
Last but not least, Sebo believes that vacuum cleaners should be built to last and should be easily repairable. Its vacuum cleaners are built to be durable and reliable and to have a long service life using few replacement parts. Component parts are identified with the material they are made from, so that they can be recycled more easily when their service life is over.
The demand for infection prevention flexibility
Healthcare housekeeping and infection prevention teams have increased the frequency of hand hygiene and surface disinfection since the start of the pandemic. These are both key to breaking the chain of infection but, with cleaning done more often and more diligently, teams do not want their tasks to become a time-consuming burden. How can those responsible for infection prevention optimise their performance and processes?
The main requirement has understandably been for products that are effective against SARS-CoV-2. NHS and government guidelines require disinfectants to contain chlorine as the active ingredient for specific applications, and demand for this type of product has been high. These products are widely used and effective, but there are situations where alternatives can offer advantages.
While official guidelines have limited the opportunity for products containing alternative active ingredients, there are nevertheless many healthcare applications where they are permitted. Indeed, many European countries already rely far less on chlorine within healthcare. Products in Diversey’s Oxivir range, for example, contain Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide as the active ingredient. They are fully virucidal in as little as 30 seconds and meet a wide range of infection prevention standards, including EN14476 which covers SARS-Cov-2 and other viruses. In addition to being fast-acting, these products can generally be used on a wider range of surfaces and with fewer precautions than chlorine-based products. This is why many hospitals have adopted them as cleaner-disinfectants to combine these two critical steps of infection prevention into a single, simpler process.
Many healthcare facilities augmented their surface disinfection capabilities during the pandemic with ready-to-use products. These are convenient, easy to introduce, and readily available. But costs can mount up in the long run and especially when they are used frequently. Facilities with established cleaning procedures are often better served by ultra-concentrated products used in conjunction with dosing or dilution equipment. Cleaning solutions are prepared accurately and consistently on-site by adding water to a reusable spray bottle, a bucket or floorcare machine. Costs are much lower than using ready-to-use products. However, these systems must be used correctly to achieve maximum benefit and avoid any potential risks associated with the build-up of residues and biofilms.
Alongside the increased use of liquid disinfectants, hospitals have introduced adjunct technologies to complement and enhance existing processes. A number of sites have deployed Diversey’s Moonbeam3 disinfection technology devices. These emit UV-C which can destroy viruses and other pathogens that might have been missed during normal disinfection and they can also treat hard-to-reach surfaces. In this way, UV-C provides an additional layer of protection that can reduce infections and reassure patients and staff that everything possible is being done to create a safer environment.
Another technology gaining popularity is the cleaning monitoring and audit application. Systems such as Diversey’s VeriClean enable consistent checking that routine and critical tasks have been completed. This helps to maximise performance and reduce infection rates, especially on frequent and critical touch points. The data and reports available can help organisations improve compliance and CQC audit scores.
Hand hygiene is also critical. Making sure suitable products are always available helps increase the frequency and compliance levels that reduce infection rates. Where possible, ready-to-use hand hygiene products supplied in single-use portable bottles should be replaced with wall or post-mounted professional dispensing systems such as Diversey’s IntelliCare. These help maintain product availability and reduce cost-in-use by utilising consistent dosing of highly concentrated products to avoid overdosing and wastage.
Infection prevention is a critical task in healthcare. Diversey’s total solution approach draws on decades of experience to help facilities with the resources to address emerging needs, support for evidence-based cleaning and disinfection practices, and products which enhance patient safety, improve staff productivity and lower overall costs.
Pockety enhances hygiene good practice
Hygiene is a critical issue, especially in healthcare facilities: a survey conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) found that every year in Europe there are some 8.9 million infections related to care in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Hands are a dangerous vehicle for contamination, so it is essential to avoid direct contact with bacteria. In the meantime, the pandemic has required the adoption of even more stringent practices and procedures to combat the spread of COVID-19, including handling equipment used for cleaning and disinfection as if it were potentially contaminated to further protect the operator and prevent cross-contamination.
To support these new enhanced procedures and ensure the highest levels of hygiene, TTS has designed a system with the completely touch-free release of mops. Thanks to Pockety, disposing of them without coming into contact with dirt, viruses and bacteria is now a reality.
This innovative system provides improved safety and ergonomics for the operator, who no longer has to bend over to pick the used mops up from the floor. Pockety does not require effort and allows the operator to maintain the correct posture during use.
It also improves operational efficiency, saving time and therefore reducing costs: the exclusive lid design detaches the mops instantly while the symmetrical frame hooks them up in a flash, ensuring quick set-up. Pockety also facilitates improved laundry management, making operations easier - the net bag in the bucket collects the used mops, speeding up emptying and making it even more hygienic.
The new system is compatible with a whole range of mops with pockets, both washable and disposable. This allows the operator to use the most suitable mop for the type of surface to be treated and the degree of dirt that is present.
Pockety is compact, easy and versatile - the new system can be used in combination with pre-soaking methods using hermetic buckets or on-demand soaking with Dosely. Combining it with soaking systems effectively combats cross-contamination and ensures maximum hygiene throughout the process. Pockety can also be used in combination with all TTS trolleys, from the smallest to the largest.
The Pockety frame is available in the Lampo version to optimise space on the trolley, releasing extra space that can be used to carry all the essential cleaning tools the operator may need. Besides, when combined with the Ray tank handle and disposable mops, it becomes an ultra-compact system ideal for quick response or emergency sanitising operations.