Novel technology reduces office illness

One of the UK's leading recruitment companies has trialled a novel air disinfection device and reports a dramatic reduction in the spread of infections at the company's Milton Keynes headquarters.

Jonathan Harvey is a senior manager at the recruitment company F10. He said: "We installed an air disinfection (AD) unit from Inov8 Science within one of our main offices during April 2009 and since that time we have witnessed a substantial drop in the levels of staff sickness."

The AD unit is a small device that plugs into a normal mains socket and emulates the natural air disinfection properties of the open air by emitting a constant low-level stream of hydroxyl radicals which attack airborne pathogens such as bacteria and viruses.

Laboratory trials proving the effectiveness of the AD unit have previously been conducted at the Health Protection Agency's laboratories at Porton Down and at Leeds University.

Harvey continued: "We were aware of the success that Inov8 Science has achieved in the healthcare sector, so we saw this as an opportunity to provide a higher level of protection for our staff and to reduce staff absence through illness. We have the AD unit on a timer so that it provides automatic protection between 6am and 8pm. At the beginning of 2009, when the AD was first installed, we were unaware of the forthcoming Swine Flu pandemic so the added protection that the unit provides has been an additional bonus. Since the unit was installed, we have noticed that when staff are ill they have not passed their illness to their colleagues. For example, some individual staff have had Swine Flu but they have not passed it on to their colleagues and we are convinced that the AD unit is the reason for this."

www.inov8science.com