Emma Segelov, MK Electric’s EMEA Marketing Operations Manager, examines what building owners, operators and employers can do to make indoor spaces safer and healthier, now and long after the pandemic ends.
People have become more attuned to what’s happening to change the spaces that they occupy, use and interact with to make them safer.
In a recent study commissioned by Honeywell and carried out by Wakefield Research of workers’ perceptions on the health and safety of their workplace, a staggering 78% of those currently working remotely are especially sceptical about the safety of work sites.
In the UK, half of the participants interviewed were concerned about transmission through touching a surface that has the virus (51%) and through the air (49%). In fact, their level of worry for surface transfer is significantly higher compared to other employees around the world (44%).
The challenge for building owners, operators and employers is how long-term strategies can be implemented to create a healthier environment overall. Electrical wiring devices such as switches and sockets are just one of many touchpoints around a building that can provide opportunities for contagions to spread.
Therefore, choosing products that have anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties may help to reduce the risk of infections.
Modern materials
Many devices are now manufactured from materials which have these attributes, such as urea formaldehyde, making them an effective weapon in killing harmful bacteria and viruses. Products that are scratch-free, thanks to high quality mould tools, such as MK’s urea formaldehyde wiring devices, minimises surfaces for pathogens to hide, providing another way to help stop the spread of infections.
Meeting standards
To provide additional protection for users against contracting an infection from frequently touched surfaces like electrical sockets and switches, products that have been tested to the latest internationally-recognised standard – ISO 22196:2011 – should be recommended. To comply with this standard, the testing must follow the specified method – for example, the product must remain in contact with the microbes for 24 hours.
The tests also must be carried out under set temperatures and humidity levels. What’s more, multiple test samples are required and control tests are also done to provide reliable results. Claims made on products that have not been tested to an industry recognised standard such as ISO 22196:2011 may not be as scientifically robust.
Comprehensive testing
In addition to following industry-recognised standards, specifiers and installers should also look for efficacy across a range of pathogens, some of which could be more relevant to the end-client’s sector. For example, MRSA can cause a serious infection and often poses a higher risk to patients in hospitals and other healthcare environments.
Our Logic Plus and MK Base portfolios are the most widely tested wiring devices on the market, with outstanding kill rate protection against Listeria, Staphylococcus Aureus 6538p (which is known to be resistant to antibiotics), MRSA, E.coli and Salmonella, which is why they are a popular choice within healthcare settings.
Go anti-viral
Viruses too can cause a wide variety of illnesses. Non-enveloped viruses carry the proteins used to infect cells in an inner layer which is less susceptible to disinfectants, making them harder to disinfect compared to their enveloped counterparts.
It is one of the reasons why protection against Phi-X174 – one of the smallest known non-enveloped viruses – is used as an internationally recognised standard in anti-viral testing to analyse the resistance of critical PPE and air filtration systems to blood-borne viruses.
Both our Logic Plus and MK Base ranges have been tested in accordance with ISO 22196: 2011against the Phi-X174 virus, with kill rates of over 99.99% and 99.99% respectively (source: Honeywell internal data).
By investing in infrastructural changes that will help to provide a healthier and safer environment, companies can make their spaces more attractive to building users.
MK offers a complete range of products, from its MK Base and Logic Plus wiring devices, to its Prestige 3D Antibac Blue cable management solution, enabling electrical specifiers, contractors and installers to design, recommend and install a complete anti-bacterial and anti-viral electrical solution that meet the most stringent requirements.
Download the MK antimicrobial flyer here.
