Issue Date: 5 September 2013
Ref: DIV13/19
ALL OUT ATTACK ON INFECTIONS
In many businesses the biggest threat to ongoing operations and reputation among customers can be an infection outbreak. Loss of income when business is interrupted is bad enough but the loss of reputation, often won over many years, can be hard to regain. Infections can enter a business and affect employees, guests and customers at any time of the year so it makes sense to protect against them in every way possible.
Infections spread most readily through hand-to-hand contact. This is why providing suitable hand-hygiene facilities is absolutely vital. Sealed Air's Diversey business offers a wide range Soft Care hand soaps and disinfectants that can be used in all areas. In addition to products for washrooms the range includes special disinfecting formulations without perfume for food preparation areas and products for frequent use with added skin softeners. Alcohol-based hand-rub disinfectants such as Soft Care Med H5 are available for high-risk areas and medical applications.
People also pick up infections from contaminated surfaces and frequent-touch points such as door-knobs and light switches. These should all be cleaned frequently to eliminate the risk of infections spreading. Diversey’s all-new Oxivir Plus is a daily cleaner and disinfectant with broad-spectrum capability against a wide range of infections that is ideally used for all-year-round protection. Its unique formulation contains Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide (AHP) which means it can be used as often as needed on a wider range of hard surfaces than products containing chlorine. It can be used on metallic surfaces such as chrome and brass. It is also Woolsafe approved and can be used on fabrics, upholstery and soft furnishings.
Another part of the equation is fabric care, particularly in hotels, care homes and similar businesses where high throughput of guests from different parts of the world can increase the risk of infections being introduced into the premises. Contaminated bed and bathroom linen which has been laundered inefficiently can present a risk to subsequent room occupants. Diversey offers a complete range of Clax and Horizon fabric care products including advanced formulations such as Horizon/Clax Bright which eliminate infections at low temperatures with reduced energy and water costs.
Many infections are only evident after days of incubation following initial contamination. By the time the infection has caused an outbreak it will already have spread further. This is the main reason why daily processes must focus on prevention rather than removal and why it is important to have products in stock all-year-round and use them regularly. Without knowing where an infection will enter a business the only option is to cover as many potential vulnerabilities as possible. This is why Diversey offers infection prevention and control products covering every aspect of a business’s operations for daily, periodic and emergency cleaning.