You have installed a modern hand disinfection turnstile at the entrance to your facility and have taken an important step towards creating a hygiene barrier. Your staff can no longer enter the production area without disinfecting their hands. But is this enough for complete protection? Our experience shows us that even with the best of intentions, some critical details can be overlooked and this can create weak points in your hygiene barrier that you may not be aware of. Let’s take a look at these hidden dangers together.
The most common mistake is to think of hygiene only at the hand level. Your staff’s hands may be spotless, but what about the millions of microorganisms they carry on the soles of their shoes? An effective hygiene barrier is a whole. Therefore, the hand disinfection tourniquet must always be supplemented with a boot disinfection unit or at least a disinfectant mat. Staff should decontaminate their shoes at the same time as disinfecting their hands. Otherwise, you are leaving the window of the door you locked open.
The second hidden danger is mis-positioning. If you install even the most sophisticated system in a place where staff can easily get around it or where there is an alternative access point, the investment is meaningless. As Protek Hygiene, the first thing we look at when designing a project is personnel flow. By combining all entrances into a single controlled point, we make it impossible to bypass or bypass the barrier we have set up. The success of the system depends as much on the right architectural planning as on its technology.
Finally, don’t forget consumables, the soul of the system. When your turnstile runs out of disinfectant or uses a solution that has lost its effectiveness, that expensive technology becomes just a pile of metal. Regular monitoring of disinfectant levels, selection of the right and effective products and raising awareness of the personnel on this issue are vital for the continuity of the system. Remember, a perfect hygiene barrier is not only possible when the right equipment comes together, but when it works as a whole, with the right strategy.