MEDIA RELEASE
10 June 2021
Image attached: Touchpoint Shield
New coating gives FMs silver lining for a safer hybrid future
Facilities managers are being offered a new super-tough antimicrobial coating to help improve hygiene standards in the post-pandemic workplace while controlling key cleaning costs.
Touchpoint Shield uses proven silver ion technology to destroy pathogens. Scientific studies show it is highly-effective against bacteria and viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19.
Field trials have confirmed these excellent results and have shown Touchpoint Shield is significantly more effective at controlling the growth of microorganisms than standard cleaning, at a fraction of the cost.
The coating, created by soft FM service specialist SafeGroup, gives facilities managers and employers vital support and advantages as the UK moves out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key sectors include commercial, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and leisure.
Chris Macdonald, SafeGroup's Strategic Business Director, says: "Our facilities management customers are impressed with the benefits Touchpoint Shield delivers in terms of hygiene standards, wellbeing and cost control.
"The reopening of workplaces, at a time when there is continued concern about potentially more risky SARS-CoV-2 variants and when employee and customer expectations about hygiene standards have been raised, has huge implications for hygiene budgets.
"Touchpoint Shield is a solution to this challenge. We have been able to demonstrate to very large office-based employers through field trials that the coating allows them to reduce touchpoint cleaning costs by 80% while actually improving hygiene standards."
The near-invisible coating, half the thickness of a human hair, is designed to protect frequent touchpoints against the build-up of potentially harmful pathogens.
Items it can applied to include door handles, door push plates, stair handrails, desks, chairs, equipment controls, vehicle door handles, toilet lids and sink taps.
Touchpoint Shield will also help provide the enhanced hygiene standards expected by employees and customers in post-pandemic workplaces, futureproofing new hybrid working systems against further shocks.
Chris Macdonald explained: "New hybrid workspaces being envisaged now are likely to be much more collaborative and dynamic, with more intensive and flexible use of smaller spaces, certainly involving more hotdesking.
"In such environments, having in place highly-effective, yet unobtrusive and cost-effective, hygiene measures that allow these spaces to work as required, will be vital. This is where Touchpoint Shield delivers a significant advantage."
Unlike other products, based on the fitting of anti-microbial covers or plastic films, Touchpoint Shield does not alter the aesthetic look of interior spaces, seen by many property managers as a key advantage.
Touchpoint Shield is an advanced ‘liquid glass' ceramic coating. It is impregnated with silver ions which destroy microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and mould, rendering them harmless to humans.
When applied to a surface it forms a powerful co-valent bond that can only be broken with the application of a specialist gel. This is why SafeGroup can state with confidence it will remain in place for at least three years.
Independent laboratory test results show Touchpoint Shield reduces SARS-CoV-2 on non-porous surfaces by 99.6% and on sofa textile by 99.99%. It reduces E coli and Staph bacteria on non-porous surfaces by 99.95% and 99.94% respectively.
SafeGroup has also carried out live-environment trials that consistently confirm these results and show Touchpoint Shield significantly outperforms standard high frequency touchpoint cleaning.
Chris Macdonald says: "Our trials have shown that colonies of potentially harmful bacteria multiply rapidly just minutes after a touchpoint has been cleaned. With Touchpoint Shield in place, regrowth is stopped in its tracks.
"This proves that intensive touchpoint cleaning, for example once an hour, may be well meant, but is likely to be largely ineffective."
Ends
For more information, contact Andy Comber
07889 630440
About SafeGroup
SafeGroup provides integrated emergency soft FM and specialist waste management services. It previously operated under three brands, CleanSafe, WasteSafe, and PestSafe.
The company operators four depots, nationally, and operates in all commercial and industrial sectors, including healthcare, transport, logistics, construction, manufacturing and education.
Key services include COVID-19 cleaning, fire and flood cleaning and waste management, crime scene cleaning, fly-tip clearance, hazardous waste removal and advanced pest solutions, including pest proofing.