RCP presents practical solutions during the pandemic

Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) is a leading global provider of hygiene, cleaning, waste and safety equipment to multiple industries. RCP proactively listens to the needs of the market and works closely alongside commercial facilities to keep them, their staff and their customers safe.

During the pandemic, healthcare facilities have been frontline environments battling COVID-19. The everyday heroics of medical staff in these extraordinary times have been highlighted globally. We are all in their debt.

Different governments have reacted differently, but cautionary advice has been consistent. To protect people and places against COVID-19 ensure regular hand hygiene activities, enhance cleaning and waste procedures and maintain social distancing measures. These measures are simple but present challenges for many sectors. Within a healthcare facility they form a critical barrier to the spread of infection.

Hand Hygiene
Healthcare facilities were considered the most forthright proponents of hand hygiene prior to 2020 and have still seen a dramatic increase in the need for hand hygiene provisions. Existing standards such as the WHO’s 5 moments guidance for interacting with patients continues to define hand hygiene requirements in places where healthcare professionals and patients interact, such as wards and treatment areas.
RCP’s contribution to the various settings of healthcare hand hygiene has been through free-standing hand hygiene stations and wall mounted dispensing solutions.

Hand hygiene stations can be securely deployed wherever needed providing instant hand hygiene via alcohol or alcohol-free hand rubs. These stations are touch operated, eliminating cross contamination risks, while manual units mitigate contamination risk with antimicrobial touchpoints.

RCP hygiene stations and wall mounted dispensers contain sealed soap refills rather than bulk soap systems. Sealed refills are preferred for all facilities as they eliminate the contamination risks inherent in bulk refill systems. The contamination potential of bulk soap systems was undesirable before the pandemic and is now unacceptable when we consider the transmission pathways for viruses, germs and bacteria.

Whether in bathrooms, or elsewhere in a facility, efficient hand hygiene is achieved through quick and easy access to products that keep hands clean and safe without contamination risks.

Enhanced Cleaning
While hand hygiene can help prevent the spread of germs and bacteria, surfaces are also a primary point for cross contamination and should be attended to regularly. Nurses stations, receptions, visiting areas and more have communal surfaces where indirect contact can be a transmission risk.

In a healthcare facility, cleaning products need to perform well, wherever they are used, under whatever conditions. It is no use stocking a cleaning cart with ten different products for ten different jobs because that limits the amount of each product you can stock and your ability to clean thoroughly.

RCP’s cleaning products place adaptability at the core. Microfibre products such as cloths, mops and mitts are embedded with zig-zag technology that removes 99.9% of microbes under any conditions, with or without bleach. Both reusable and disposable microfibre cloths are available in multiple colours to prevent cross contamination. Reusable cloths can endure up to 500 wash cycles before they need to be replaced.

By replacing multiple cleaning products with adaptable and durable or disposable microfiber products, healthcare facilities improve their ability to clean alongside demonstrating visible cleaning to the patients and visitors.

Waste Management
The result of any cleaning process is not just cleaner, healthier surfaces, but the accumulation of waste.

Throughout healthcare facilities, there are multiple points where waste is created and stored prior to transportation. In both cases, WHO advice(1) is to isolate waste in closed lid containers or sealed waste bags to prevent germs spreading through interaction with the air. Bags should only be filled three quarters of the way to prevent spillages.

RCP waste management products provide safety through closed-lid units that isolate waste. Contamination risk is further reduced through foot operation rather than manual handling and smooth resin construction make them easy to clean between uses, eliminating lingering threats.

Guidance
In addition to practical product solutions for healthcare, RCP have been working on digital solutions to support facilities through the pandemic and into the reopening phase.

Sector specific best practice guides rounding up the relevant hand hygiene, cleaning and waste management guidance have been enthusiastically received. A return-to-work preparation guide has been created alongside documentation highlighting the health risks of bulk refill soap systems.

Constant dialogue with businesses helps RCP understand the needs and expectations of professionals across the healthcare sector. Taking this information and using it to develop products that solve multiple challenges makes RCP the leading choice for performance and ROI.

Find out more about Rubbermaid Commercial Products by visiting Rubbermaid.eu or emailing SalesSA@newellco.com

(1) WHO Safe Management of wastes from health-care activities – https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/85349/9789241548564_eng.pdf?sequence=1

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