One of the more common questions we hear from people when asking about our CleanTech® Automated Handwashing Systems is, “Isn’t a hand wash supposed to be at least 20 seconds long?” It's true, a proper manual hand washing technique should at least take 20 seconds and should often even be longer. A 12-second hand wash sounds too good to be true! With CleanTech® we’ve engineered the perfect hand wash to ensure that every person removes more than 99.9% of pathogens in just 12 seconds, every time.
The Mechanics of an Automatic Hand Wash
As you know, in a proper manual hand washing technique a person needs to wet their hands first, then ensure that they lather with an adequate amount of soap, thoroughly scrub each area of their hands properly, and finally completely rinse their hands. This process should of course at least take 20 seconds, but an ideal manual hand wash should take longer to ensure proper pathogen removal. That’s why we knew we needed to reinvent the entire handwashing process from scratch when we built CleanTech®.
With CleanTech® Automatic Handwashing Stations, we’ve replaced the scrubbing action present in a proper manual hand washing technique with 40 jet nozzles, 20 per hand, that are designed in an optimal pattern to be able to remove harmful pathogens. As the two cylinders rotate around each hand these jets spray onto the hands into cracks and crevices of our skin to ensure more than 99.9% of harmful pathogens are removed. There are even 4 nozzles pointed directly at the fingertips to ensure these high-touch areas are especially clean.
The first 6 seconds of the CleanTech® hand wash rinses the hands and sprays our UltraPure hygiene solution onto the hands. For the next 6 seconds rinses the hands completely with 100% potable water. With each hand getting full wash coverage separately, you can rest assured that the hands are being thoroughly washed in nearly half the time of a manual hand wash!
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The Efficacy of an Automatic Hand Wash
When reinventing the handwashing process, we also knew that traditional hand soap is not ideal for optimal pathogen removal. We created UltraPure hygiene solution to work with our CleanTech® systems to provide an even better hand wash experience and we even backed up our new process with over 50 clinical studies.
We found more than 99.9% of harmful pathogen reduction for pathogens such as norovirus, E. coli, Serratia marcescens, and human coronavirus. Using regular hand soap in a manual process could not get anywhere near this level of pathogen reduction due to the overwhelming number of variables present.
Time isn’t the only factor when performing a proper manual hand washing technique. Type and amount of soap used, scrubbing technique and even water flow all play a factor in an effective manual hand wash. A CleanTech® system eliminates all these factors that could reduce a hand wash’s efficacy and instead uses automation to provide the exact same hand wash for every user, every time.
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The Benefits of an Automatic Hand Wash for Food Safety
Regular sinks used in many food processing facilities have a large amount of cross-contamination touch points that can lead to more food safety risks for those facilities. Manual sinks, wash fountains and soap dispensers are often triggered by a lever or pedal that requires a user’s touch before or after the handwash.
To eliminate cross-contamination touch points, with a CleanTech® automatic hand wash, each hand wash cycle is triggered by a photo-eye sensor that detects when a user has placed their hands in the system. All the user must do is leave their hands in the system during the 12-second countdown and they’ll receive a completely touch-free and highly effective hand wash!
Food safety managers do not have to worry about policing the hand washing techniques of their teams with automatic hand washing since all manual variables have been removed. Making sure that every employee is standing in front of a sink for at least 20 seconds is no longer required at facilities with CleanTech®. Our systems also meet FDA and USDA standards to be used in food processing facilities, bringing peace of mind to food safety experts across the country.
Learn more about our different CleanTech® Automated Handwashing Systems
