Challenge: hygiene in offices and factories

5-minute read

In times other than those of the recent pandemic, where many people have been forced to work from home, the majority of the working population in Germany spends their working day in offices and factories. This will hopefully again be the day-to-day reality very soon now. Which means this is the perfect time to think about recommissioning installations – and the next steps.

Before long, plenty of people will be coming and going – and not just employees, but visitors, customers, suppliers or business partners. Many premises will also have a canteen. The number of people that frequent the building is also high. Appropriate sanitary facilities must therefore be provided and, in many factories, changing work clothes after a shift will then be followed by a quick shower before heading home. The challenges faced by these kinds of buildings are obvious: heavy and constant use of WCs, urinals, wash basins and showers by large numbers of people. This is made more problematic by shutdowns during company holidays, for example – or recently because of Covid. Last but not least, every building operator obviously wants the drinking water installation to be run economically. SCHELL offers effective solutions to meet all of these requirements.

Electronic fittings have many advantages

Electronic fittings from SCHELL for wash basins, WCs, urinals and showers offer optimum user hygiene, with contactless triggering and cleaning-friendly surfaces. The vandal-resistant fittings also offer cost-effective operation, while stagnation flushes are straightforward and effective to achieve. This is especially important if showers will not be used for a longer period of time and stagnation could occur in the supply lines. As a result of the atomisation of water that occurs when showering, there is a risk of harmful bacteria such as Legionella entering the airways directly and causing a serious case of pneumonia. This is not only a health hazard that causes economic losses as a result of employee sickness, but may even result in lawsuits against the company from those affected. Regulations require a complete exchange of water throughout the installation and at all tapping points at intervals of no more than 72 hours, to prevent the dangerous spread of bacteria. This means routine stagnation flushes are essential – and there is one solution that is even more simple and comprehensive than using electronic fittings to run stagnation flushes.

Systematic, cost-effective safety

The SCHELL SWS Water Management System networks electronic fittings to provide central control of stagnation flushes and protect drinking water hygiene. The specified normal operation of the system is supported by automated stagnation flushes according to legal requirements and the simultaneous flushing of multiple fittings. This approach ensures the creation of an adequately strong turbulent flow across all pipe cross-sections. All usages, stagnation flushes or thermal disinfections are also logged securely. And anyone looking to work on-the-go only needs to access the  SMART.SWS  cloud service. This remote access solution makes it easy to keep tabs on water management – and therefore hygiene in the drinking water installation – from anywhere, including working from home.