Keeping your working environment free from the possibility the Covid virus has been a challenge for many businesses, especially on the sectors where there is a higher volume of workflow between staff member or client visits.
As part of the Boost My Business initiative, we spotlight two companies whose solutions focus on eliminating Covid-19 in the workplace.
Northern Irish family business OKTO Technologies is helping Irish businesses in the fight to secure their businesses from the impact of Covid-19 spread.
The Lisburn based company, which started in 1982 selling analogue TV aerials, have expanded into audio visual and are now developing smart building technology systems which includes their most recent OKTOair product.
Their plans with this tech were slightly escalated as a response to the Covid situation.
"Whenever the whole lockdown came in we were extremely nervous and I just really didn't know what way it was going to affect our whole business," says Managing Director of OKTO Technologies, Philip Dowds.
"Our workshop and our off-site production didn't stop at all, we just upped our health and safety - we're very fortunate," he says.
Pre-Covid the company's research and development division was working on an air cleaning solution for 18 months but the arrival of the virus in Ireland sped up the launch.
"The intention has always been to focus on technology to improve wellness, so that was always on our roadmap, but because of the whole Covid and the air quality situation, we could really see our system can really help here," explains Dowds.
The air quality solution, OKTOair, delivers solutions to two different markets. The first model for the built environment is a built-in solution which monitors air quality coming into the building, it blocks any polluted air from entering while recycling the air inside.
"It's a fully engineered solution that is built into the fabric of the building. The filters are built into the ventilation systems and the air quality monitors feed to touchscreens panels or iPads," the company's boss explains.
"At its most basic level, there are standalone filters which can sit in a surgery or, or a retail shop or a restaurant that are effectively cleaning the air and removing particles and viruses and so on from the environment, keeping people healthier," says Dowds.
Testing of this new AI-led disinfecting filtration system, which is specifically designed to address indoor air contamination is so advanced it has been proven to remove a proxy virus for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, from the air with 99.98% elimination within 10 minutes and 100% in 45 minutes.
"The air is passed through a high voltage electric charge, which kills the bacteria," he says.
"Apart from the Covid-19 situation, it still has a lot of other benefits, improving people's productivity and alertness and so on - having a cleaner environment is better for humans," he adds.
The company's clean air solution was only launched last month and already they have clients in Dublin and the UK.
Another Irish business who has seen success with a solution to help eliminate the virus from rooms is Co Clare product design and manufacturing company CW Applied Technology.
The Shannon based enterprise has developed a portable system which uses UV-C light to eliminate the viruses in rooms, surgeries and offices.
Their success has seen them secure a distributer in the US who is keen on getting the UV-C Steriliser into schools.
CW are used to designing and manufacturing products for many companies across Europe and the US but this is the first time the team, of five years, has developed their own product.
"It's based on ultraviolet C light which has been around for 100 years plus, and it's very much accepted as an inactivator of viruses and a killer of bacteria - that's an accepted fact," explains Managing Director John O’Connell.
Each unit is equipped with casters for maximum portability, a 750cm power cord, on/off switch with 2 a two minute delay, timer and carry handle. The unit's physical size is 500mm x 500mm x 540mm and it weighs 12kgs.
It is also possible to stack the units on top of each other to increase efficiency in larger workspaces.
"We're selling to hotels, to care homes, offices and schools are now beginning to contact us. We're actually selling more to schools in the US than we are in Ireland," says O’Connell.
"We have a relationship with a company in the US, based on us providing a service to them for manufacturing in Europe. They contacted us having seen some of the content we've put on LinkedIn regarding this ultraviolet steriliser, and said they'd like to represent us in the US if we were interested in that," he says.
"They have a huge client base, not just in the US, but around the world - in the hospitality sector in particular," he continues.
"They were interested in circulating information to their clients. They then discovered by accident, due to one of the people in the company having to go to a school parent meeting about re-opening, that UV-C was being considered in US schools."
Apart from the rather obvious advantage of UV-C eliminating the virus upon contact there is another important advantage to using UV-C lighting as a sterilising solution, according to O’Connell.
"It gives a level of reassurance for the owner of the hotel or wherever that there's no chemicals involved," he says.
"There's no residues left after you've used this so you can walk into a room straight after it switches itself off."
"Anyone with skin conditions or health conditions - there is no side effects or no impact that you may get from a chemical spray," he adds.
