Sitting in for Ryan Tubridy on Thursday, Oliver Callan zipped through a selection of non-Covid related news stories, including the one about the woman who lost her 8-metre long fingernails in a car crash and the nomination of Andrew Scott's 'kneel' moment in Fleabag for a BAFTA ‘Must-See' award. (And if you haven't seen it, you must.)  After peppering his roundup with the usual startlingly-accurate impressions of politicians, Oliver got down to a serious talk with Irish inventor Brian Cunningham, whose germ-busting invention may play a big part in our lives for the foreseeable future.

Brian Cunningham has invented a device which automatically disinfects door handles after each use. As he told Oliver, Brian first began looking for ways to keep surfaces like door handles germ-free when his father contracted the bacterial infection MRSA some years ago.  Brian says that even in pre-Covid-19 times, there was always a need to pay attention to possible contamination via surfaces like door handles. He uses the example of what can happen when people use a public toilet:

"You do the right thing, you wash your hands when you're finished and you dry them properly, but then you've got to touch the door handle to get out of the washroom. If the person before you didn't wash their hands, there's a strong risk of contamination."

After years of trial and error, Brian has streamlined the invention to its current form as a mechanical device which needs no energy source to run:

"It's a very, very simple system, it's mechanical, there's no batteries, there's no power supply required. It simply sits above a door handle and each time the door is used, a small trigger clips off the door frame and automatically atomises a pre-determined amount of disinfectant on to the handle."

Brian says his door-handle disinfectant product has got the attention of some large multi-national companies, and several of his devices are now installed at the Manchester United grounds in Old Trafford. Brian says the invention provides cover in a situation where some people are not as careful about hand hygiene as others:

"We're constantly being told 'clean hands, clean hands, clean hands'. So if you're going to clean your hands, you've got to keep them clean. And the fewer dirty surfaces, such as door handles, especially as you're walking straight out after cleaning your hands, the fewer surfaces that you have to touch… that's where you pick up your contamination."

You can hear more about Brian Cunningham's invention on the full interview with Oliver Callan here.

More information on Brian's invention at hygienesolutions.com.

Ruth Kennedy