Sanitizers – An Opportunity For the Ladies & Gents?

Ceris Burns, International Marketing Manager with Kennedy Hygiene Products looks at the benefits sanitizers can bring for every washroom.

Until I joined Kennedy I must admit that I'd never seen a sanitizer. Even now, working within the washroom industry, I rarely see them installed unless I slip into the gents. Despite promising considerable long term cost savings for WC's and urinals, sanitizers are still installed much less frequently with WC's and hence little seen in the ladies room.

Approximately 35% of away from home washrooms now have sanitizers installed, a meagre 3% of these being installed with WC's.

"This is a market sector with plenty of potential for development", says Jean Shelley, Sales Director with Edenbridge based hygiene management service company, Greencare Environmental.

Why aren't more sanitizers installed with WC's?

Often sanitizers are considered a cost rather than a cost saving, so in many cases they are installed only where an air freshener cannot suffice to combat malodours, for example, gents urinals.

However, deodorising is merely a result of anti-scaling and anti-bacterial primary functions. An efficient sanitizer will prevent the build up of scaling in pipes, surfaces and trap areas and continually combat harmful bacteria. These are preventative measures beneficial for both WC and urinal.

Jean Shelley continues: "We tend to install sanitizers mostly on urinals. The reason for this is quite obvious." Few sanitizers are actually installed with gents or ladies WC's.

Simon Smith Managing Director of CSS Washroom & Matting Services, Coventry reinforces this: "Originally sanitizers were brought out for use with urinals. Urinal pipes are much smaller than those of toilets so the problem of build up is greater. Certainly the action of a sanitizer is more essential in the case of urinals."

"Each individual situation needs to be assessed closely. An installation could be an effective solution for a customer and an attractive additional sales opportunity for the service provider or on the other hand it might be over sell."

So which benefits do sanitizers bring?

Long Term Cost Savings

An effective sanitizing system can prolong the life of urinals, WC's and associated primary plumbing, hence offering real long term cost savings.

Urine results in the build up of uric salts which form uric scale. Scale collects particularly in waste outlets and traps, this combined with lime scale not only leads to malodour but also blockages within fittings.

Problem Prevention

Sanitizers introduce regular controlled doses of active hygienic formulations into the fixtures of urinals and WC's. These formulations include friendly bacteria which break down scale and other organic materials providing continuous protection for traps, pipes and surfaces.

Unfastening traps to unblock them is not only a filthy horrible job, more often than not it is also extremely time consuming. These days traps are often located behind panels so access can be at least difficult and at worst impossible -yet another reason to prevent blockages.

What's more, effective sanitizing formulations prolong the life of ceramic surfaces and pipes by reducing stains and scale every time the WC/urinal is flushed.

Promote Maximum Hygiene

The story isn't just about protecting plumbing though. Sanitizers also do what their name suggests, they sanitize and in doing so promote maximum hygiene.

Anti-bacterial Action Inside & Out

Comments Dominic Budgen, Office Manager at Greencare Environmental: "Effective sanitizing solutions incorporate anti-bacterial agents which control the growth of harmful bacteria, not just inside the bowl but also on the toilet seat".

Flushing a WC which has a sanitizer installed can reduce the number of harmful bacteria both inside the toilet and the transfer of bacteria onto the toilet seat/nearby surfaces via the ‘sneeze effect'.

The 24 Hour Janitor

A good sanitizing formulation not only controls harmful bacteria, it also washes away faeces during the flush. Adds Dominic: "It's like having a toilet janitor on call 24 hours a day".

He continues: "You are no longer allowed to use bleach in the workplace and where sanitizers are installed you shouldn't even need to. Talking about urinals, we tell customers, you just need hot water and a brush. The sanitizer will do the cleaning if it has a multi-action prep."

So what is the ideal sanitizing system?

A flexible service oriented dispenser coupled with an effective, environmentally friendly consumable are essential.

The Dispenser

A sanitizer must be reliable, durable and efficient. Simon Smith explains the priorities for CSS: "Flexibility in programming is key for us. We pride ourselves in tailoring our service to the customer's requirements. Some service companies set units on low settings to save on refill costs but this can be counter productive. The customer might not think the unit is working if dosing is infrequent and in areas where hard water is prevalent a low setting won't suffice. We work to suit the customer, often meaning an 8-12 week service schedule for an office location, while a more frequent service is best for a 24 hour manufacturing environment for example."

Simon continues: "Units can get too fancy and overcomplicated. At the end of the day we must be able to do servicing quickly. Programming and refill replacement must be easy. A sealed, no leak cartridge is preferable. It's also important that the unit is tamper-proof so only authorised staff can amend settings, and we prefer battery status alarms to be optional so we can avoid call outs."

The Prep

Has to do what it says…

A good sanitizer consumable must do what it says on the can. If the consumable prevents uric acid build up, it stops scaling and malodour, which results in zero customer complaints and that's what every service specialist wants.

Biological & Environmentally Friendly

A number of biological consumables are now available and are preferable when you bear in mind that we are all moving towards being more environmentally friendly. Some large corporates and particularly councils are already obliged to adhere to environmental regulations.

Non-hazardous/Non-Irritant/Non-Corrosive

It is taken for granted that a consumable must be non-hazardous and non-irritant for environment, personnel and end user. It goes without saying that the solution must be non-corrosive to ensure compatibility with the septic tank and piping.

Fresh Localised Fragrance

A fresh localised fragrance, whilst not being of key importance for the sanitizer, does add to the perception of a clean and pleasant washroom environment thus enhancing a positive user experience.

Selling The Sanitizing Concept

It's not surprising that considerably more air fresheners than sanitizers are found in washrooms. We all have at least one air freshener at home and therefore decision makers are quite comfortable with installing commercial air fresheners in away from home washrooms.

"With sanitizers it's different," confirms Jean. "It's all about selling the concept." It appears that decision makers need to be educated to accept the product, be made aware of the important job it does and take on board the long term savings on offer.

In conclusion, Jean highlights the importance of the sanitizer: "If a customer can only install one unit in the gents then I'd recommend a sanitizer every time. If a urinal has a considerable malodour problem, the installation of an air freshener won't help one little bit. In fact installing an air freshener in this situation could be detrimental to the service company as the customers' problem will not be solved."

Ends

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