With COVID-19 continuing to impact all walks of life, many professionals in our industry feel that the pandemic could have a more permanent effect on how we do things moving forwards, particularly for the cleaning and facilities management industries.
High on the agenda of discussion is disinfection and the use of Fogging as a means of extra precaution in the workplace. But what is Fogging? And can it help provide British workers and their management with piece of mind when back in the working environment.
Fogging, as the term suggests, uses disinfectant sprayed from a Fogging machine to create what looks like fog in the room. It is an effective way to disinfect high levels of horizontal surfaces, hard to reach areas that are often missed or forgotten and small, and confined spaces such as extractor units. It can also be effective at disinfecting vertical surfaces.
Generally, Fogging should be viewed as an additional, belt and braces measure that is used following successful cleaning and disinfection practises. As the flowchart illustrates, the technique should be regarded as the top-level measure for disinfection and should not be considered as a replacement for cleaning & disinfection practices.
It should be noted that Fogging is not suitable to sufficiently disinfect closed section such as electrical control panels, box section and similar – it also has little impact on downward facing horizontal surfaces.
As mentioned, vertical surfaces are likely to receive minimal contact with the disinfectant fog due to the weight of the wet solution, which will cause downward fall. Interestingly, trials from some electrostatic Fogging manufacturers have been conducted to electrically charge the droplets of disinfectant and prevent the droplets from falling – but further trials are ongoing.
Fogging provides the user with a range of benefits – some have been touched on but the full list includes:
BioHygiene’s surface sanitisers, which are suitable for Fogging, have proven effective on surface and demonstrated up to 5 log reductions after 5 minutes.
Despite its many benefits, fogging does have certain limitations:
All three of our approved sanitisers are suitable for Fogging, these include:
Our range of sanitisers all utilise eco-friendly, naturally derived, mild surfactants and a natural fermentation extract to produce an environmentally responsible and sustainable cleaner and disinfectant.
They are tested and approved to:
Fogging can be used across various sectors as an additional measure for disinfecting. It is used commonly in food and beverage production in environments such as abattoirs, where there is a lot of bacteria from raw meat.
It is also effective in open areas such as schools, universities, and empty hospital wards – as long as any electrical equipment is adequately covered or removed.
Until recently, Fogging has not generally been seen as suitable or necessary for the public sector. However, due to the Coronavirus outbreak this looks like it may begin to change. The general public and the government will use any measure possible to prevent a second wave and the Fogging of public sector areas and public transport could give extra piece of mind to everyone; as well as preventing the virus from contaminating surfaces.
It must be stressed that no-one should enter the fogged area for AT LEAST 60 minutes (time dependent upon disinfectant used) after the air supply is turned off – unless they wear a respirator and have full skin and eye protection.
Fogging Parameters
Example Calculations:
For the number of fogging nozzles required the basic calculation used is:
N = Q/(TxF)
N = minimum number of nozzles
Q = volume of dilute disinfectant
T = time taken to discharge fogger
F = liquid flow rate of nozzle
One litre of dilute disinfectant at recommended concentration of 1% w/w (1:100) will cover 100 cubic meters as a fog.
Area A = 3,000 cubic meters
Thus, Q for Area A is minimum 30.0 litres.
Set T at 25 minutes, F is 0.15 litres per minute.
Thus, for defeather:
N = 30.0/(25x0.15) = 8 nozzles i.e. 3 triple nozzle fog jet trolleys
BioHygiene team member and author of this blog, James Nayler, has worked several years in the hygiene industry, beginning his career in the Food & Beverage sector where fogging is standard practice on a regular basis.
James’s experience in fogging and BioHygiene’s dedicated technical & sales team allow us to build confidence with our end users. BioHygiene are able to assist with dilution, application and health & safety advice.