Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th July 2024 Issue no. 1124
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Fourth emergency service rises to Coronavirus challenge
A 'staggering' jump in demand for decontamination services to tackle the Coronavirus pandemic has today been revealed by specialist cleaning and security company Orbis Protect.
The six-fold month-on-month increase for March was reported by the Uxbridge-based firm which is now braced for requests to more than double again throughout April as Covid-19 maintains a stranglehold on the UK economy.
The steep rise in demand has come chiefly from the emergency, social care and health sectors to protect the most vulnerable and staff along with public works chiefs determined to keep up progress on essential projects and carry out key maintenance.
While Britons are being urged to battle Coronavirus through staying at home and washing hands properly, many organisations and businesses are stepping up the fight by turning to companies such as Orbis Protect.
Orbis Protect is one of the country's leading security and protection services companies and carries out hundreds of decontaminations and deep cleans every year - but now the company is dealing with an unprecedented demand for its 'fogging' service.
"There has been a six-fold increase in demand for our comprehensive 'fogging' services over the last month and we're doing everything we can to assist in these unprecedented times," reveals Guy Other, the Orbis Protect chief executive.
"We're being told by organisations across the healthcare and public sectors that they are determined to ensure their premises are safe because they have a duty of care to patients, customers and their own staff - and to protect everyone from Coronavirus.
"We have never seen anything like this staggering rise in calls for our help but I'm proud of the way my team are rising to the challenge of meeting customers' needs on the frontline and combatting such a highly contagious and deadly bug - for me they're like the fourth emergency service."
'Fogging' is a vaporisation process in which a solution is poured into a dispenser that creates a very fine mist that once sprayed, hunts for bugs and viruses for the bacteria and it smothers 99.9% to death - including Coronavirus.
In order to keep pace with the spiralling demand, Orbis Protect now has 60 specially trained staff who are qualified to carry out 'fogging'.
Orbis takes every step to ensure a discreet and highly efficient service is provided, designed to minimise disruption.
Louis Fordham, Orbis Protect's business development director, adds: "Our teams are working around the clock because they are relishing their opportunity to disarm Covid-19 and help everyone get back to normal.
"We have responded to customers' needs by ramping up training to make sure our staff are fully qualified to carry out 'fogging' work to the highest standard through rigorous and carefully monitored assessments.
"We never subcontract our fogging services and that not only safeguards staff against Covid-19 but it means we know work is carried out properly and processes are followed meticulously. That provides peace of mind to customers who can be certain targeted areas are thoroughly sanitised - because 'fogging' gets everywhere."
The treatment is cost-effective in comparison with traditional cleaning and because of the speed in which the process can be fulfilled. Through vaporization, all airborne and surface-based pathogens are destroyed, so there is no need to move furniture or equipment around for the treatment to work.
Established in 1981, Orbis Protect has 18 offices across the UK, employs 450 staff, a fleet of over 160 vehicles and a turnover of over £30 million. It boasts multiple British Standards and ISO Accreditations
Membership is held at the Institute of Workplace & Facilities Management, British Security Industry Association, British Pest Control Association, Suzy Lamplugh Trust and British Safety Council and the organisation is also accredited by Contractor Plus, CHAS, Environmental Agency, SafeContractor, Constructionline Platinum and Builders Profile.
Clients' sectors include national housing associations, construction, facilities management, care homes, NHS, the police, insurance and asset management.
16th April 2020