Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 28th November 2024 Issue no. 1140

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Campaign launched to protect EV drivers at the charging point

GripHero, which claims to be the maker of the world's only single-item release static-safe hand-protection dispenser, is drawing attention to the importance of protecting the health and wellbeing of Electric Vehicle customers who are prone to picking up contaminants and illness from recharging point handles.

The campaign follows research which reveals that charging points are teaming with germs that have been shown to be transferable to others seven times before leaving the skin.

While the world's attention has focussed sharply on preventing the spread of Covid-19, other illnesses, contaminants, biohazards, viruses and chemicals are commonly passed on from the hand of one EV driver to the next user via the recharging point.

It is for this reason that GripHero has created its surface-mounted hand-protection dispenser, which releases individual items of protection at the point of charging, forming a barrier between hand and external surfaces.

With an enviably low CO2 footprint for hand-protection, GripHero's 100% recycled plastic hand-protection is an excellent choice for environmentally conscious EV drivers. It gives users absolute certainty that they are protecting themselves and their families from picking up superbugs and contaminants from recharging point handles, at minimal cost to the environment.

Worryingly, the research undertaken by Busbud, showed that EV recharging handles carry 7,890 colony-forming units per square inch, and are particularly prone to yeast, which can cause skin infections. The study revealed that of the colony-forming units encountered, over 5% were gram-negative rods which tend to be resistant to antibiotics and can cause deadly infections such as meningitis and pneumonia. Some 76.29% were gram-positive rods, 1.36% were gram-positive cocci and 22.89% were yeast-based.

"Forecourts are attuned to the idea of protecting motorist from coming into contact with fuel pump handles, as that can result in foul smelling, fuel impregnated hands,” notes Oli Yeo, inventor and managing director of GripHero.

"With EV recharging points, there's no fuel residue transfer, but that's far from the full story. Once you realise that hands regularly transfer illness, germs, and contaminants, it becomes clear that it is the general health and wellbeing of all customers that is at stake.

"Covid-19 has highlighted the issue, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. By providing customers with easily accessible hand-protection, the issue of sickness or contaminant transfer is dealt with. That's because hand-protection creates an immediate barrier between skin and external surface which prevents illness and germs as well as undesirable or dangerous substances from being transferred between drivers who touch the same surface for significant periods of time.

“Installing hand-protection dispensers is a simple and easy step to protecting motorists in the new post-Covid world where the emphasis has to be building back better."

GripHero is a dispenser that is located on the nozzle itself, but can also be bought as a wall-mounted dispenser for multiple locations. It has been designed to be effortless both for members of the public to use, and for forecourt operators to install, maintain and refill. Unlike some other dispensers, GripHero is exactly where you need it, when you need it. It dispenses only one piece at a time reducing waste and the likelihood that customers will ever have to refuel without having on-the-spot access to hand-protection.

Using ATEX certified anti-static materials, GripHero removes all chance of fuel vapour ignition at the pump, blocking the static spark between drivers and fuel equipment. This makes GripHero what the manufacturer believes is the only hand-protection system which is internationally permitted within the fuelling zone.

Globally, GripHero is currently supplied to forecourts which serve over 500,000,000 drivers annually. Further significant domestic contracts are under discussion and a number of trials are at an advanced stage with large oil companies and supermarkets across the world. GripHero's 'hand-protection' are protective covers for the hand.

Research shows the fuel pump nozzles are 11,000 times dirtier than the typical toilet seat: www.busbud.com

MulGripHero has won both the 2019 APEA Environmental Protection & Improvement Award and the 2019 APEA Innovation Award.

T: 01837 811 035
W: www.griphero.com

16th September 2021