The facility uses 400 masks a month for training exercises in fire simulators and for lending to fire brigades who run out of masks after major incidents. All these masks used to be cleaned by hand – but now this job is performed by a MEIKO washer-disinfector.
"The work safety team came to do an on-site inspection when we were still washing the masks in dip tanks. Although we had the doors and windows open, the health and safety officer's eyes started watering – and the TopClean M was ordered virtually the very next day!" says Werner.
"It's a huge step forward in terms of health and safety," says Werner enthusiastically.
Obviously Werner and the five other members of the BA cleaning and maintenance team at the FTZ also looked at other brands when they were choosing a machine, but none of them were suitable: "One of the machines wasn't approved either by the mask manufacturers or by the the independent DEKRA EXAM test lab, and the other option used 200 litres of water for every wash cycle. We couldn't even bring ourselves to look at how much electricity it used, but we did see that the overall cleaning cycle – up until the masks were completely dry – took 2.5 hours!
Proof of just how unsatisfactory the manual cleaning method really was has come from a completely unexpected source at Potsdam-Mittelmark FTZ: "We're gradually replacing all the inhalation valve disks because only now is the dirt on them finally starting to come loose."
The BA mask wearers will be pleased to hear that.
