Ardnacrusha company has the gear to kill Covid-19 virus

AN ARNACRUSHA-based specialist Covid-19 specialist decontamination and sanitisation company are planning to expand its operations over the coming weeks to cope with growing demand for their services.

While a lot of companies are either closed or scaling back on operations during the Covid-19 health pandemic, Sterile Matters are on track to take on additional staff subject to training and access to more personal protective equipment (PPE).

Having trained and secured certification for ten employees last February, the company was set up in March.

Their employees wear full PPE including a protective face mask with respirators at the side, gown and gloves to ensure that there is no exposure to the decontaminant that is being used.

Having seen the spread of the virus in China and later Europe, Ray McMahon said they looked at the best systems used in these countries for decontamination and sanitisation.

“Some people are reactive rather than proactive in this country. People are saying we will undergo decontamination when we get a case, which is defeating the purpose,” he said.

He explained the specialist equipment and chemicals used by their trained employees kills viruses and bacteria that normal wiping and cleaning will not achieve.

Mr McMahon has built up a wealth of experience working as a production supervisor in providing cleanliness in a clean room environment at Hewlett Packard for four years and Intel in Dublin.

As production supervisor, he was responsible for ensuring everyone wore PPE and that everyone followed procedures and certain criteria.

His business partner, David Byrnes from Galway has experience in providing a range of cleaning supplies for deep cleans for clean rooms and areas that needed to be decontaminated.

Mr McMahon has been working with a company in Shannon who are in the process of getting a licence to produce a new World Health Organisation approved decontaminantion solution.

He explained the company had deferred deep cleans due to a lack of specialised PPE from China.

The decontamination gear is too heavy and not flexible enough for a deep clean where disposable suits are used.

The company supplying them chemical resistant suits only got one third of what was ordered in China, so they had to prioritise requests from the HSE.

Deep clean disposable suits are on order and are due to come in at the end of the month.

Mr McMahon recalled last week the company carried out decontamination cleaning in Riverdale Nursing Home last Friday as a preventative measure to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19, which wasn’t present in the facility.

The company did two nursing homes in Dublin on Saturday.

“Some nursing homes who are looking for decontamination but their hands are tided because they can’t move elderly people who are in isolation.

“Nursing homes are trying to see how we can work around their residents as a lot of clients are not mobile,” he explained.

Ends