Manufacturers Respond to Demand for Antimicrobial Copper Touch Surfaces

05 December 2011

Product manufacturers in the UK and Europe are recognising rising market demand for antimicrobial copper touch surfaces – among them hospital ward equipment, door furniture and taps – and responding by offering innovative product ranges designed with infection prevention in mind.

Among the new wave of products, UK-based manufacturer AS Hardware have launched a new medical range at the annual Healthcare Estates event, attended by facilities managers and infection control professionals. The range includes IV drip poles and dressings trolleys in a silver-look copper alloy that benefits from the metal’s inherent ability to continuously kill bacteria, viruses and fungi in-between cleans.

AS Hardware’s Director Tony Ellis explains: “ASH are seeing a growing market for antimicrobial copper alloy products. Having started with copper door furniture, we are now pleased to offer a wider range of products in a resilient, hard-wearing and aesthetically pleasing silver-coloured copper alloy. As we manufacture all goods in house, in the UK, we are flexible and have been able to respond quickly to market demand.”

Also in the UK, Pegler Yorkshire will be launching a range of hospital taps in brass – a copper alloy benefiting from the metal’s inherent antimicrobial quality – to help avoid recontamination after hand-washing.

Pegler Yorkshire’s tap product market manager, Mike Dickinson, explains: “As the healthcare industry strives to prevent the transfer of infectious bacteria, and with taps being one area of a hospital that is continuously used, it is imperative that manufacturers develop new products to help combat the issues facing the industry. The results of research conducted by specialists across the world has shown that the antimicrobial benefits of copper far outweigh any other product on the market.”

The new products bear the Cu+ mark, which signifies the products are capable of continuously killing pathogenic microbes even in between cleans. They are listed amongst offerings from other companies in the Product Directory on http://www.antimicrobialcopper.org and mailto://bryony.samuel@cooperdev.org.uk

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