Rada, the commercial shower and washroom division of Kohler Mira, believes its new Rada Sense completely no-touch, electronic water control system could have a positive impact on helping to prevent MRSA cross infection.
Rada Sense is a no-touch control that offers the unique benefits of safe, thermostatically controlled water supply with the ability for the user to vary the water temperature for hand-washing, showering or bathing without touching the control.
These features make Rada Sense well suited to assist in meeting the guidelines on regular and correct hand-washing set out in the Matron's Charter action plan for cleaner hospitals, whilst removing the problem of cross-infection from the manual operation of taps.
As Roy Minett, Commercial Marketing Manager of Kohler Mira explains, the Rada Sense addresses a number of health and safety issues that can adversely affect hospitals and healthcare establishments.
The Rada Sense hands-free infra-red control panel can activate both water flow and temperature. This photograph available as a hi resolution jpeg - contact Mike Waring at the address below if you require this format.
"In hospitals and the wider healthcare sector, there are major initiatives such as the Matron's Charter to help control the MRSA super bug with official statistics indicating that the number of deaths in which MRSA has been cited as a cause having doubled in the past four years," he explains.
"However good the hand washing regimes, there will always be cross infection from hands as a consequence of manual operation of taps. With Rada Sense, the no touch control panel eliminates these opportunities.
Within the healthcare environment, there are also other potential dangers to patient health. One such danger is that posed by legionella and again, Rada Sense can play a key role in removing the conditions in which legionella can thrive. Roy Minett comments again.
"It is a well known fact that the risk of legionella breeding rises when peripheral outlets are not in regular use and where 'dead legs' occur. The Health and Safety Commission's 'Approved Code of Practice L8' advises that flushing through these outlets for several minutes at ablutionary temperatures can significantly reduce the numbers of legionella discharged from the outlet.
"The Rada Sense has a duty flushing facility that can be programmed to automatically perform duty flushing on peripherally located baths, showers or basins at hourly, daily or weekly intervals, whichever is appropriate.
"The Health and Safety Commission's 'AcoP L8' also recommends routine thermal disinfection as a means of preventing or controlling legionella. This can be achieved by activating the Sense thermal disinfection facility which - under supervision - allows hot water at a temperature of at least 60°C to be flushed through the electronic mixing valve and all outlet pipe-work. Of course this is simply not possible where conventional TMV's are fitted," Roy Minett adds.
At the heart of Rada Sense is its concealed electronic mixing unit, which, by using Rada's unique T-logicŪ technology and custom-developed software, offers the facility manager in hospitals or healthcare environments the capability of adjusting pre-set flow and temperature parameters to suit a particular application need as required. The mixing unit is supplied factory-set to comply with TMV3 safe temperature settings for hospitals.
This promotes safety in areas where users are vulnerable or where there is a duty of care to the young, infirm or less able.
Entirely UK designed, Rada Sense offers a unique combination of safety, hygiene and absolute thermal control using ground-breaking technology that exceeds the TMV3 performance levels and satisfies the demanding IEC61508 standard. IEC61508 is an internationally recognised standard for electrical and electronic equipment that is used to provide a safety function.
There are a range of Rada Sense options for basin, bath, bidet, shower or bath/shower water delivery systems offering wide potential for applications in hospitals and healthcare environments.
For further information on this exciting new range of products have a look at www.radasense.com
To contact Kohler Mira call (01242) 282527 or fax (01242) 282404. e-mail: Rada_Technical@mirashowers.com
ENDS
* Accredited to NHS Model Engineering Specification D08.
