It’s a new way of thinking, a different mindset: specifying an effective antimicrobial material for hygiene-sensitive environments to help break the chain of infection and curb the spread of disease.
Antimicrobial Copper with its copper alloys, including brasses, offers proven efficacy against the organisms threatening public health today, including so-called hospital superbugs, like MRSA, norovirus and E.coli. While such pathogens can survive on other materials for days, weeks, even months, they are rapidly destroyed on Antimicrobial Copper surfaces. Antimicrobial Copper surfaces work continuously – day and night – between touches and between cleans, contributing towards a more hygienic environment and improving patient safety.
Antimicrobial Copper alloys are cost-effective and durable, and available in a range of colours to suit all design themes, from the rich reds of the high coppers through the warm golden-yellows of the brasses. These colour choices can help designers create a warmer, more soothing, healing environment and help reduce contamination and the risk of infection.
The interior elements and products that could benefit from copper’s antimicrobial properties include worktops, banisters, door handles and push plates, bathroom fittings such as taps, grab rails and even toilet seats. Specialist equipment can be designed or upgraded by considering the touch surfaces and using copper alloys for these. Upgrading existing installations provides an opportunity to engage with your clients again. The antimicrobial properties are intrinsic to the metal so last the lifetime of the product, even if subject to knocking and scratching, and offer continuous protection against disease-causing germs. At end of life, products are 100% recyclable and so contribute towards sustainable design.
The CDAA provides information on the scientific proof from laboratory and clinical trials, details of which components should be upgraded to Antimicrobial Copper, a directory of products and installation case studies from around the world.
Submitted by: Copper Development Association Africa
Image supplied by: Copper Development Association
