Entering a world with a new emphasis on holistic sanitation, it’s important to consider all aspects of our society to truly understand the number of items that require deeper cleaning than they ever would have received in the past.
Helping maintain power to buildings, our electrical control rooms are some of the most crucial pieces of infrastructure. A primary goal for electrical designers is to minimize the potential for downtime in control rooms, as outages in these sensitive spaces may have lasting negative repercussions.
While electrical rooms receive regular maintenance, the arrival and impact of coronavirus is creating an increase in sanitation efforts, notably in places where it wouldn’t have been a priority in the past.
According to the Center for Disease Control, the tiny droplets produced by sneezes, coughs, and even conversation can travel “up to about 26 ft and on average roughly 20 ft.” Due to this factor, in conjunction with our knowledge of how coronavirus spreads, it’s crucial to ensure proper cleaning practices are in place throughout occupant spaces.
Electrostatic Cleaning
One option for owners is renting or installing an electrostatic cleaning system for their electrical control rooms. The process is widely used in laboratory and healthcare settings, making it an interesting option to sanitize highly-sensitive electrical equipment.
This disinfection process works by deploying an electrostatic mist, that is combined with air and atomized by an electrode inside the sprayer. Containing a positive charge in the spray, it's able to aggressively adhere to surfaces and objects. This process strips dust, debris, and germs from a given space.
With maintenance personnel now needing to take extra steps to ensure their space is up to cleaning standards, the electrostatic cleaning could be an effective, lasting solution, ensuring the longterm sanitation of a space. Before owners and operators go forward with any cleaning options, however, seeking assistance from a commercial cleaning service is incredibly important.
Cleaning System Controls
While all components of electrical systems aren’t commonly used by their operators, the system controls themselves typically receive a high volume of contact, oftentimes coming from many different people. In order to keep these operators safe, it’s crucial to ensure proper sanitization measures for these controls.
Owners should also consider adding a plastic screen over any buttons on their control panels. Germs and dirt that land on these controls fall between buttons, making it more prone to contamination. Plastic screens prevent particles from getting stuck in cracks and allow for easy sanitization.
Regardless, owners should be cognizant of the potential transfer of germs deriving from their controls. With different hands required to operate the equipment, frequent cleaning helps prevent the spread of disease between operators.
Make sure your systems are running strong
Especially for aging electrical equipment that hasn't received an evaluation in some time, an engineer provides key insights on what needs to be done to keep an owner's system at peak operation.
For an evaluation of your facility's electrical system, contact Tec Inc.'s Tim Pool, PE, RCDD, who has nearly 30 years of experience ensuring client satisfaction to a wide variety of owners.
Contributor
Timothy Pool, PE, RCDD
Executive Vice President
Tim Pool is known for his genuine desire to make Tec Inc. a great place to work. He regularly shares his knowledge with younger staff and walks the walk of an engineer who gives back to our industry and community. Now executive vice president and our director of engineering, Tim runs an internal committee at Tec Inc. dedicated to the future of design; one of our differentiators. Tim is not only passionate about engineering, he also understands the importance of developing meaningful relationships — a value we live by at Tec Inc.