Intertek Launches Surface Hygiene Testing for Facilities and Workplaces as part of the Intertek Protek Health, Safety and Wellbeing Assurance programme
10 Jun 2020
(London, UK) Intertek, a Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, is pleased to announce it has launched a new service that can test a variety of hard surfaces for evidence of Covid-19. The service is the latest offering as part of Intertek Protek - the world’s first end-to-end health, safety and wellbeing assurance programme for people, workplaces and public spaces.
Covid-19 can be spread from contaminated surfaces through every day human activity or airborne droplets in building ventilation systems and aerosolised viruses can settle on horizontal services such as desks, tables, and floors. As employers and businesses across the UK prepare to safely open up their facilities, stringent hygiene standards will become mission critical. Environmental hygiene monitoring of key areas can provide a proactive approach to reducing the risk of spreading the virus and provide peace of mind to employees and customers. Specifically, by testing environmental surfaces, companies can monitor the effectiveness of their hygiene protocols and enable management action such as isolating areas to allow further cleaning.
The Protek facilities service for surface hygiene testing can be performed by Intertek experts at customer sites by taking swabs of specific surface areas or through customers pre-ordering these and following instructions to take the swabs themselves. The Intertek laboratories are based centrally in the UK, and upon receipt of the swabs being received will be securely handled with rapid turnaround time for testing via PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) methodology, allowing the final results to be reported as soon as analysis is complete. This will enable customers to know if there is evidence of Covid-19 on their surfaces so they can act accordingly.
Intertek Protek’s innovative service offering is designed to support all businesses in across every sector including hotels, restaurants, transportation hubs and education facilities - all of which are facing the same fundamental challenge of protecting people in their working environment.
Rob van Dorp, CEO Intertek UK & Eire said: “Intertek’s goal is to help ensure the health, safety and well-being of people, workplaces and public spaces. We know that this is now the number one concern for everyone, everywhere. We are proud to be able to support our customers in making their workplaces and facilities safe for employees and the public. Our latest surface hygiene solution is an essential part of the ongoing detailed health and safety monitoring strategies that business owners will have to put in place – supporting them to protect employees, customers and operations from Covid-19 infection, and therefore minimising risks to provide them with confidence in their procedures.”
Based on Intertek's unique, systemic approach to quality assurance, Protek is a comprehensive service offering, providing audits, training and service solutions across people, systems & processes, facilities, materials & surfaces and products. Protek includes end-to-end employee learning and certification solutions, services for operating systems and procedures, assessments of materials and surfaces and services to ensure products are made with quality, safety and sustainability in mind. Learn more: https://www.intertek.com/protek/.
For Media Information
Please contact:
Sean Mcfadden
sean.mcfadden@intertek.com
For Technical Information
Please contact:
Dellah Hickson
dellah.hickson@intertek.com
About Intertek
Intertek is a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide. Our network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 46,000 people in more than 100 countries, delivers innovative and bespoke Assurance, Testing, Inspection and Certification solutions for our customers’ operations and supply chains. Intertek Total Quality Assurance expertise, delivered consistently with precision, pace and passion, enabling our customers to power ahead safely.