21 Sep 2020

(Dubai, UAE) - Intertek, a Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, is pleased to announce, it has introduced a new service in the GCC region to support educational institutions as they plan to reopen for the new academic year. The new service line follows stringent requirements from education ministries across the region.

Intertek’s Protek for schools service includes a range of health, safety and hygiene solutions that cover all aspects of the school environment and operations. The service is one of the latest offerings in the Intertek Protek programme - the world’s first end-to-end health, safety and wellbeing assurance programme for people, workplaces and public spaces.

Health, safety, and well-being is now the key concern for the academic sector as educational institutions are planning to reopen across the region. Ensuring safety and keeping the education community safe has never been more important for schools than now. Complying with health and safety protocols and guidelines from the Ministry of Education is an absolute must to protect everyone from infection.

Intertek Protek was specifically designed to tackle the need for health and safety assurance and prevent the spread of infection, including COVID-19. It offers an end-to-end solution that covers all key school facilities, from classrooms to eating areas to sports facilities. The new service follows the guidelines from the WHO, CDC and is based on Intertek’s POSI-Check solution – an industry-specific audit protocol and certification which assesses organisations' ability to prevent the spread of illness via policies, procedures, infrastructure and dedicated personnel.

The new Protek offering provides schools with independent expertise to verify their hygiene and safety programmes and is based on systemic risk-based quality assurance and verification. The programme also gives visibility for school staff and pupils that the school facilities comply with health and safety protocols. The POSI-Check audit modules for schools include infection control, risk assessment, cleaning practice, dining arrangements, transportation, social distancing management, PPE and personal hygiene practices, among many others.

The POSI-Check certification process includes hands-on training sessions, bi-monthly auditing, and easy-to-use swab tests to detect adenosine triphosphate (ATP) of key surfaces in classrooms, public common areas such as toilets and bathrooms, eating areas, administrative areas, elevators and escalators, sports facilities and more. The POSI-Check solution is easy to implement and demonstrates that schools are effectively managing the prevention of spread of infection.

Matthew Skinner, Regional Managing Director for Gulf and Pakistan, Intertek, said: “At Intertek, we have the experience and resources needed to help ensure that all academic institutions are complying with the stringent guidelines set by the Ministries of Education and Higher Education. We have been working with a range of institutions, for quality assurance, inspection services and management system support. Intertek has all the on-the-ground expertise and workforce capacity to fulfil the requirements from education ministries across the region and we take great pride in providing the wider education community, including school administrators, decision makers, families and students, with the comfort and assurance that their facilities are operating safely and comply with all official guidelines.”

Learn more: https://www.intertek.com/protek/

For Media Information

Please contact:
Randa Mazzawi
Borouj Consulting
T: +971 50 4506120
E: randa@boroujconsulting.com or nicola@boroujconsulting.com

For Technical Information

Please contact:
Samir Ahmed
Director, Business Assurance & Marketing, Gulf & Pakistan
T: +966 50 2790505
E: samir.ahmed@intertek.com

About Intertek

TOTAL QUALITY. ASSURED.

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.

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