Covid-19: new work on biocidal surfaces
As part of the fight against Covid-19, AFNOR spotlights completed and forthcoming standards work on biocidal surfaces. An ISO working group is currently studying this strategic issue.
Subway bars, door handles, light switches… During the health crisis linked to the covid-19 pandemic, public opinion paid more attention to these everyday objects likely to be touched by many people, and therefore to carry the virus. How about limiting the risk by covering them with a biocide film or coating? Innovation was interested, but needed to go through the standardization process. Objective: to define a method for assessing the bactericidal activity of surfaces coated in this way.
This voluntary standard will be published in France in May 2019, with the help of manufacturers and laboratories in the sector: it’s the NF S90-700 standard. “ Until now, there have been no valid measurements of the bactericidal efficacy of such surfaces. The standard created this measurement reference “In October 2019, Stéphane Penari, President of MetalSkin Technologies, was delighted to receive a Gold Normes trophy from the AFNOR members’ club.
Biocidal surfaces: from French to international standards
What if this French standard were to become an international standard, at ISO level? After all, viruses know no borders, as we saw once again with covid-19! ” To achieve this, it is necessary to strengthen the French commission’s board of directors. Professionals from the construction, copper, retail, transport, laboratory and hospital sectors are all welcome to develop a common position and share identical methods. “explains Samantha Gagnon-Martinez, Project Manager at AFNOR Normalisation, who leads the standardization committee on surfaces with biocidal properties, chaired by Christine Roques (FONDEREPHAR).
Why construction, transport or hospitals? This is because we find objects made from non-porous materials (brass, bronze, copper, etc.) that can be treated in this way. “Lhe focus is not on the products themselves, but on their biocidal and antimicrobial surface properties, which irreversibly destroy, repel or render harmless harmful organisms. The aim is to provide manufacturers with a benchmark for assessing the reliability of their claims, using a horizontal, generic method adapted to real-life conditions of use, says Samantha Gagnon-Martinez.
Another aim of future standards work is to overcome the difficulty of comparing products with each other (test methods vary too widely), and to prove the compatibility of surfaces with the disinfectants and cleaners used on them. Interested? Learn more at a free one-hour web-conference on June 9, 2020, and join the AFNOR commission!
Find out more about the AFNOR “surfaces with biocidal properties” standardization committee
Register for the AFNOR web-conference on June 9, 2020…
Buy NF S90-700…
Find out more about Metalskin’s innovation, winner of a Gold Normes 2019 award…
Kritsada Seekham / EyeEm
