The world is at a standstill – and with it hundreds of thousands of sewing machines in Bangladesh, the second most important sourcing country after China for European fashion manufacturers. Textile companies around the world are struggling with corona-induced slumps in sales – and the hardest hit are the sewing factories in Bangladesh, whose orders are being suspended or cancelled.
The situation in the European textile industry looks quite different. Here, sewing factories and textile manufacturers are clearly among the “winners” of the corona pandemic. Never before have such large quantities of face masks and protective clothing been required as in the current crisis. Because of this, many companies have converted their production lines and now manufacture the desperately needed protective clothing in sewing factories.
Face masks and sneeze barriers are designed to protect employees.
In the production halls, needleworkers sit in close proximity with each other at their whirring industrial sewing machines and provide the urgently needed supply of protective clothing. To prevent infection, all employees wear masks and, where necessary, additional sneeze guards made of Plexiglas have been installed. But is this really enough?
Many employees share room air every day in very confined spaces – even if there is only one employee infected with the coronavirus, it is invisible!
Epidemiologists and scientists agree that, as we currently know, the coronavirus can be transmitted via three infection pathways:
- Droplet infection: when speaking, coughing or even sneezing – producing moisture.
- Smear infection: when in direct physical contact with infected persons.
- Airborne infection: through the inhalation of pathogenic aerosols.
Masks and Plexiglas panels lead to a dangerous delusion. Because it is not the large visible droplets that are the main source of danger, but fine invisible particles that are released into the air in the room, even when you are speaking normally, and spread out in the circulating air due to their light weight. And what can happen if even only one employee in the company becomes infected is shown by the current cases in the meatpacking industry, where several hundred employees have become infected within a few days.
In closed rooms, what protects against the aerosols that are released into the ambient air when speaking loudly, coughing or sneezing?
“We have always been specialists in room air filtration and, as a Heinsberg company, we started work on a solution that would really help and not just provide supposed protection as soon as the first cases were announced,” explains Trotec Managing Director Joachim Ludwig. “Masks and sneeze guards are one thing. However, all experts now agree that aerosols, some of which remain in the air for hours, pose the greatest risk of infection. The aim must therefore be to filter them out of the room air.”
And the TAC V+ zone air purifier from Trotec does this in the best possible way.
When we speak, cough or sneeze, we not only expel large, visible droplets into the room in a kind of “mist” (known as moist speech), but also – and to a much greater extent – tiny particles called aerosols. These suspended particles are only a thousandth of a millimetre in size, invisible to the naked eye, and in sick people, bacteria or viruses cling to these particles. These tiny aerosol particles are particularly infectious because they are inhaled deep into the lungs, while large droplets immediately sink to the ground after sneezing or coughing.
Without protective measures, coughed-out pathogens spread over a large area in seconds and remain infectious in the room air for up to several hours.
There is only one thing that can help against the spread of viruses through the room air: constant air purification to filter the illness-causing aerosols from the air before they are inhaled by other people in the room. Sneeze guards, maintaining a minimum distance of 1.5 m and wearing simple mouth and nose masks do not offer effective protection against infectious aerosols, as, from time to time, these particles rise by up to several metres into the air like smoke and only slowly sink to the ground over a large area after several hours – even penetrating behind supposedly safe sneeze barriers – and long after the person coughing has left the room. Due to their size, infectious aerosols can even be inhaled through mouth and nose masks. If the room also has an air conditioning system, this leads to additional spreading of the viral aerosols throughout the entire room.
Ensure maximum protection from infection by ensuring the most virus-free room air possible: The TAC V+ air purifier makes it possible.
Only a combined solution consisting of direct “sneeze guards” using a partition wall and additional high-frequency air purification reliably and permanently reduces the risk of infection in all areas of a company. Don’t rely solely on physical barriers like face masks and partitions to protect your employees. The aerosols in the room air do not adhere to distancing rules – as potential virus carriers, they are the actual source of danger! The primary goal therefore is to prevent the mixing of breathing air at the workplace as much as possible.
The TAC V+, now available for purchase or rental, was developed in Germany and is the perfect solution for establishing virus-free areas in:
- industrial sewing factories
- textile manufacturing and processing companies
High-frequency air purification with the TAC V+ filters 99.995 % of illness-causing viruses from the room air and reduces the risk of infection to a minimum.
The risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus through room air when observing distancing regulations is significantly reduced when using a Trotec TAC V+ air purifier with virus filter! Whether in the production, further processing or the finishing and packaging of protective equipment – the TAC V+ can filter infectious aerosol clouds out of the air in almost all rooms in seconds. The mobile TAC V+ air purifier creates clean and virus-filtered “clean air zones” wherever it is used. In these zones, the ambient air remains largely free of airborne germs and viruses because the TAC V+ draws in the polluted room air near the floor and cleans it with an effective Hepa virus filter.
“Plug & Play” setup! No installation, no complicated connection process. Simply plug it in and immediately ensure the maximum level of protection possible against infection!
Maintenance-free room air purification – without interrupting business
The TAC V+ has a thermal self-cleaning function so that employees can concentrate undisturbed on their important work. The filter decontaminates itself completely automatically – for example overnight, to reliably protect against pathogenic germs and viruses in the room air during the day!
Thanks to its globally unique combination of filter and decontamination technology, the TAC V+ safely reduces the airborne risk of infection in all areas where many people congregate at the same time.
You cannot ask for more protection, and you shouldn’t demand less:
- Compliance with hygiene rules in factory and accommodation facilities
- Distancing rules and sneeze guards to protect against droplet infection
- Air purification to reduce the airborne risk of infection
Useful information about the HEPA filter (H14 HEPA virus filter), with a transmission level of ≤ 0.005 %
The H14 virus filters specially developed by Trotec for the TAC V+ and the TES 200 impress with their first-class filter efficiency and innovative performance characteristics. With a transmission level of only 0.005% and a separation efficiency of 99.995%, they offer 10 times the separation efficiency of conventional H13 filters.
Thanks to these first-class properties, H14 high-performance filters are even used for clean air production in operating theatres and in other comparably hygiene-sensitive areas. These are the best prerequisites for protecting your own employees from the risk of infection during rampant epidemics.
All the H14 high-performance filters offered by Trotec meet the highest quality requirements, which are obligatory for the filtration of bacteria and viruses:
- Each H14 high-performance filter is individually tested and given its own serial number.
- The test report is enclosed in duplicate as a certificate with each H14 filter.
- The original test certificate can be filed away and a copy attached to the air purification device if required.
- H14 HEPA high performance filters are tested according to EN 1822 and EN 60335-2-69.
Trotec has developed special high-performance air purifiers for almost every occupational safety application
In addition to the TAC V+ high-performance air purifier, Trotec also offers other air purifiers such as the TES 200 or the TAC 6500. We can supply you with free-standing air purification solutions as required, as well as air purifiers for integration into your existing room air system!
Our technical advisers will be pleased to discuss which device best suits your application in a personal meeting with you.
Buying a unit: If you have any questions, please contact us per email at online-uk@trotec.com or give us a call on +49 2452 962-400.
Equipment rental: Please contact our TKL Rental Centre directly – by e-mail to online-uk@trotec.com or call us on +49 2452 962-160.
