The Heinsberg district continues to keep the world in suspense! Parcel delivery company DPD has therefore had to close its parcel centre in Hückelhoven (in the Heinsberg district) due to a massive corona outbreak. As it stands, at least 42 of the total of 400 employees have been tested positive for the coronavirus. However, more than 200 test results are still pending, expected on Monday. In order to prevent a further spread in the district, the public health department is checking people that may have been in contact with those infected and all 400 employees are in quarantine.
As a company based in Heinsberg, Trotec offered the delivery service provider its support in the fight against the virus as soon as the outbreak was identified:
“We have worked with DPD very successfully for many years and ship almost 90% of our shipments via the parcel centre affected. The news about the coronavirus outbreak also affects us, of course. Now is the right moment for us to thank DPD for the years of professional collaboration and to support them quickly and unconventionally in again making the parcel centre as safe as possible for all employees,” says Marcus Probos, Head of Logistics at Trotec GmbH.
This can be achieved using the innovative TAC V+ high-frequency air purifier, which Trotec, as a specialist in air filtration and Europe’s leading company in the development of air purification devices, developed as soon as the first corona infections were identified in Heinsberg. The TAC V+ mobile high-frequency air purifier, which is equipped with a special HEPA particulate filter, protects people in closed rooms from the risk of infection via the air in the room, a risk which has now also been confirmed by the Robert Koch Institute[1]. After all, it is not contact infection, for example via contaminated parcels, that is the greatest risk of infection when it comes to parcel logistics. Or even droplet infection – the distancing rules, also applicable to DPD, protect against this. Only about 10 percent of corona infections occur through direct contact.
Around 400 people work at the Hückelhoven parcel centre and the employees on the parcel belts in particular more or less share the ambient air. If even one person is infected with the coronavirus, they release thousands of infectious aerosols (tiny saliva particles) into the ambient air every minute when speaking or coughing loudly. The consequences are foreseeable: The suspended particles are distributed in the environment due to air circulation and are inhaled by other employees. The consequences can now be seen again in the Heinsberg district, of all places.
But the problem affects the entire industry and can affect any shipping service provider. With an annual parcel volume running into seven-digits, Trotec knows the requirements and workflows involved in shipping logistics only too well. On request, Trotec provides interested shipping service providers with infection protection concepts tailored to their individual requirements, free of charge. For the protection of the employees and to prevent corona-induced closure!
Aerosols – the invisible danger of infection, especially in the parcel industry
When breathing, speaking or coughing, we release not only large, visible droplets into the room in a sort of mist, but also tiny particles known as aerosols in much larger quantities. However, while large droplets sink to the ground after only about 1.5 meters due to their weight – which is why the regulations prescribe a distance of 1.5 meters – infectious aerosols measuring only a thousandth of a millimetre stay in the air “for several hours, in fact’’. Therefore, distancing rules, smaller and spatially separated groups and more frequent hand washing alone do not protect against transmission of the virus. Aerosols released when speaking spread invisibly through the circulating room air for hours and are then inhaled. The aim must therefore be to prevent air in working areas containing several people from being breathed in as much as possible. And this can be achieved with combined use of a TAC V+ air purifier.
Virus-free air in all areas of parcel processing: The TAC V+ air purifier
With the new TAC V+ air cleaner, Trotec has developed a unique indoor air purifier with HEPA thermal decontamination technology. The air in closed rooms is circulated and cleaned just as effectively by the mobile TAC V+ as purifiers in hygiene-sensitive clean room environments and hospital operating rooms. This is made possible by the very high air performance of the air purifier as well as a new type of HEPA thermal decontamination. This means even a parcel service centre can be kept virtually virus- and germ-free in the sorting and bulky goods area as well as in the loading and unloading areas, regardless of the number of people.
What sounds very technical in theory, proves to be extremely uncomplicated in practice. The air is sucked in near the floor, freed from bacteria and viruses by the HEPA filter and returned into the room as germ-free clean air. No installation, no complicated connection process. Simply plug in and immediately provide the highest possible protection against infection!
The cleanest possible room air at the workplace means a minimum risk of infection for employees
Distancing rules, face masks and increased cleaning and disinfection procedures are, when considered in isolation, all sensible measures! But they don’t offer any protection against infectious aerosols, since these rise up to several metres into the air only sink to the ground over a large area slowly after several hours. Even behind supposedly safe sneeze guards.
The danger of becoming infected with the coronavirus through room air despite observing safety and hygiene regulations is reduced to almost zero when using a TAC V+ air purifier! The mobile TAC V+ air purifier creates clear and virus-filtered “Clean Air Zones” wherever it is used.
You can’t ask for more, and you should demand no less of the protection for employees:
- Compliance with all requirements and hygiene regulations (minimum distance, compulsory masks, spitting protection walls, disinfection measures etc.)
- Air purification to reduce the airborne risk of infection
Interesting facts about the H14-HEPA particulate filter with a transmittance of ≤ 0.005 %
H14 virus filters, specially developed by Trotec for the TAC V+ and the TES 200 air purifiers impress with their first-class filter efficiency and their innovative performance characteristics. With their transmission level of just 0.005% and separation level of 99.995%, they offer 10 times the separation efficiency compared to conventional H13 filters. Thanks to these first-class properties, H14 high-performance filters are even used to produce clean air in operating theatres and in other comparably hygiene-sensitive areas. In other words, the greatest possible security to protect employees in the parcel and logistics industry from the risk of infection
All H14 high-performance filters offered by Trotec meet the highest quality standards, 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.
The TAC V+ can be ordered in different colours and with a customisable weaving surface.
Trotec has set up a special advice centre for companies, authorities and public institutions on all questions concerning infection protection:
Trotec GmbH
Mr Jochem Weingartz
Telephone: +49 2452 962-137
[1] Robert Koch Institute, SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Disease Profile (COVD-19), Version: 15 May 2020
