'Smart' hand sanitisers to aid office hygiene research

The smart hand sanitisers are part of research by the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds into the best ways of engaging people with the latest Covid-19 workplace hand hygiene guidance.

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The new technology contains integrated video screens to display the latest workplace hand hygiene guidance and provide real-time data for employers to use in their fight against Covid-19.

Developed by London-based Savortex, the sanitisers can monitor in real-time how often, or not, they are used, with some able to send reminders to staff to sanitise their hands, or restrict building access for those that haven’t.

According to Savortex CTO Christopher Dockrill, the smart hand sanitiser can work in a variety of ways depending on parameters available or set by the building owners.

“For example, if a building already uses an RFID entry system, the sanitisers can be linked to this to automatically send emails to staff that have entered a building without using the hand sanitiser. Or depending on the requirements of the building owners, could bar entry to the workspace unless the sanitiser has been used,” he said. “The smart sanitiser is GDPR compliant - it only reads the staff ID card number, via RFID tag on staff ID card and RFID reader built into the unit - so there are no specifics about the person to identify the user.