touchscreen hygiene
touchscreen hygiene
Growing
hygiene
concerns
As the Coronavirus pandemic continues,
there is understandably a huge concern
about spreading the virus through shared
public areas and items, from petrol pumps
to ATM keypads to touchscreens.
Ian Crosby
Sales and Marketing Director at Zytronic
Touchscreens are increasingly becoming a huge
part of our daily lives in the modern age, with
many public services such as banks and public
transport using them as a key part of their
operations. The advantages of touchscreens in
public spaces are clear: they help us save time by
performing tasks more efficiently and are highly
flexible in their application. With touchscreens
such an important part of our lives, the question
becomes: how can we ensure touchscreens are
safe for use during this time and moving forward
into the future?
Our changing perspective
Even before the current Coronavirus
pandemic, there has been growing concern over
the hygiene of public touchscreens. A report by
Metro, that gained widespread coverage some
months before the pandemic, showed that
touchscreens used on some self-service kiosks
in fast-food restaurants tested positive for faecal
matter and E. coli bacteria. This report rightfully
shocked many and brought into question the
hygiene of publicly used touchscreens.
Another report of public surfaces in three
major US airports showed that the average
self-check-in screen contained 253,857 colonyforming
units, more than 10 times the number
found on the average household kitchen sink
according to data from an NSF International
Household Germ Study.
With the current coronavirus situation, it is
becoming clearer than ever that more must be
done to ensure the use of touchscreens does not
cause the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses.
How touchscreens can create a smarter
future for hygiene
Whilst these reports would suggest that
public touchscreens are furthering the spread
of bacteria and infection, there are also many
positive aspects of touchscreens which can
vastly reduce the spread of bacteria and viruses.
For a start, using a touchscreen can
eliminate the need for face-to-face interaction
with customers, helping maintain proper social
distancing and helping contain Coronavirus and
other infections.
Touchscreens are also much more easily
cleanable than physical buttons because they
provide a smooth and continuous surface. The
nooks and crannies created by physical buttons,
for example on ATM keypads, can harbour
harmful bacteria and infection for long periods
because they are difficult to clean thoroughly.
On the other hand, touchscreens are simple
and easy to clean properly; with regular
cleaning, touchscreens can provide a much
more hygienic alternative to conventional input
methods on publicly used machines.
What can be done to make touch screens
safe for use?
Despite the advantages touchscreens offer,
it is clear that changes must be made to the way
we approach public touch screen usage in order
to provide the safest possible solution.
There are several key steps we recommend
which can be taken to promote safety and
hygiene in public touchscreens.
1
Installing flush edge-to-edge
interfaces will make cleaning and
disinfection far easier, as bacteria are often
harboured in the nooks and gaps of public
machines and touchscreens.
Regular cleaning and disinfection of
2
publicly used touchscreens is essential
to maintain proper hygiene.
Many touchscreen technologies,
3
such as projected capacitive touch,
can respond to the touch of a gloved hand or
stylus. This means users can safely interact with
touchscreens whilst minimising the chance of
catching a virus or infection or spreading
it themselves.
Specialist coatings for touchscreens
4
are now available which can slow the
spread of bacteria or even kill bacteria. Whilst
these do address general hygiene concerns
over touchscreens, these will not have any
effect on COVID-19.
In situations where fixed function
5
keys are necessary, solutions can
be implemented, where the keys are part of a
single, uninterrupted glass surface allowing for
easy cleaning.
Where tactility is needed, for example
6
for those with severe impairments
to their vision, touchscreens are now available
which implement machined features such as
dimples, grooves and dials into the display. With
these options, the glass remains unbroken and
proves superior to moving buttons in terms of
ease of cleaning.
Thinking ahead
This recent pandemic has highlighted the
importance of good hygiene practice and strict
implementation of health and safety procedures
in our everyday lives. We currently have the
opportunity to begin taking measures which
can prevent or greatly lessen the impact of any
such future pandemic, with a key consideration
being the public spaces we use on a day-to-day
basis. Touchscreens, when smartly implemented
and with regular cleaning, can be a great asset
to helping maintain social distancing and can
be a more hygienic alternative to traditional
buttons. Now is the time to reflect on our
current safety measures and begin planning the
implementation of improved hygiene and safety
protocol in areas used by the public to help
prevent a situation like this one again. n
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