Disinfectants should only be used in a proper and professional manner. Health authorities regard the disinfection of surfaces in public areas as not being useful.

Alcohol is not a solution, at least when it comes to the disinfection of public transport vehicles. Some transport companies are nevertheless taking strong measures due to the corona virus pandemic. However, they can attack the material composing the door opening push buttons or hand rail buttons. The touch surfaces of the CK, PK52, PK and HST Series are made of polycarbonate or polyamide. Although these high-quality engineering plastics have many advantages such as strength, rigidity and weather resistance, when using disinfectants it is important to ensure compatibility with plastics. It is important that the chemical agents are used properly and professionally. Otherwise the appearance could show matting or cracking, which can then lead to damage or malfunction of the TSL products.

TSL-ESCHA’s in-house test laboratory has tested our products with a wide range of cleaning chemicals based on the requirements and cleaning instructions of various manufacturers and public transport companies. This overview can be found in the download area of our website. Basically, alcohols such as isopropanol and pure ethanol are very harmful to plastics. It is thus extremely important to ensure the correct mixing ratio. After disinfection, the surface should be rinsed with clean water.

When asked whether daily cleaning of suburban and subway trains as well as buses and streetcars with disinfectants is necessary, the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) replied as follows: “The disinfection of surfaces in public areas is generally not useful. Transmission of infectious agents via public transport surfaces can be prevented by the consistent implementation of simple basic hygiene measures, such as avoiding hand contact with mouth, eyes or nose and frequent hand washing,” says the health authority’s website and continues: “The main transmission path of SARS-CoV-2 is droplet infection, i.e. direct human-to-human contact. Although transmission via contaminated surfaces cannot be excluded in principle, it has not yet been proven according to the current state of knowledge. Moreover, corona viruses are not very stable in the environment due to their structure.”