How fire services benefit from the MEIKO BA mask washing solution

 “We do our best to provide our colleagues with perfectly hygienic respiratory protective equipment. For us, it’s quality that counts,” says Olaf Fernys.

He is a fire chief and a member of the fire service technical centre (FTZ) in the district of Leipzig.

His top priority is ensuring that the cleaning results are perfectly hygienic.

The fact that the TopClean M cleaning and disinfection machine does a great job is clear from a glance at the regulator hoses, which “are just as black as they were on the first day, even after all those cleaning cycles!”

This is a good indication that they have been thoroughly washed without wearing out the material.

Time savings

Their Swiss colleagues at the company fire service of the pharmaceutical giant Roche in Basel are equally enthusiastic, especially when it comes to the time savings and high levels of hygiene they can now achieve in their RPE workshop after moving to a new service building.

Niklaus Lerch, duty group manager of the company fire service, lobbied for the switch to the MEIKO solution.

He noted that while it currently took 42 minutes to clean four masks and another 45 minutes to dry them, the new TopClean M machine would clean them in just six minutes and dry them significantly faster than before.

Cost-effective solution

Hilpoltstein Fire Service is a great example of how MEIKO solutions can be faster, healthier and more affordable.

The soak tanks the team previously used for manual chemical mask-cleaning were replaced by a reliable mechanical process in the TopClean M.

This eliminated the need for the expensive extraction system that the fire service would otherwise have had to install to remove hazardous fumes.

“It actually worked out cheaper for the municipality,” says Matthias Massopust, RPE technician for the Hilpoltstein Fire Service.

Every fire service has its own unique tasks and challenges.

These should be reflected in the configuration of each fire service’s respiratory protective equipment (RPE) workshops, cleaning centres and hygiene hubs.

That’s the only way to guarantee rapid, reliable and hygienic results when space is tight – for everyone who wears BA masks, and everyone who deals with them afterwards.

Find out more about Meiko’s TopClean M and to read these stories in full  at www.meiko-uk.co.uk

This article was originally published in the January 2024 issue of International Fire & Safety Journal. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.