Technology: Silicone Hygiene castor-cover for healthcare, cleanrooms

Winchester, UK – While castor mounted units are commonly used in healthcare and cleanroom settings, castor wheels represent a highly underrated source of contamination.

Nick Davies of UK-based Silicone Hygiene has now developed and patented a castor wheel cover designed to combat this problem. Made of liquid silicone rubber or a TPE material, the injection-moulded self-sealing cover encloses the castor wheel, protecting it from contamination. It can be colour-coded, according to application.

According to Davies, the wheel cover is dishwasher and autoclave safe. “At the end of a shift, or in the event of contamination, the user can easily remove the cover, put it through a dishwasher or Autoclave, and replace the cover saving valuable time,” he explained.

“Steam cleaning a four-wheeled unit normally takes 12 – 15 minutes, but by using the cover it would only take 1 cleaning cycle -5 mins - of a dishwasher or autoclave to do the 12 wheels of 4 units, ensuring the units are fully regulatory compliant.”

As a concept, the idea is a good one, confirmed Kevin Gosling, environmental health manager Winchester City Council.

“Throughout my career, when undertaking routine food hygiene inspections, I have seen many a wheel on moveable equipment that is dirty even within premises where there are strict controls on cleaning. If this design has the ability to keep a difficult area clean it can only be good for the food industry and any other industry that uses equipment with wheels.”

The cover is now a completed project, designed for a one step fully automated manufacturing process to save on costs. An independent review of the markets forecast sales of 94bn+ units worldwide.