ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

The UK government is seeking a solution to facilitate the rapid sanitisation of ambulances.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) - part of the Ministry of Defence - is putting out a call for sanitising technology that can speed up the time it takes to clean emergency vehicles as part of the national effort against Coronavirus.

According to the DASA it currently takes up to 45 minutes to clean and sanitise an ambulance that has been used to transport a suspected COVID-19 patient.

Some ambulance cleaning centres are some distance away from their base which puts added pressure to an already busy service because the vehicles cannot be used until cleaning has been carried out.

The DASA seeks to identify, develop and demonstrate rapid sanitising technologies that are mobile, robust and reliable. These will ideally have wider applications for use in buses, trains, other emergency vehicles and hospital wards as well as ambulances. All projects will undergo practical assessment at Porton Down while a live demonstration on an ambulance will be carried out.

The DASA is working with the Welsh Government, the Small Business Research Initiative Centre of Excellence, the Welsh Ambulance Service, Innovate UK and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in a bid to find new solutions.

The body's Innovation Focus Area incorporates regular Open Calls to businesses seeking innovative ideas to solve defence and security issues. Other recent requests include a call for technologies making it more difficult to counterfeit banknotes, plus ideas for systems capable of detecting firearms and ammunition through scent.