Earlier this spring, Tangram, a curator of interior solutions for workspaces based in Southern California, made a quick pivot to sanitation, announcing a three-tiered, 24/7, nationwide electrostatic mist emergency workplace cleaning service, administered by professional disinfecting crews in full hazmat suits.
As far as the pace at which tenants are returning to U.S. office buildings is concerned, it’s far from a stampede in some of New York’s biggest buildings, despite the fact that they are ready to open. Nationwide, 45% of companies haven’t even announced a return date yet.
This has given property managers all the more time to review myriad new cleaning and sterilization products and technologies such as Tangram’s. And time is helpful, because these options — from plexiglass desk dividers to touchless elevator technology to high-tech air-purifying HVAC retrofits — are far from cut and dry.
When it comes to electrostatic mist, it’s becoming more widely available across the CRE industry, but questions remain: How often does it need to be used in order to be effective? Is it causing damage to furniture finishes, carpeting or other office materials? What about electronic equipment? Does it kill the coronavirus? … What is it?
Bisnow talked to experts and put together a primer.
Electrostatic Cleaning Mist, 101
According to Clorox Senior Scientist Katherine Velez, a device called an electrostatic sprayer works by charging liquids, such as cleaners, sanitizers and disinfectants, as they pass through the sprayer’s nozzle. Charged droplets “repel one another and actively seek out environmental surfaces, which they stick to,” forming “a uniform coating of sanitizer or disinfectant on sprayed objects, including hard-to-reach areas that manual cleaning can miss.”
Velez, a chemist who has supported clinical studies and product development for electrostatic spray technology as well as Environmental Protection Agency-registered manual surface disinfectants, has called electrostatic spray technology a “well-established” way to apply cleaners, sanitizers and disinfectants to help facilities treat surfaces. To date, it has been used in industries including agriculture, automotive and tanning.