Door Handles and Bacteria: Five Solutions to Prevent Transmission

In this article, we will share five solutions that could help you to prevent the transmission of bacteria between hands and door handles at your food production site.

The cleanliness of door handles and push plates can have a significant impact on how quickly bacteria and viruses spread around a food production site. However, all too often, these areas go overlooked. In fact, early audit data from BRCGS lists Clause 4.4.8 as one of the top five minor non-conformities so far, with this clause outlining the expectation that:

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“Doors (both internal and external) shall be maintained in good condition.”

The wording of Clause 4.4.8 is the same as the previous version of the standard, suggesting sites aren’t struggling with new expectations, but rather failing to see the importance of doors and door handles. If you are hoping to steer your site clear of this pitfall, you may want to consider the five solutions featured in this article.

There are valuable takeaways in each section of this guide, but if you are short on time, you can use the following links to jump to the solution most relevant to your project.

Contents:

1. Antimicrobial Door Handle Covers

2. The A3 System: Testing your Door Handles

3. Food Contact Approved, Single-Use Gloves

4. Dedicated Sanitisation Stations

5. Visual Management Solutions

Antimicrobial Door Handle Covers

The first solution to consider is fitting the doors at your site with antimicrobial covers. Rising to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, these covers are now used in food production sites across the country, with independent tests revealing they can kill 99.9% of bacteria and are 96.4% cleaner than standard door handles.

Below are four of the designs included in this range – suited to push, pull, and straight-lever handles:

• Magnetic Design: fit in 30 seconds, no tools or fixings required, plus zero maintenance
• VHR Technology: discreet flash every 3 seconds as a reminder to use the plate
• Red indicator will tell you when to arrange a replacement – every 12 months (approx)

• Click in place in 5-10 seconds, no tools or fixings required, plus zero maintenance
• VHR Technology: discreet flash every 3 seconds as a reminder to use the handle
• Red indicator will tell you when to arrange a replacement – every 6 months (approx)

• Click in place in 5-10 seconds, no tools or fixings required, plus zero maintenance
• VHR Technology: discreet flash every 3 seconds as a reminder to use the handle
• Red indicator will tell you when to arrange a replacement – every 6 months (approx)

• Automatically dispenses the correct amount of sanitising gel onto user’s hands
• Independent tests show this solution is 98.5% cleaner than a standard door handle
• VHR Technology: discreet flash every 3 seconds as a reminder to use the handle

The A3 System: Testing your Door Handles

If you are unsure about the current cleanliness levels of the door handles and push plates at your site, A3 technology could help you to understand the risks. It could also help you to validate your cleaning procedures, enhancing your process until you have total confidence.

So, how does the A3 system work?

Able to detect all forms of organic residue, the A3 system can tell you how well a surface has been cleaned, offering accurate results irrespective of whether or not the surface has been exposed to cleaning chemicals and heat.

By comparing the results generated by A3 tests carried out before and after a clean, you will be able to ascertain how much organic residue is being left behind. You could also carry out A3 tests throughout the working day or run a training session where you test the surface of a volunteer’s hands before and after washing.

This will help you to understand how much bacteria is being transmitted between cleans and could push you towards a clean-as-you-go policy or the antimicrobial covers mentioned above.

Testing the hands of a volunteer before and after cleaning will help you to highlight the importance of effective handwashing and to establish a gold standard across your site – addressing everything from the ideal length of wash to the optimum hand-washing technique.

Food Contact Approved, Single-Use Gloves

Single-use gloves are perhaps one of the most popular solutions for preventing the transmission of bacteria between hands and door handles. However, across the industry there has been a growing frustration with the often fiddly and flimsy designs available.

If you and your operatives share this concern, you may want to consider the benefits of single-use, nitrile gloves.

Designed with the intention of resolving common industry pain points, key features include:

• Powder-free and food-contact approved
• Textured palm and fingers for improved grip
• Increased durability to reduce the risk of foreign-body contamination
• Available in 4 sizes for increased user comfort: S, M, L, XL
• In stock for same day despatch

The increased durability of these gloves will help them to stay intact throughout use, with the improved grip and comfort levels making it far more likely that your operatives will wear them.

As a result, any bacteria that makes its way from your factory door handles onto the hands of your operatives will be obstructed by strong and effective single-use gloves – unable to contaminate your products and ingredients.

Dedicated Sanitisation Stations

Whether you decide to use bare hands or single-use gloves at your site, hand sanitisation will still play a vital role in preventing the transmission of bacteria. One way to support this aspect of your operation is to introduce wall mounted sanitisation stations.

Although a standard station would suffice, a highly visual board will act as a constant reminder to your operatives – improving engagement rates across your team. This is especially likely if you include step-by-step visual instructions, along with photo reminders of best hygiene practice.

With boards available for wipes, hand gel, and even multiple dispensers in high-traffic areas, you can ensure effective sanitisation is taking place right across your site.

Visual Management Solutions

Finally, you should consider introducing Visual Management Solutions to your site – using these highly visual and colourful boards to reinforce key messages, drive engagement across your team, and influence the culture at your factory.

This solution will be particularly useful if your team includes operatives who don’t have English as their first language, as visual displays are an effective tool for overcoming language barriers.

Visual Management Solutions could also help you to secure success in any upcoming audits – increasing the likelihood of your team remembering the training they have been given and sending a clear message that hygiene is a top priority for your site.

If you want to use Visual Management for the specific task of preventing the transmission of bacteria between hands and door handles, you will need to place boards strategically around your site – whether that’s hand-washing and sanitisation stations or next to factory doors that were highlighted as particularly unclean during your A3 testing.

So there you have it, a guide to preventing the transmission of bacteria between hands and door handles at your food production site. We hope this article, along with the early audit reminder from BRCGS, has inspired you to revaluate the cleanliness of your door handles and push plates.

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If you have any questions about the five solutions shared in this article, you can contact us directly on  or . Alternatively, you can fill out the contact form below and one of our friendly team members will be in touch. 

Plus, if you would benefit from further resources relating to the doors and door handles at your site, along with the BRCGS requirements surrounding this topic, you are welcome to check out the articles linked below:

If you would like further guidance relating to the doors and door handles at your site, the Klipspringer team would be happy to help. Share your details below to arrange a free consultation.

Hello Rodinhoods,

I’ve just completed the first major step towards launching my own premium “designer” door handles / knobs business by importing 300 sets of these in various designs at a very decent price. Take a look:

I actually have a mix of both premium and economical (stainless steel, plainer design for offices etc) door handles but my main focus is on the premium ones as you see above as they have the highest profit margin.

I also have some product catalogs printed which showcase all of the products my supplier has. However, note that I currently have only 300 sets in stock of 30 different models. The lead / delivery time on these from my supplier is at least 30 days.

So I have the stock, I have the catalog, the door handles look awesome and are well built but now my main question is: I had a good first sale to a personal friend of mine, but how do I grow this business further?

Now I know you must be thinking I’m nuts just importing these and then wondering how to sell these, but let me give you a little background info on how I got started with this business.

I actually run a web design firm and have never done an “offline” business in my life. I had a client and a friend who runs this same exact business since the past 5 years, importing door handles from country X, selling them in India under his own brand.

He does around 40 lakhs+ per month with his business as the margins are great and he has established clients. For example the average handle you see here costs ~ Rs 500 – 700 and sells for Rs – . Some larger pull handles cost Rs and sell for as much as Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000.

I also knew who his supplier is and infact I’ve sourced my inventory from the same supplier as him. I just decided to go ahead and import the 300 sets first because I was getting caught in a lot of ‘what ifs’ like what if they don’t sell, what if I lose my money etc.

I thought to myself if my friend is doing 40 lakhs+ monthly with this business, if he is able to sell these, why shouldn’t I be able to sell some as well? So I just went ahead and placed my order with the supplier, and got the delivery last week. Meanwhile I also got my product catalog and some packaging boxes with my branding designed.

The one thing my friend didn’t share with me, as you can guess, is his client list.