Are you committed to the health and safety of your building occupants and visitors over the long haul?

Decreasing the number of high-touch areas in and around a facility is one of many proactive strategies you can employ to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and is key to getting ahead of the curve to minimize future infectious disease spread, including things as simple as the common cold or flu.

Even with a successful social distancing strategy, the primary access points of a facility, by their very nature, contribute to the convergence of pedestrians. Whether they are spaced six feet apart when entering or not, pedestrians still come in contact with shared physical barriers such as door panels, knobs and handles if the door is not activated by some kind of touchless technology.

Having developed the first automatic sliding door in America over 60 years ago, Horton Automatics is a pioneer in touchless door technology and continues to lead the way today with a wide array of innovative solutions that minimize human contact, improve convenience and speed traffic flow.

Let’s take a look at some strategies for minimizing the impact that infectious diseases can have on pedestrians entering or passing through a facility.

Devise an Action Plan

Healthcare facilities are usually the best equipped to handle contagious disease outbreaks because they already have disaster plans that go into effect at the outset of catastrophic events such as a pandemic. Healthcare facilities are also among the greatest users of automatic doors since they are focused on easing the safe movement of patients, visitors and workers with the benefit of hands-free technology. 

Other types of facilities are not always as prepared and should consider implementing a plan to minimize touchpoints throughout the facility, be they doors, faucets or vending machines.

If the building has a large number of doorways, you do not have to convert them to touchless all at once. Begin by analyzing the entrances across the entire facility to determine which have the most traffic and plan for touchless upgrades to those entry points that will provide the most immediate benefit for pedestrians. In most cases it will be the main entrances, but it could also be doors for heavily used spaces such as restrooms. By starting with the most used entrances, you can begin to make a difference in germ mitigation while working within potential budgetary restrictions.