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Coronavirus has changed the world in many ways. Education has been badly hit, with students out of school for months. Upon their return, one of the main concerns has been how to maintain safe and clean equipment, with so much shared usage between students, risking transmission of a virus that can stay on surfaces for days.

When it comes to sanitisation, schools have limited capacity. Teachers can attempt to sanitise shared equipment in the short interval between classes, or if there is not enough time for cleaning, they can wait at least 72 hours before using equipment, or simply leave the equipment and lock it away until the pandemic is over. The last option was the only one available to Hazelwood School in Surrey. However, they chose to utilise a safer, more effective cleaning alternative in the form of a UV-C cabinet, allowing the students access to the resources they needed for their lessons.

Before purchasing one of our cabinets, Hazelwood School found they were unable to use the iPads required for their classes due to the risk of transmission. This began to hinder teaching, as a there were a number of classes where iPads were crucial to lessons. The school contacted us and received one of our UV-C cabinets, which they now use to safely sanitise and store their school’s regularly used equipment. Now they are able to use their iPads on a regular basis, whilst maintaining their equipment’s safety and cleanliness. This has made the sanitisation of their appliances quick and more effective, minimising teachers’ time spent trying to sanitise shared items, which are now of the utmost safety when they come to be used.

“Ahead of the return to school in September, Hazelwood School purchased a Uvisan UV-C unit so that the bank of iPads, used by its youngest learners, could be readily charged and effectively sanitised as they passed between class bubbles. The unit has been a godsend; protecting the pupils’ health and well-being whilst allowing the same level of digital learning to remain within their timetable. The school avoided the need to buy more costly tablets. The unit is simple to use and has been deployed for the equally important task of sanitising headsets too. The levels of service and communication we received were impeccable meaning that the unit’s delivery was one thing of surety in these uncertain times.”

Nick Tappin - Bursar - Hazelwood School

It is great to hear feedback like this from our customers and now more than ever, it is essential that schools provide a safe and healthy learning environment for their pupils. A huge part of this involves having the proper resources at students’ disposal. Students have already spent many months without access to the proper materials and environment that a school has to offer, and ‘not having access to resources and materials with which to learn’ can cause ‘subsequent detrimental effect on both academic attainment and wellbeing.’ – Charlotte Watson, YoungMinds. Of course, with access to regular sanitisation, this should no longer be the case now that students are back at school.

However, it is already difficult managing the availability of devices and resources in a school, without adding the need for constant sanitising of all equipment that a school may need to use in the midst of a pandemic. As well as ensuring students and staff are following safe etiquette and guidelines, the responsibility of sanitising all of the many shared items can be overwhelming. The UV-C cabinet removes the issue of time-consuming cleaning routines along with the need for expensive wipes and cleaning equipment that would be required in such large quantities to keep every class safe. This form of sanitisation also avoids the problem of moisture getting into charging ports, screens, keys and other openings on electrical appliances. Not to mention, the effectiveness of cleaning paraphernalia such as wipes can be unreliable (read here for more detail). In contrast, UV-C cabinets provide simultaneous charging and sanitising with no need for fluids or chemicals, keeping sensitive equipment safe.

In addition to tablets, our cabinets can also be used to clean other items that are critical to school lessons such as keyboards, headphones, laptops, computer mice, even stationary and musical instruments and the charging appliances for electronic devices. Also, with a charging capability for up to 100 devices, electronic items are always be ready for use.

Our cabinets also offer a great solution for items which require a fast turnaround. For instance, if there’s a lesson straight after the previous class that will need to use the same equipment, the UV-C cabinet uses a cleaning cycle of just 5 minutes and kills 99.99% of bacteria in that time, ensuring that all appliances are available for each new class. It is scientifically proven that UV-C kills all of the bacteria, spores, viruses, protozoans, moulds and yeasts, using medical grade UV-C lamps, meaning that both teachers and students can feel confident using shared equipment. The cabinets are also lockable, keeping valuable items safe and secure.

The UV-C cabinets are able to store a range of other appliances and equipment, including phones, laptops, tablets, toys & games, VR headsets, peripherals and accessories, plus UVISAN is 100% recyclable, with no waste going to landfill and finance is available from £100 per month.

These cabinets have helped staff and students alike and can be used in many different environments and capacities. They have fitted seamlessly into a school environment, saving the school time and money, whilst ensuring a safe environment with access to all of the resources and teaching aids to help students through their schooling.

Our cabinets are used across a variety of settings, especially education. Want to know more? Complete the form below.


If you’d like to learn more about our products, feel free to contact us.

VR Arcades are a relatively new emergence into our shopping centres and high streets. Heading out to the shops now doesn’t just mean bargain hunting in fashion retailers, you can now find yourself fighting off zombies in a post apocalyptic wasteland, exploring unknown galaxies with your almighty lightsaber, or for the less adrenaline centred, relaxing on your own private beach all before a McDonalds and a wander around H&M. The surge in development in VR technology has made it possible for VR arcades to deliver fully immersive Virtual Reality experiences that we had previously only ever dreamed of in more accessible locations than we ever thought possible. Then Covid. . . .

It may be stating the obvious, but Covid has brought about an existential threat to location based VR experiences. Hardly surprising when the whole concept relies on placing a device on your head, and then immediately handing over to the next eager participant. The warm and moist areas created on our heads make prime breeding grounds for viruses and bacteria and the proximity to our nose, mouth and eyes make transmission between users likely. VR Arcades were of course forced to close and Rush VR was no exception. The challenge was then how to open safely and adhere to government guidelines. 

The Problem

The real problem here actually lies with cost. First and foremost, the headsets aren’t cheap (around £900 per unit) and so any thoughts of simply increasing the number of available headsets to allow more turnaround time is a non starter. There just isn’t the money so that is out of the window. 

So what about wipes, are they something that could be used. Actually no, it’s just not possible with wipes to be sure that you are killing enough of the virus (you can read more about this here) and even if you could, it actually damages the headsets. There are lenses on these headsets and don’t forget and they are not waterproof. As soon as liquid finds its way inside you are talking serious damage. The cheap alternative is now looking very very expensive. 

There are some UVC cleaning products out there, would they work? The main contender is Clean Box, it's a great product and does a fantastic job, however, it’s not designed for bulk disinfection. In order for location based VR to operate in a way that is commercially viable, it is paramount to have a quick turnaround, particularly for groups and downtime is incredibly costly. Having periods of downtime for 30 minutes or more, simply makes the business model unviable, the only solution would be to buy a Clean Box for each headset. In case you were wondering, for 8 headsets, this would cost over £14,000. That one is out of the question. 

So what can be done, is it possible?

Uvisan

As it turns out Immotion had put their own experiences to good use to create a solution to this problem prior to Covid. As we discussed earlier in this article, VR Headsets are places that can attract growth of all sorts of bacteria and viruses and so was actually an issue before any of us knew what a Coronavirus was. Imagine a tourist heavy location such as Las Vegas and all sorts of people descending on one place from every corner of the globe. Would you be comfortable placing a communal headset on your head towards the end of a long very hot day in the middle of the Nevada desert? In short, the UV cabinet was developed and in a reaction to the Coronavirus, the Uvisan brand was born as a standalone UVC disinfection brand.

As the cabinet had been developed specifically for VR Headsets, this was obviously a massive advantage for VR-Here, tackling the exact problem that they faced. The cabinets were ordered and put to use immediately with incredible results and here is a brief summary:

Summary

Above all else, VR-Here is now open and operational (when government restrictions allow). There was an enormous obstacle to overcome and Uvsian allowed Les and the team at VR-Here to do so at a fraction of the cost that was originally thought of by using other alternatives. What’s more, if we think back to how the cabinets came to be created, Uvisan is not just a temporary product to help during Covid, it is something that will now become a permanent fixture even after the pandemic is over.

"An amazing product with outstanding support!"

"I can give my customers peace of mind when they receive safe and clean devices. It gives them the reassurance they need and shows how much we care as a business about the safety of our staff and customers."

Les Grzyl - Director VR-Here

Want to know more about UV-C in location based VR and other settings? Why not get in touch?


"At the University of Chichester we take pride in ensuring our students have the safest as well as the best experience across everything we do."

"We needed a solution that was easy to use and would eradicate any infection risk without damaging the sensitive equipment used by our colleagues and students. The Uvisan cabinet was the perfect proven solution allowing us to clean all our equipment in a simple and quick cleaning cycle."

Rod Matthews - University of Chichester

There are a number of difficulties that face the average University at any given moment, piles of marking dominating coffee tables at home, resources being stretched to their absolute limit, students being locked in their halls and this was all before the Coronavirus pandemic. We can all imagine how difficult the situation became for universities across the country when life turned into what is now widely known as ‘the new normal,’ and universities were allowed/required/strived to stay open. Whatever the correct verb, the point is that things changed massively and not in a good way. 

At the University of Chichester, one of the main problems was the use of shared equipment such as keyboards, mice, VR headsets, mocap components, cameras and anything that could be used by more than one person and not effectively cleaned using traditional methods involving moisture or heat. Vernon Francis, lead technician, was given the rather large task of coming up with a way of navigating these difficult circumstances and turned to research that they were already carrying out into UVC technology. UVC in simple terms uses high frequency light (254 nM) to kill bacteria and viruses that are exposed to it. There was talk of creating their own product, and exciting as that may be, there are several safety checks required to effectively create a UVC product. Vernon turned to Uvisan.

The Problem

As touched upon above, the main problem faced by the University of Chichester was the potential spread of Covid-19 as devices and equipment are shared and used by multiple people. This may seem like a small problem but has multiple knock on effects and creates a much bigger problem when considering the broader picture. A brief overview of this can be seen below.

Although some of the above may seem trivial, the reality is that it all adds up to a very significant problem. Is the university operating as safely as it could be? Is the university offering the best possible experience to the students? Is there a way that things could be improved? Many universities and other establishments are likely to relate to these problems and be in a similar situation.

The Solution

After much deliberation, Chichester University decided to purchase 5 UVC Disinfection Cabinets from Uvisan and put them into use immediately. A brief overview of the changes are as follows:

Summary

There were a number of issues faced by Chichester and by purchasing the Uvisan cabinets they have since made some truly valuable improvements. We take a lot of pride in the product at Uvisan, but what makes everything worth it, is our happy customers. Don’t just take our word for it, here is the feedback from Chichester University. 

"At the University of Chichester we take pride in ensuring our students have the safest as well as the best experience across everything we do."

"We needed a solution that was easy to use and would eradicate any infection risk without damaging the sensitive equipment used by our colleagues and students. The Uvisan cabinet was the perfect proven solution allowing us to clean all our equipment in a simple and quick cleaning cycle."

Rod Matthews - University of Chichester

Keen to know more about how our cabinets are used in Education? Why not get in touch?


We hope this case study was informative and interesting, for any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can find more information about our products here, or why not read another of our articles.

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