Solutions for Your Customers--

Industry Innovations for Our Health

Submitted by Charles Dix, Lighting Segment Manager, Werner Electric
 

Covid-19 has brought a laser focus to how vulnerable our health system is and how important it is for our way of life. That virus that is so small that you need an electron-microscope to see it could cause so much havoc and tragedy to our daily lives.

Every resource and technology that we have should be brought to bear on these foes that make us sick and threaten our health. The electrical industry has been no stranger to this fight to improve our health care and provide better care. Until the creation of incandescent lamps almost all surgery had to be conducted during the day but today we take for granted that the operating suite has the highest quality of light possible to aid the doctors to see properly. Electricity provides power to critical machines such as ventilators, heart pumps and many more wonderful devices down to HVAC. The electrical industry continues to launch new products and innovations that help our healthcare to improve.

Some of the newest products are anti-microbial face plates, wall switches and receptacles. As germs, bacteria and viruses continue to evolve and find ways to live longer and stronger it is a major threat to our arsenal of anti-bacteria drugs which may not be able to kill them. Eliminating them faster and not allowing a place for them to grow is critical. The industry now offers anti-microbial devices imbedded with silver ion particles that kill 99.9% of bacteria and germs.

Another germ fighter are UV-A light fixtures for hospitals and commercial applications. You can combine a regular style fixture you would see in any hospital or commercial office but it also emits UV-A lighting that kills over 99.8% of all pathogens and germs over an 8-hour period. Rather than use harsh chemicals you use the power of the sun and select bands of UV-A light that are harmless to humans but deadly to germs.

And lastly, the use of lighting to mimic the color of the sun to enhance our internal biorhythms and reinforce our own internal germ fighting capabilities. We have lived under artificial lighting for less than 0.01% of the total time man has walked on this earth. Our bodies have evolved to use nature and the power of the sun to power our own immune systems so the closest we can get to that natural state in our lighting, the better we will be.

The industry and our manufacturing partners continue to research and design new products to help make our lives better and healthier.