I've just found out that our manager has brought in an outside company at the weekend to fog the offices.  I was off duty and no staff were in the offices at the time, so not to worried about what or how it was done.  But the cleaner complay claims it lasts up to 30 days of protection.  I was in the mind set that it could kill off anything in the room at the time (virus wise) but as soon as someone enters the room that protection is now obsolete, each time the touch a desk and potentially infected, that becomes a hot spot of infection... does anyone know if these claims are true?

From the HSE:

Do not spray people with disinfectants (in a tunnel, cabinet, or chamber) under any circumstances. Spraying a person could be harmful and does not reduce the spread of the virus. This is because transmission is usually through droplets or contact. 

Attempting to disinfect someone in a disinfection system or device has no impact on the spread of the virus because droplets are created when people talk, cough or sneeze.

Says it all really!

I have been presented several times with these "fog" systems to consider - when the supplier is asked about the biocidal registration (because they tend to make biocidal claims) many were never heard of again.

The newer "products" have realised they need to be careful about the accuracy and wording of their claims e.g. one I can think of stated it was a non-hazardous "nano-material" whose spiked structure disrupted the envelope causing the virus to die - non-hazardous and nano-material are not in the same sentence according to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

Even the more reputable ones with true "actives" in their system tend to say one thing when selling the application "harmless, quick, easy, long lasting" and a different story "keep area clear of personnel, do not breath vapour" when they are merrily spreading their gunk around your location.

and of course the manager presented you with the current Safety Data Sheet for the substance or mixture used and the COSHH assessment regarding application within the office all generated before fogging commenced, or are they hoping you will do it retrospectivley and not identify any issues

I work in the healthcare sector and we 'fog' a room as the first part of the cleaning process, this merely reduces the viral load in the air at that point in time allowing the cleaners to enter a less hazardous environment. Re. claims of 30 day coverage, if the room remained unused for 30 days I'd go along with the claims however as soon as biological material is reintroduced those claims will fail.  

For a continual air purifying system we use UV technology, The science is now old hat & it is a safe process compared to O3 or ozone fogging. '

Edited by user 29 January 2021 16:41:30(UTC)  | Reason: typo

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel

pointless fogging of indoor space or even outdoors is old hat. the new snake oil is those arches that spray you as you pass through them.

I an just waiting for someone to promote the inoculating ability of crystals 

Or you could hang some garlic near the doors and windows....