Environmental Hygiene Industry Leaders Converge to Discuss BPR Regulations

Ellie Wishart, BSc, Real World Evidence Manager at Ecolab discusses the role of industry partners in the Clean Hospitals initiative.

Making sure the most appropriate products can be made available on the market for health care facilities is key to ensuring safety for users and the environment. This is the primary objective of the European Biocide Product Regulation (BPR) regulations. The industry is working extremely hard to meet requirements and future proof a portfolio of products for health care to clean and disinfect their facilities.

The International Clean Hospitals Day Conference, which took place in Geneva on October 20, 2022, is an ideal opportunity for environmental hygiene industry experts to share knowledge and expertise on these regulations. The objectives we all hope to meet at the conference is to build a common understanding of how our industry ensures products have a high level of efficacy against microbes, have passed extensive toxicological and ecotoxicological exposure assessments, and fulfil the highest safety standards, ensuring the highest level of protection to human health and the environment. It is key that health care facilities understand these regulations and seek to ensure that the products they choose meet these requirements and are properly registered. The BPR regulations offers a harmonized approach to setting standards for microbial efficacy which provides assurance that disinfectant products are effective against microbes that cause health care-associated infections (HAIs) and provides guidance on use of safe active ingredients. Industry can support these facilities to choose BPR registered disinfectant products for use for the appropriate applications, ensuring a safe environment for patient, staff, and visitors.

In a session bringing together health care environmental hygiene industry leaders, Ecolab, Diversey, and GAMA Healthcare, we will discuss the impact of such regulations for both healthcare facilities and industry. There is little awareness of regulations such as BPR in health care facilities, and as it something we are very much involved in, the aim of this session at the conference is to highlight how the requirements have changed for products and how to understand product regulation status from the label.

Ecolab is a proud member and supporter of the Clean Hospitals Initiative and share a common goal to protect patients, environmental service workers, health care workers, and the natural environment through improved environmental hygiene.

The author isresponsible for Real World Evidence (RWE) and Clinical Affairs for Ecolab’s Healthcare Division. In that role she have been involved in the provision of Infection Prevention solutions to Healthcare facilities for over 20 years with Ecolab. The author leads the collection of scientific data, RWE and clinical practices that support Ecolab’s programs and works to empower education, practical knowledge, and best practices in infection prevention.

At the International Clean Hospitals Day Conference, the author spoke alongside Claire Khosravi from Diversey and Karen Wares from GAMA Healthcare on “Evolutions of biocide standards, and regulations; a few clouds on the horizon?”