Ask any teacher what Gratnells does and most will say ‘the school tray’. Indeed, the Gratnells name is synonymous with school storage solutions across the UK and internationally. However, not many people know the company has been producing a line of storage furniture for the healthcare sector for about 40 years. The Gratnells medical range incorporates BioCote® antimicrobial technology into storage trays, trolleys and frames. Gratnells is now bringing this technology to its education range.
The BioCote antimicrobial additive is proven to be effective in combatting surface contamination from a wide range of bacteria, fungi and viruses. In a comparative study, BioCote created an antimicrobial classroom, using Gratnells antimicrobial trays as the storage element. Over the course of an academic year, the results of the study were extraordinary. There was a 96% reduction in surface bacteria present in the classroom and a 20% decrease in absenteeism related to ill health.
As vaccine programmes are rolled out across the globe, bringing hope of a return to some form of normality, many schools are again planning to reopen after a period of forced closures. With this in mind, Gratnells has added antimicrobial protection into a range of its popular classroom storage furniture. The addition of antimicrobial protection helps to maintain a more hygienic surface between normal cleaning routines and the new range has been designed to help keep classroom layouts as flexible as possible.
Callero Shield covers the popular Callero storage trolleys and trays that are perfect for deployment of resources in a Covid aware classroom. To complement Callero Shield, the range also includes high density, mobile storage frames, the new SortED range of tray inserts and PowerTray, a multiple USB device charger.
Gratnells runs a modern, ISO 9001 accredited production facility in Harlow, Essex. It has in-house injection moulding, laser tube cutting and powder coating operations. The antimicrobial protection is encapsulated within the trays and is active for the life of the product and in the trolleys and frames, it is contained in the powder coating. All Gratnells manufactured products come with a 5 year guarantee.
The entire range is now available and new products will be added in the future. Richard Picking, International Marketing Director commented, “The weeks and months ahead will continue to bring change and challenges like never before, but we at Gratnells believe it’s as important as ever to play our part in supporting teachers, staff members and children in the ‘new normal’. That’s why we have rolled out antimicrobial technology into our education products.”
Article Submitted By:
Anthony Byrne
Gratnells Ltd
United Kingdom
