Share this
5 Reasons Why Facility Directors Choose HEPACART® Products
by HEPACART on Oct 14, 2020
HEPACART® products minimize waste, increase productivity, and protect people.
Facilities managers face a variety of challenges that call for a calm disposition, management ability, business judgment, an understanding of science, and an ability to see the big picture. Throw in contagious pathogens and tight budgets, and you have a compelling reason to look for better long-term solutions to recurring problems.
You also have ample incentive to find ways to minimize waste, increase productivity, and successfully protect the health of staff, visitors, and — if you're in healthcare — patients. So, let’s take a look at five ways in which HEPACART’s products have addressed these needs for thousands of facility managers and healthcare contractors over the last decade and a half.
1. Productivity
In every facility there is a need to access utilities in the ceiling for tasks like these, and many more, including:
- Cable and wire installation
- Low-voltage installation
- Light maintenance
- Ceiling tile replacement
- HVAC projects
- Plumbing installation
In fact, the invention of our flagship product was born of absolute necessity. Lead Engineer Jeff Pirner briefly recounts the story, part of which is transcribed here.
"HEPACART got started at our sister company, TED Systems, when we had a job to do at a local hospital, testing fire alarm devices. Roughly 350 devices above the ceiling and the area had to be contained. So we started with zip holes and plastic and a blower, set the whole thing up, put your ladder inside, take a tile out, do your test, move to the next point.
One of the specific problems with this job was that the devices' locations weren't 100% marked on the prints. So you would set up, open a tile, look above the ceiling, and the device wasn't there; it was 20 feet away. And so you had to tear back down and move it, and the whole teardown between move to move to move and re-setup was 45 minutes every time. We were going to be there for the rest of our lives trying to do the test."
In summary, HEPACART spent four years in product development and made its first shipments in April of 2007, and the HEPACART dust containment cart was born.
Since HEPACART containment carts greatly enhance productivity by taking less than two minutes to set up or take down, contractors and facilities directors took to HEPACART like French ducks to Perrier water. The success that followed prompted the company founder Herb Farnsworth and his son Mark Farnsworth to expand into other products.
First, they defined the company's mission as developing solutions to protect patients from dust and pathogens. Soon they broadened it to helping healthcare contractors and facilities managers with infection-prevention measures that can also save time and money.
Dust containment carts can prevent ceiling tiles from dumping nasty particles into the air, but what about when an entire room is being renovated or needs to be isolated due to infectious disease as recommended by the CDC? Something larger was needed, and the answer was the AnteRoom temporary room isolation module, portable and constructed of durable aluminum just like our dust containment carts.
If you’re adding a wing, you have to think even bigger: mobile containment walls. HEPACART's solution, STARC Systems Realwall barriers and the STARC LiteBarrier, install quickly and produce zero waste when removed, just like our dust containment carts and AnteRooms.
To manage ventilation and filtration, HEPAFORCE Negative Air Machines attach to all the above products via standard 12-inch ducts.
Two smaller products joined the lineup when electricians using our dust containment carts saw how useful they would be:
- HEPACART CAP (cabling access point) to aid contractors in pulling wire.
- SturdyMount mounting bracket to simplify mounting lights, cameras, and other devices in 2’x2’ and 2’x4’ ceiling tiles.
Finally, it was evident that HEPACART's expanded mission necessitated the development of pathogen-fighting products that went beyond HEPA filtration, leading to the HEPACART UV-FORCE Air Disinfection Module and the Germbuster 5000 mobile room disinfection unit. Both employ Far-UV light for pathogen cell destruction, a technology that perfectly complements HEPA filtration.
2. Durability
The first HEPACART ceiling access carts we built for third-party use were sold to Shawnee Mission Medical Center, and they're still going strong today. To get a sense of the longevity for which they were designed, read this transcript excerpt from the video mentioned earlier with HEPACART lead engineer Jeff Pirner:
"We started off with a 2'x4' channel frame... with half-inch caster plates and 900-pound swiveling casters on each end [and] a unibody construction aluminum frame... we have four poles on each corner so you can articulate... any kind of a ramp slope, and then we have a flame-retardant bellows that raises up to the [ceiling]. There's a foam seal around the top, spring-loaded, so when you push it up against the ceiling, it gives the cart some extra support up there, but it does not damage the ceiling."
All HEPACART products are similarly designed for extra long life, from dust containment carts to anterooms, mobile containment walls, negative pressure machines, and Far-UV germicidal irradiation equipment.
3. Sustainability
HEPACART's rugged aluminum unibody construction promotes sustainability. Lightweight, strong, and highly recyclable, aluminum products lower energy costs and carbon emissions. Also, by alleviating the need to construct temporary enclosures, HEPACART products reduce the amount of plastic, wood, and drywall that ends up in landfills due to renovation projects. This squares nicely with LEED protocols about eliminating non-disposable waste.
4. Flexibility
Every project is different in healthcare construction and renovation. In response to that fact, HEPACART offers over 50 options for adapting to various scenarios. The best news is most HEPACART options fit our products already in the field. And if you don't see something you need, ask us for it.
5. Safety
When HEPACART builds any product equipped with HEPA filtration, it is individually tested and certified for air quality and airflow, so that you'll know it's ready to use upon delivery.
The HEPACART dust containment cart is a stable platform for all kinds of work when casters are locked and extended to the ceiling. It’s spacious, with some models able to accommodate ladders up to 10 feet long. Well-ventilated, brightly lit by interior LEDs, and fully grounded when plugged into an outlet, the cart provides a safe place for tools, parts, and workers, while keeping those outside safe from dust and debris.
Conclusion
In healthcare facilities around the world, the U.S., and Canada, as well as in data centers, bioscience, semiconductor manufacturing, food safety, semiconductor manufacturing, food safety, pharmaceutical labs, and more, the wisdom of buying durable, reusable HEPACART equipment has been proven many times over.
Good facilities management means keeping people safe and healthy, reducing waste, lowering costs, and improving efficiency. We can help you get there, not just with products, but with advice and information. If you'd like to know more about infection control and how a director of facilities can see the big picture, refer to our Infection Control for Facilities Managers Guide.
Resources
Share this
- Infection Control (87)
- Dust Containment (67)
- Facility Management (63)
- Facility Construction & Renovation (41)
- Air Filtration & Disinfection (23)
- AnteRoom (15)
- Patient Safety (14)
- Indoor Air Quality (12)
- HEPAFORCE®AIR Negative Air Machines & Scrubbers (11)
- HEPAFORCE® GermBuster Room Air Purifiers (10)
- Healthcare (9)
- DUSTBUGGY® Dust Containment Cart (8)
- HEPACART® Dust Containment Cart (8)
- Cabling Access & Ceiling Access (7)
- UV-FORCE® Airborne Disinfection Module (7)
- STARC® Dust Containment Wall Barriers (6)
- Education (5)
- Healthcare Facility Construction & Renovation (4)
- About HEPACART (3)
- Electrical Installation & Repair (3)
- Surface Disinfection (2)
- February 2023 (1)
- January 2023 (5)
- December 2022 (4)
- November 2022 (4)
- October 2022 (4)
- September 2022 (3)
- August 2022 (2)
- July 2022 (2)
- June 2022 (2)
- May 2022 (2)
- April 2022 (2)
- March 2022 (2)
- February 2022 (2)
- January 2022 (2)
- December 2021 (2)
- November 2021 (2)
- October 2021 (2)
- September 2021 (2)
- August 2021 (1)
- July 2021 (3)
- June 2021 (2)
- May 2021 (2)
- April 2021 (2)
- March 2021 (2)
- February 2021 (2)
- January 2021 (2)
- December 2020 (2)
- November 2020 (2)
- October 2020 (2)
- September 2020 (2)
- August 2020 (1)
- July 2020 (2)
- June 2020 (1)
- April 2020 (2)
- March 2020 (1)
- February 2020 (1)
- January 2020 (1)
- December 2019 (2)
- November 2019 (2)
- October 2019 (2)
- September 2019 (2)
- August 2019 (2)
- July 2019 (2)
- June 2019 (5)
- May 2019 (2)
- April 2019 (1)
- March 2019 (1)
- February 2019 (1)
- January 2019 (1)
- December 2018 (2)
- November 2018 (5)
- October 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (2)
- July 2018 (2)
- June 2018 (4)
- May 2018 (5)
- April 2018 (1)
- March 2018 (2)
- February 2018 (2)
- January 2018 (2)
- December 2017 (2)
- October 2017 (2)
- September 2017 (1)
- July 2017 (5)
- June 2017 (4)
- May 2017 (5)
- April 2017 (2)
- March 2017 (5)
- February 2017 (4)
- January 2017 (2)
- December 2016 (3)
- November 2016 (9)
- October 2016 (4)
- September 2016 (2)
- August 2016 (3)
- July 2016 (4)
- June 2016 (3)
- May 2016 (5)
- April 2016 (3)
- March 2016 (5)
- February 2016 (4)
- January 2016 (4)
- December 2015 (3)
- November 2015 (5)
- October 2015 (5)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (5)
- July 2015 (3)
- June 2015 (4)
- May 2015 (4)
- April 2015 (4)
- March 2015 (7)
- February 2015 (1)
- October 2014 (1)
- September 2014 (2)
- August 2014 (2)
- July 2014 (1)
- June 2014 (1)
- May 2014 (2)