KONE Elevator India introduces Health and Wellbeing Solutions for Lifts & Escalators to beat COVID- 19
Mumbai: KONE Elevator India, a wholly owned subsidiary of KONE Corporation, has introduced a suite of people flow solutions to help buildings and cities be safer and healthier places to live, work and commute. The solutions are built on KONE’s deep expertise and knowledge of people flow, which is vital when addressing the challenges of adapting to a new way of life in the face of the current pandemic.
As cities gradually begin to open, the experience of using residential buildings and public premises such as metro stations, shopping malls and offices will change. Considering physical distancing measures as well as the need for people to be able to move around in shared spaces safely, KONE’s technical knowhow and innovation came together to create solutions that can be used to encourage physical distancing while enabling a safe and convenient return to public settings.
“In the prevailing COVID-19 environment, the way people interact with everyday surroundings will be challenging. As we ease out of lockdown and re-enter public buildings, we need to come to terms with the “new normal” with complete certainty. To address this changing need, KONE, as a pioneer in people flow, has introduced a range of health and well-being solutions that will help recreate safer user journeys and healthy spaces in your buildings.” says Amit Gossain, MD, KONE Elevator India.
KONE health and well-being solutions aim at reducing the risk of contact with surfaces in shared spaces, encourage physical distancing and enable a safe and convenient return to public settings.
By this KONE means:
Reducing the need to touch surfaces
As people started returning to work, another real concern related to shared spaces became extremely clear: people are unwilling to touch common surfaces like buttons in Elevators. Elevator Remote Call Feature using WhatsApp is a response to this. It allows users to call an elevator using social messaging channels like WhatsApp, removing the need to touch possibly contaminated buttons or displays.
Contributing to Healthier Environment
Physical distancing elevator floor stickers and Elevator full load limit adjustment will ensure less crowding and thereby contribute to a healthier environment.
Helping to prevent the spread of disease
To further reduce concerns over elevator use, KONE is introducing in selected markets the new KONE Elevator Air Purifier. It uses technology – including an advanced photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) process developed by NASA for air control on spaceships- to improve air quality in the elevator car by removing most of the potential pollutants, like bacteria, viruses, dust and odours, in the air.
KONE Handrail Sanitizer, an escalator handrail cleaning solution that uses a type of ultraviolet light (UV-C) to gradually disinfect escalator handrails. Continuous chemical-free cleaning happens inside the escalator, so that the users aren’t exposed to it. Exposure to ultra-violet radiation helps reduce and inhibit the reproduction of micro-organisms such as bacteria or viruses.
Keeping Equipment Running & Safe
As we all learn to live by the new norms of our cities, neighbourhoods and buildings, it’s likely we’ll continue to insist on smooth people flow once we do get going again. With cloud based KONE 24/7 Connected Services, KONE helps to ensure transparency and preventive maintenance on equipment performance.
“We are committed to playing a vital role in keeping society running during these unprecedented times. Elevators, escalators and the related maintenance are crucial in enabling people to carry out essential activities. For our customers, a key benefit of the health and well-being focused solutions is that improvements can be introduced easily, in an era when hygiene and physical distancing are vitally important,” Amit added.