Organic vs GRP Hygienic Doors: Infection Control And Best Practice In The Specification Of Doors In Hospitals And Healthcare Settings

Posted by Yvette Loriss

March 21, 2010

There have never been more elements to consider when specifying doors in a hospital setting. With the increasing emphasis of contamination risk, HAI and infection control the pressure is on specifiers to ensure they choose doors whose performance is suited for each hospital environment.

Les Blennerhasset, technical director of Dortek, one of the UK and Ireland’s leading suppliers of hygienic doors to the healthcare sector, explains the infection control benefits of using glass reinforced polyester (GRP) over wood and laminate doors in a hospital setting.

“With hygiene and infection control standards rising, traditional painted timber and laminate doors are now being replaced by GRP doors. Thanks to its seamless, moulded, hygienic construction, it is now quickly becoming the material of choice for doors in high risk areas like intensive care and operating theatres, as well as for medium risk areas like laboratories, hydrotherapy pools and recovery suites.

These photographs illustrate the potential issues with using laminate doors in some environments. Both the doors were taken from pharmaceutical companies, where they had been in use for between 3-5 years. These doors were then exposed to water for a two week period. Following the test, the timber based core of the laminate door (top) swelled, and the glue holding it together split. This allowed water to get into the door, and mould quickly grew on the inside. The GRP door (bottom) survived the test unaffected, thanks to a lack of organic materials, and its seamless moulded construction.

Manufactured from millions of glass fibre threads and polyester resin, GRP is a high technology engineering composite that produces a very strong, seamless door. GRP doors are created using a closed moulding process which produces a uniform product, with no holes, crevices or joints that could accommodate bacteria.

Whilst often adequate for corridors waiting areas and office spaces, traditional timber or laminate ‘lick and stick’ doors have no place in areas where cleanliness is important. However, whilst no-one would consider using organic materials in the manufacture of hospital benches, trolleys or operating tables, there are still many hospitals with doors made with wooden frames, panel surrounds and lippings.

Doors are subject to a lot of wear and tear in hospital settings, with the flow of people and trolleys inevitably hitting the door and frame on a regular basis. Whilst traditionally concerns have been aesthetic and repairs have been carried out during normal maintenance cycles, these days as soon as surfaces are damaged, there is a risk to infection control that needs to be addressed immediately. GRP doors are much stronger than organic alternatives, and can be easily and effectively restored to their original state in situations where wooden and laminate doors might need to be replaced.

Timber and laminate doors are not only potentially weaker than GRP doors, and thus more easily damaged, but can also pose a higher risk, as a knock or chip may reveal organic materials below where bacteria could reproduce, as well as being virtually impossible both to clean and keep clean effectively. Unlike laminate and timber doors, which can deteriorate quickly once exposed to common cleaning regimes, GRP doors like those produced by Dortek are able to tolerate constant cleaning, the prolonged use of disinfectants, chlorine releasing agents and VHP (vaporised hydrogen peroxide).

The international pharmaceutical anti biotechnology industry has already turned its back on timber and laminate doors, replacing them with GRP as standard across many manufacturing facilities. With the standards of cleanliness demanded by such industries, hospital specifiers need to recognise that the downside of infection contamination in a cleanroom far outweighs any reason not to reconsider the decades-old thinking behind conventional hospital hygienic door specification.

Dortek are industry experts in the manufacture and supply of hygienic door solutions for the worldwide pharma and healthcare sectors. A selection of useful guides on specifying hospital doors and infection control in hospitals are available from its hygienic door systems website.

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