KPI Elevators, Inc. (Kone Philippines) will outfit the yet-to-be-constructed Senate building in Taguig City and PRC Building in Pasay City with sanitizing solutions such as elevator air purifiers and self-disinfecting escalator handrails, addressing hygiene concerns people have about public spaces.
“These can play a key role in helping people return to the office, knowing that both the public and private sectors are committed to keeping them safe,” said Markus O. Nisula, managing director of Kone Philippines, in an e-mail interview. “Sustainability-focused advances in vertical transportation such as elevators and escalators will help cities like Manila increase resource efficiencies.”
The Kone Elevator AirPurifier helps improve air quality within elevators and reduce pollutants, germs, and odors; and the Kone Handrail Sanitizer for escalators has a chemical-free cleaning solution that uses ultraviolet rays to reduce pollutants and germs.
DX Class Elevators, meanwhile, use non-toxic, anti-stain, and anti-fingerprint materials that decrease the need for maintenance and cleaning.
The company, a corporate member of the Philippine Green Building Council, also outfitted Okada Manila in Parañaque City, Powerplant Mall in Makati City, One Lakeshore Drive in Davao City, WV Towers in Iloilo City, and Primavera in Cagayan de Oro.
ELEVATOR ETIQUETTE
The pandemic highlighted the need to focus on people’s health and well-being, including in aspects of mobility. Harvard T.H. Chan’s School of Public Health gave tips on how individuals can practice elevator etiquette this time of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19):
Wear a mask.
Load the elevator in a checkerboard (or alternate) pattern.
Have the person near the buttons select the floor for everyone, using their knuckles.
No conversations.
Employers can additionally stagger employees’ arrival and departure times to minimize the risk of exposure.
“Workers want to know whether they can really be safe in an elevator, and building owners want to know whether they get elevator capacity to more than one person at a time,” said Joseph G. Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Fortunately, the answer to both is, ‘Yes.’” — Patricia B. Mirasol