Ever since last year, disinfectants have become more important than ever: because of the coronavirus outbreak more organizations have become to understand the importance of good hygiene, as well as investing in it. Since this change is accompanied by a higher demand for products, the Dutch government has introduced several exemptions when it comes to both the production and distribution of disinfectants.

Unfortunately, this also means several organizations have started to produce disinfectants without the proper knowledge, resulting in illegal products being used for cleaning within the healthcare, education and other systems. In 2021, rules and protocols will once again change, so we line up everything you need to know: whether you’re using disinfectants already or if your company can open again soon.  

ALSO READ: Hygiene, coronavirus & availability

When the coronavirus introduced itself back in 2020, a shortage of hand disinfection products in the business environment seemed to be right around the corner. To prevent this from happening, the Dutch government introduced a temporary exemption for hand disinfection containing (at least) 70% alcohol for professional use, in consultation with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the National Consortium Resources and the Dutch Association of Soap Manufacturers. In September of 2020 this exemption was extended one more time until the 4th of March 2021, after which it will be forbidden for both producers and distributors to offer these products.

Exemption disinfectants against coronavirus will end soon

Besides it being illegal next month to further offer these products, it’s also officially prohibited for organizations to use them. This means it’s important as a company still using these temporarily allowed disinfectants, to either use up everything in advance or to start investing in allowed disinfectants right away. By investing in new disinfectants, you can also prevent your company from using illegal products or buying them before opening again, since there are many illegal disinfectants in the running right now.

For example, The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate and The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority concluded that over the last couple of months a lot of disinfectants either contain way too little alcohol, the labels are not factually right or the bottles have been filled unsafely. Furthermore, sampling showed a quarter of the tested hand gels in public places don’t contain enough alcohol to effectively work against the coronavirus, even though they are still being placed at the entrances. This of course only shows the importance to (from now on) only purchase products from professional organizations. Spectro is specialized in the production and distribution of professional disinfectants, proven to be effective against enveloped viruses such as COVID-19.

Advice & protols in education and hairdressing

Also for the education system, new measures have been announced starting February 8th. These have been established in the service documents and protocols schools are following right now. Furthermore, the hygiene guidelines by the RIVM are still in place. Also for the reopening of hairdressing salons a  protocol was shared, in which important rules like the ones listed below are mentioned:

  • Make sure there's enough soap in a pump bottle and point out the importance of washing your hands to everyone present.
  • Make sure employees wash their hands at least once per hour and each time before and after treating a customer.
  • After each customer, clean materials like chairs, tables, sinks, scissors using a proper disinfectant.

Do you want to invest in hand hygiene as an organization? Hand hygiene includes either cleansing hands with an alcohol-based hand gel (such as Ethades & Ethades+) or with soap (such as Hand Soap Eco Soft & Foam Soap Eco Soft) and water. Alcohol-based hand gels are preferred if hands are not visibly soiled, when they are visible soiled you can wash your hands with soap and water.