The company has installed 86 AirLabs AirBubbl air cleaning devices in the driver cabins of their buses.
Stephen Stringer, head of engineering at Warrington’s Own Buses, said: “The priority for us is to protect the health and safety of our employees, who provide an essential service, and of course for our customers, the people of Warrington.
“By installing the AirBubbl devices we’re ensuring that we can reduce the risk of exposure for our staff, who have done a fantastic job in serving Warrington during this crisis.”
The 86 AirBubbl devices have been installed over recent weeks in Warrington’s Own Buses entire active fleet, as part of the company’s ‘five steps to safer working’ approach to public and driver safety.
AirLabs is already installing AirBubbl devices in 100 patient transport vehicles operated by The HATS Group, to reduce the risk of exposure for its medical workers supporting London hospitals. The company has received worldwide interest in its air cleaning devices from businesses around the world that are looking to protect their employees and customers.
The AirBubbl is said to filter more than 95% of airborne viruses and contaminated particulate matter, and circulates 30,000 litres of clean air every hour.
In July, the company received a $100,000 grant from Barclays and Unreasonable Impact to bring its COVID-19-response AiroSafe technology to market. The AiroSafe is designed to remove airborne coronavirus from the passenger cabins of public transport, by creating a personal air space for every seat. AirLabs aims to install the first passenger protection units with partners by October this year, having worked closely with key players in the rail and bus sector over recent months to develop the technology.
According to AirLabs, coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2 are spread via respiratory droplets produced by infected persons when they cough, sneeze, talk or breathe. While larger droplets quickly fall out of the air, smaller droplets persist as aerosols. Smaller aerosol particles are of concern because they may stay buoyant in the air for longer, travel further and be able to penetrate further into the respiratory tract when inhaled, according to a recent study by the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.