Billboards doubling as disinfection terminals for phones

Nordic health company Terveystalo has turned billboards into disinfectant terminals, to clean phones in 15 seconds with UVC light. Located in Helsinki and Turku in southern Finland, the billboards feature a small hatch where anyone can place their smartphone for cleaning.

Exposure to UVC light can cause skin irritation and, in extreme cases, loss of sight. The billboards prioritise user safety by ensuring that the UVC light only turns on when the hatch is closed, thereby making it difficult for anyone to harm themselves.

Veera Siivonen, Marketing and Communications Director at Terveystalo, emphasised the importance of having a strong immune system and practising proper hand hygiene in the midst of the global pandemic.

“This project is a reminder for people to take care of all aspects of their health, and billboards are a great way to spread this important message,” said Siivonen.

While disinfection solutions for smartphones are available to consumers, they require up to 15 minutes of UVC exposure. The disinfection terminals introduced by Terveystalo use hospital-grade technology to do the job in 15 seconds. Terveystalo’s research has found that 10 seconds of exposure to UVC light can disinfect smartphone surfaces nearly perfectly.

The solution has been developed with Sterlights, a Finland-based company that imports and distributes hospital-grade UVC lights.

“The cheap consumer products usually have low-output lamps that require longer exposure time. The lamps that are used in the disinfecting stations make use of UVC light with a 254 nm wavelength that destroys all pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria. These high-output UVC lamps take only 15 seconds to properly disinfect smartphone surfaces,” said Dr Udy Ben Yosef, Chief Scientific Officer at Sterlights.

Turning billboards into disinfectant terminals is the first phase of the project; the solution is being further developed to work as a standalone disinfectant unit, for example in public places.

Image credit: Terveystalo.