The Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI) recommends sealed TV remote controls for hotel-guest and healthcare-patient rooms to enable better cleaning of these high-touch points to prevent devices from harboring and spreading infectious organisms.
 
“Items frequently touched by guests or patients should be regularly cleaned and disinfected or replaced by guest room attendants or environmental service professionals, and traditional remote controls are notoriously hard to clean and sanitize,” said Allen Rathey, president of The Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI). “A simple solution is the newer sealed remote now widely available and used in hotel chains to include Best Western International (Ref: Clean Remote) as well as in the facilities of major healthcare providers.”
 
The sealed, smooth, liquid-impervious “touch membrane” can be sprayed and left wet with a disinfectant to enable complete cleaning and disinfection not possible with traditional porous remote surfaces and devices damaged by moisture.
 
The less-porous design of the sealed touch/flat surface also harbors fewer bacteria, even before being cleaned, according to a University of Arizona Study conducted by Sheri Maxwell, B.S. and Charles P. Gerba, Ph.D.
 
According to the leading provider of these products, proven technology is available that works with more than 200 brands of TVs.