Disinfecting – A New Role for Field Service

By Jason McGillivray – Director of Operations

Without a doubt 2020 has been a challenging year. It is safe to say that at no other time has the world spent so much time discussing health, and how to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true in the foodservice industry, which as we all know has been particularly hard hit by these events.

The resilience of our industry has been severely tested as every possible solution has been implemented to keep businesses open while keeping customers safe through screens, table distancing, patios, face masks, curbside pick-up, contactless payment, and of course many types of sanitization.

General Parts Group Protects Restaurants & Kitchens

At General Parts Group we have witnessed the impact of these measures in both the front and back of the house in hundreds of restaurants and foodservice facilities and naturally, we have played a small part by rigidly following all the best practices laid down by our customers. Since the very beginning of the pandemic, we have been asking ourselves what else can we do to proactively protect our industry, especially our field service technicians and, of course, our customers. Through research and networking, we discovered a product called PureFX which we think will help deliver an extra layer of protection quickly, safely, and efficiently.

Fighting COVID-19 with PureFX

PureFX is a compound that is dissolved in water to activate. It is a foodservice safe CIO2 (chlorine dioxide) that kills Covid-19, E. Coli, MRSA, Staph, and Listeria in 10 minutes. It is safe to use on surfaces and leaves no residue. General Parts has started to sell this product through its parts distribution division, but has also decided to roll out this product to its own field service technicians for use at customer sites. This rollout began in November and is expected to be complete across all General Parts Group locations by the New Year.

Our field service technicians will ask permission to spray the area they are to work within, and the customer will have the option to have the area sprayed both before and after service. Technicians will carry a copy of the MSD sheet for the customer to review. This will be standard practice for our technicians on service calls for no extra charge.  However, if a customer decides that they like the product and benefits but require external support with its application then we will then work with them to create a service plan.