If you're still using carbon steel maintenance tools in sterile processing facilities, you're missing out on the three big C's... Compliance, Cost, Cleanliness.
You've got one thing on your mind: maintaining the highest levels of sterility in your production facility. So when routine maintenance is required on sterile or critical processing equipment, do you call in the auto mechanic from your local filling station to do the job?
In a sense, that's what you'd be doing when you equip your maintenance technicians with only general industrial carbon steel hand tools to maintain sterile production equipment. Carbon steel tools are not designed for sterilization, and introduce a very serious risk of ferrous contamination to sterile environments.
Go ahead, make a call down to your production supervisor right now and ask him what kind of wrench his mechanics use for routine maintenance, where he bought it, and how much it cost. How is it holding up? How often has he had to replace it in the last three years, as the chrome plating begins to flake and threaten production safety by introducing foreign particulate and raw ferrous surfaces to a sterile environment? If he knew that he could replace, once and for all, all of his deteriorating, sub-standard tools with stainless steel tools that would not need replacement or introduce risk, tools that were specifically designed for his application, would he be interested?
The fact is, specialized sterile and critical processing industries require maintenance tools designed to meet the same exacting compliance standards that must be upheld for every other step in the production process. But more often than you'd think, this effective solution is overlooked. Simply put, replacing carbon steel maintenance tools with stainless steel hand tools can result in the reduction of risk of process contamination as well as a significant cost savings.
Compare the benefits of stainless steel hand tools over carbon steel tools:
| Stainless Steel Hand Tools | Carbon Steel Hand Tools |
| Risk of Process Contamination | Low | High |
| Particulate Generation | Homogenous material-
no plating to peel or chip | Chrome Plating-
chips or flakes can generate particulate |
| Sterility | Designed specifically for routine sterilization through thousands of cycles | Can only be effectively sterilized for approximately ten cycles before deterioration begins |
| Ferrous Contamination | Pure chromium oxide surface creates passive (non-reactive) layer with no iron contamination | Made from carbon steel with chrome plating. Ferrous surface introduces high risk of ferrous contamination |
| Cost | Long life of the tools eliminates the need for replacement and quickly maximizes return on investment | Necessity of frequent replacement results in high cost over time |
| Design | Designed and specified for critical environment applications | Designed for general industrial use.
Not intended for sterilization |
| Critical Environment | No negative impact on critical environments | Introduces particulate and iron contamination |
Steritool is the world leader in stainless steel hand tool technology.
We can provide the tools you need to maintain critical standards and save you money in the long term.