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Steri Spray
Showers that prevent legionnaires disease
Business description
Steri-Spray offers a range of patented showers that prevent legionnaires disease. Steri-Spray showers use ultraviolet light at a low voltage to keep the shower head itself free from water borne bacteria, whilst also treating incoming water to kill off any bacteria before the water flows through the unit. With three designs available, Steri-Spray can be used with any existing shower installation and the cost of the unit will be competitive with standard shower products.
A shower unit that protects the user from contracting legionnaires disease, a potentially life-saving invention, at a price similar to a standard shower unit. The Steri-Spray is great news for facilities managers in sectors such as healthcare, leisure and education, for whom preventing legionnaires disease is currently a key health and safety issue.
Pitcher
Ian Helmore
Series 5 episode 6
Investors
Deborah Meaden
Theo Paphitis
£’s invested
£145,000
% stake in business
20%
Deborah’s reasons for investing
I could see straight away the applications for the product and I believed from personal experience that there was a need it for in the leisure sector. I also knew that I had a contact in the NHS so I felt that I might be able to add value getting the product to market.
What’s happened since they appeared in the Den?
Since appearing on Dragons' Den the final product designs have been
completed and tested. The expensive injection moulding tools required to
make the end products have been made and the electronic circuitry has
been designed and manufactured. All of the patent, trademark and design
right processes required to ensure the product is fully protected from
infringement, are now fully granted in the USA, Canada, Japan, UK,
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe. Finally, the products
have passed the world’s most stringent and recognised water testing
standard and are now fully launched and being installed in the UK.
In addition to the showers, other ‘spin-off’ products have also been
developed including the Steri -Cleanse. Steri-Cleanse is designed to
deal with the issue of cross contamination of MRSA via showers in
hospitals. It is a sterile, single use, disposable and bio-degradable
attachment that plugs onto the outlets of Steri-Spray showers to prevent
cross contamination and still deliver sterile water.
Latest update from Ian
It has taken a lot longer than I had planned to get the products to full manufacture and onto the market. However, it was important that they were rigorously tested by both the official bodies and on site, in live installations. The on site testing has occurred in facilities that had live Legionella issues before Steri-Spray. An eight month trial with Belfast NHS Trust ended recently and has resulted in their endorsement of Steri-Spray as "An Effective Legionella Control Measure" . We have also had successful installations in other locations and sectors including Fire Stations, Social Services and the Leisure Industry, with 22 of our panels showers just being specified on a new school build. We are now going head to head with the commercial shower manufacturers.
Without Deborah and Theos investment I would not have been able to continue with the Steri-Spray project as the patent fees were financially crippling me and I simply didn’t have any more money to invest in getting the product to market. Of course, in addition to the investment I also get the benefit of Deborah and Theo's business acumen and contacts, which has proved invaluable in launching the products.
To put it in perspective, our showers are now installed in high risk
cancer wards, where patients with little or no immune system are
actually using our showers. We will never know for sure, but our showers may have already prevented someone from contracting Legionnaires Disease...
Contact details
01462 491 005
Steri-Spray Ltd, Unit 6, Bondor Business Centre, London Road Industrial Estate, Baldock, Herts, SG7 6HP
