Equipment disinfection and COVID-19

In answer to numerous questions regarding proper disinfection of climbing and personal protective equipment, Singing Rock have made an official statement especially devoted to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Ethanol

• At the moment, the most easily accessible disinfection with approved destructive effect against coronavirus in our region has following contents: 83% of denatured 95% ethanol; 11.3% of distilled water, 4.2% of 3% hydrogen peroxide and 1.5% of glycerol.
• Numerous tests of repeatedly immersed textiles into the above-mentioned liquid with subsequent air drying didn’t show any detectable strength reduction.
• Nevertheless, we do not recommend to apply the above-mentioned chemicals on your gear more than 10 times.

Isopropanol

• Due to similar properties and tests, performed by other manufacturers, isopropanol or isopropyl alcohol can be used for disinfection with insignificant degenerative effect to exposed materials.
• It is not recommended to apply any chemicals on your gear more than 10 times.

Hot water

• Test results, published in the Supplementary appendix of the article by Chin A W H, Chu J T S, Perera M R A, et al. Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental conditions. Lancet Microbe 2020; published online April 2., indicate a high virus sensitivity to heat. Virus is not detectable after 30 min. in 56 ˚C hot water.
• Based on studies “Effects of Pathogen Decontamination on the Strength of Climbing Rope and Harness Equipment” performed by U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Technology and Development Program, it is possible to increase the water temperature to 55 ˚C with no effect to strength of the textile gear.
• We recommend to use 55 ˚C hot water for a non-destructive disinfection of your polyamide or polyester gear or metal components.
• This solution is not applicable to gear made of HMPE (Dyneema®, Spectra®, Dynex® or similar)

Hand soap

• Singing Rock allows to use hand soap with pH range 5.5 and 8.5.
• According to the above mentioned article “Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental conditions. Lancet Microbe 2020”, it is necessary to wash your gear in 30 ˚C water with soap for at least 15 minutes in order to destroy the coronavirus.

Air dry

• SARS-CoV-2 can be detected on some smooth surfaces within 72 hours from the contamination according to “WHO: Q&A on coronaviruses (COVID-19) - How long does the virus survive on surfaces?”
• Therefore, it can be recommended to leave your gear aside in a well-ventilated place away from all sources of direct heat for at least 72 hours for disinfection.

Dilution of Potassium permanganate or ammonium salts

• Although Singing Rock recommends to use dilution of potassium permanganate or ammonium salts in user manuals, we can’t guarantee positive disinfecting effect in relation to SARS-CoV-2 due to lack of reliable scientific studies.
• Therefore, Singing Rock does not recommend to use the above-mentioned means for SARSCoV-2 disinfection.