THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Several offices and organisations in the city have facilitated hand wash facilities for their employees and the public to ‘Break the Chain’. However, it still poses a risk as many people use the facility and hand wash bottles. In a move to create a risk-free hand wash facility for the students and staff, the St Thomas Institute for Science and Technology (STIST) has developed a hand wash machine which is fully operated using pedals.

The hand wash machine consists of two pipe valves with water and soap solution. These valves start functioning when the pedals connected to them are activated by feet. “As colleges reopen, we will be placing the machine at the entrance. In this machine, one just needs to push the pedals so that there is no contact by hand,” said Rag R L, head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, STIST.

The machine was the brainchild of the mechanical engineering department and was developed with the help of Mechanical Engineering workshop superintendent Mohammad Sheriff, lab instructor Ajimon Karunakaran and lab assistant K Kuttapan. A nozzle is fitted in the soap solution valve to minimise its outflow. “We are planning to place the machine in all the institutions under the Mar Thoma Church Educational Society, which includes St Thomas Schools too.

The basic idea is to break the chain,” said Rag. The institution also plans to make sanitiser machines. “This will be also operated using pedals. These machines will be placed in staff rooms, laboratories and all common points in the college,” he added. “We already had the structure and vessel for making the machine. We are now focusing on improving the design. The other machines will be ready once the lockdown is over. We will start work on sanitiser machine soon,” said Mohammad.