Sanitary Wash-down Hose Reels for RTE

Hello all! First post here, but I have been reading for a while.

My facility is doing a big push on ergonomics and making jobs easier for our associates. A recent observation has arisen that the wash-down hose stations we use in the our RTE areas are difficult to maneuver and have the potential to cause injury with associates removing and returning the hoses on waist height wall hanging hooks. Average hose is 100' long, some areas have longer hoses. We use both hot and cold water. An idea suggested was to replace these with "hose reels"...Which I am leery in installing since if they are not properly maintained, these could become harborage sites for trapped material and potential pathogens.

My question to you guys - Are any of you using hose reels in your facilities? Success or are you having issues? Can anyone offer suggestions to what kind of reels work better? There are so many types out on the market and I am not sure where to really begin looking as I have zero experience in using hose reels in a RTE environment. We produce packaged frozen desserts, specifically non-dairy ice cream products.

Thanks,

~ ICman

Reels are tough, I'm a bigger fan of booms for ergonomics anyway.

Biggest issue is that they're typically rolled up wet, so they create a moist harborage space. As part of your hose sanitation program, they should be unrolled completely and wiped off at some interval (maybe even every day after use), and you should use a sanitizer with a residual such as QUAT so that any trapped moisture will remain bacteriocidal, vs. PAA or chlorine which will lose strength and eventually leave behind plain water.

i vote no on the hose reels....let the ergonomic people try and source something that meets YOUR requirements, particularly since you are RTE.

In RTC poultry, hoses hung on hooks nightly to dry (but contracted sanitation employees out to 3rd party)

They have a completely valid point, but you can't trade one issue for another

FFF those booms are nice, but won't always work in every location