Personnel, footwear and entry direction
Check that everyone entering the sensitive area follows this route through the required cleaning and access steps.
Contamination Control
Cleaner soles and wheels at production entrances
Personnel and mobile equipment can carry flour, dust, residues or moisture into production on soles and wheels. The entrance should guide every relevant crossing across the cleaning surface.
The actual route defines the hygiene station’s role
The hygiene station should sit on the route people and equipment actually use. Personnel, trolleys, pallet trucks and vehicles need to cross the active surface during normal movement, with no route around it.
A hygiene entrance describes the complete controlled transition between areas and may include handwashing, footwear cleaning and access control. The hygiene station is the equipment within that sequence. Its configuration must align with the site procedure, approved disinfectant, drainage, cleaning, maintenance and internal monitoring.
Physical cleaning comes before disinfection
Remove physical soil first
If soles, rollers or wheels carry flour, dust, sand, residues or moisture, contact with a disinfectant does not by itself remove the soil left on the surface. The first step is to define how mechanical cleaning will remove it.
Then define the daily routine
For a wet hygiene station using disinfectant, the daily tasks should be clear from the start: manual refill or automatic dosing, concentration checks, drainage, area cleaning and documented checks. Without that routine, the disinfection process cannot be verified consistently.
What to clarify before choosing the station
The route, traffic and hygiene requirements of the area determine the right setup. Footwear and the wheels fitted to trolleys or pallet trucks need different contact lengths and operating routines. Entrances to microbiologically sensitive areas also require a separately defined disinfection and monitoring procedure.
Wheels, rollers and trolleys
If trolleys, pallet trucks or other vehicles use the same point, a footwear-only station may allow contamination carried on wheels to continue into the area.
Type of contamination
Dust, dry residues, moisture, grease and microbiological risks require different cleaning and verification methods. One entry setup will not suit every situation.
Disinfectant, dosing and drainage
For a wet hygiene station, clarify the approved disinfectant and concentration, manual refill or automatic dosing, drainage, area compatibility and the monitoring method.
The film shows a ProfilGate aqua configuration integrated into a food-production route. It provides visual context for placement and passage; the site procedure must still define the approved disinfectant, concentration, drainage, achievable contact time and daily checks.
Cleaning, maintenance and ownership
The station can fulfil its role when cleaning and maintenance follow a defined schedule, checks are recorded and an owner is assigned. Daily organisation matters as much as the equipment.
What can the controlled entrance include?
Sole cleaning
For personnel entrances where soil carried on footwear must be removed before entry.
Wheel and roller cleaning
For trolleys, pallet trucks, mobile containers and other vehicles moving between areas with different hygiene requirements.
Liquid cleaning or disinfection
For applications where the site can maintain the correct concentration, dosing or refill, drainage, cleaning and internal checks.
Access control and step sequence
Where entry must be linked to washing, drying, sole cleaning, disinfection or authorised access.
A route with no bypass around the station
Access is arranged so that every relevant person and mobile vehicle crosses the station before entering the sensitive area.
Procedure and documentation
The equipment fits the site hygiene system when the daily routine, checks, responsible person and records are also defined.
Sole and wheel cleaning at food-production entries
Personnel traffic, small wheels, wet hygiene stations and routes from warehouse areas require different layouts. The post-installation cleaning routine is a selection criterion in every case.
Useful resources for this category
Sole cleaning and hygiene entrances
Wheel cleaning in a new factory: choose the point before routes and floor details are final
A guide to integrating wheel cleaning before doors, floors, drainage and routes are fixed.
Sole cleaning and hygiene entrances
Dirty footwear and ESD access: where sole cleaning can help
How to connect dirt on soles with access into an EPA area without confusing mechanical sole cleaning with validation of the ESD programme.
Sole cleaning and hygiene entrances
ToBRFV in greenhouses: why wheels, carts and soles matter
How to include wheels, carts and soles in a greenhouse hygiene concept, using the ProfilGate and MENNO Florades ToBRFV study as a practical reference.
ProfilGate for shared footwear and wheel traffic
These configurations suit shared routes used by personnel, trolleys, pallet trucks and other wheeled equipment. Check contamination, wheel size, contact length, drainage and the daily routine.
ProfilGate si aqua
Traffic type
Soles, pallet trucks, handcarts and rollers in hygiene transitions
Place of application
Traffic inside
Dirt type
Microorganisms with liquid/disinfectant process
Cleaning process
Mechanical cleaning plus liquid/disinfectant process
Tray depth
45 mm / 55 mm
ProfilGate i aqua
Traffic type
Forklifts, pallet trucks, pedestrians and mixed traffic at hygiene transitions
Place of application
Outdoor access routes and internal passageways
Dirt type
Microbiological contamination addressed through a wet disinfection process
Cleaning process
Mechanical cleaning with a wet disinfection stage
Tray depth
45 mm / 55 mm
ProfilGate i aqua spray
Traffic type
Pallet trucks, transport boxes, plastic pallets and objects with underside risk
Place of application
External driveway and internal passageway
Dirt type
Microorganisms, including underside risk
Cleaning process
Liquid/disinfectant process with underside spray
Tray depth
55 mm
ProfilGate i go (i55 go) - stainless-steel cleaning path
Traffic type
Pedestrians and handcarts
Place of application
Staff entrances and internal passageways
Dirt type
Coarse and fine dirt
Cleaning process
Dry mechanical cleaning of soles and handcart wheels
Tray depth
55 mm
ProfilGate si
Traffic type
Pallet trucks, handcarts, rollers and indoor traffic in stainless-requirement areas
Place of application
Traffic inside
Dirt type
Coarse and fine dirt
Cleaning process
Dry mechanical cleaning, stainless, for small wheels/rollers
Tray depth
55 mm
ProfilGate i
Traffic type
Forklifts, pallet trucks and wheeled traffic in areas requiring stainless-steel construction
Place of application
Outdoor access routes and internal passageways
Dirt type
Coarse and fine dirt
Cleaning process
Dry mechanical cleaning, stainless-steel version
Tray depth
55 mm
Do you need to control what soles and wheels carry into production?
Tell us about the entrance
Send photos of the crossing point, traffic types, hygiene requirements and current procedures. These details clarify whether the entrance needs sole or wheel cleaning, a liquid hygiene station, access control or a route change.
Frequently asked questions
Use “hygiene entrance” for the complete controlled transition into an area with stricter requirements. Use “hygiene station” for the installed cleaning equipment. Reserve “airlock” for an enclosed transition and “hygiene gate” for a physical access gate that enforces the sequence.
The setup depends on what crosses the boundary. For personnel, footwear cleaning comes first. If trolleys, rollers or pallet trucks use the same entrance, small-wheel cleaning must also be considered. When liquid disinfectant is used, dosing, drainage, cleaning and monitoring become part of the daily routine.
A hygiene station becomes relevant when there is a clear boundary between areas and people or mobile equipment can carry dirt, particles, moisture or contaminants into a more sensitive zone. In food production, this is common between warehouse and production, between zones with different hygiene expectations, or at entrances to packaging areas with stricter requirements.
The station has to fit the actual route, cleaning schedule, assigned responsibilities and the site’s daily monitoring. If it can be bypassed or is not maintained, it cannot perform consistently.
Sole cleaning may be the primary measure when personnel use the entrance almost exclusively and footwear is the likely contamination source.
In many plants, the same entrance is also used by trolleys, pallet trucks or mobile bins. The layout must keep each wheel in contact with the cleaning surface for long enough.
For small wheels, diameter, load, direction of travel and available space matter. For personnel, the designated route must remain simple enough to follow throughout a normal shift.
Dry mechanical cleaning is mainly relevant for visible soil: dust, sand, flour, dry residues or particles carried by soles and wheels.
A wet hygiene station becomes relevant when the site has a defined hygiene requirement and can monitor the process each day.
- dry cleaning: mechanical contact, visible dirt, particles, soles and small wheels;
- wet cleaning or disinfection: approved disinfectant, concentration, dosing or refill and achievable contact time;
- installation conditions: drainage, cleaning, maintenance, verification and assigned responsibility.
A wet station is not simply a stronger version. Without these elements, the process becomes difficult to monitor in day-to-day operation.
These frameworks do not prescribe a specific station. They require the site to assess risk, process flow and physical, chemical and microbiological contamination, then implement, check and document suitable measures.
At an entrance, that means clarifying the routes of personnel, packaging materials, raw materials, waste and mobile equipment. A hygiene station can reduce transfer at the boundary, but it must fit the factory’s wider hygiene system.
Disinfectant should be treated as part of the site procedure, not as a generic add-on. Otherwise the station may be installed correctly while the process remains difficult to verify in daily use.
- approved disinfectant and area compatibility;
- concentration, dosing or manual refill;
- achievable contact time at the actual rate of passage;
- drainage, cleaning, maintenance and assigned responsibility;
- how results are checked or documented.
Microbiological tests are useful when the application is defined: the equipment, approved disinfectant, concentration, test method and site procedure need to be clear. Without that context, test results are harder to use when choosing the station and its configuration.
The route should be redesigned before choosing equipment. If personnel, trolleys or pallet trucks can bypass the station, change its position, guide access and organise traffic so that the required cleaning or disinfection step cannot be missed.
That may mean relocating the station, guiding the route, controlling access or separating flows. The equipment can fulfil its role only when every relevant person and vehicle crosses it during normal operation.
The most useful details are the ones that show the real route and the routine that must be maintained after installation.
- photos from both directions of travel;
- a simple layout or sketch of the zone boundary;
- traffic types: personnel, trolleys, rollers, pallet trucks, mobile bins;
- crossing frequency and visible contamination;
- current cleaning or hygiene procedure;
- for wet cleaning or disinfection: approved disinfectant, drainage, maintenance, monitoring and site hygiene requirements.
A complete technical file is not needed at the start. Two or three good photos and an accurate description of the flow can shorten the selection stage significantly.