The Woolsafe Organisation works towards promoting the correct care and maintenance of wool and wool-rich carpets and through its approved products scheme, chemical manufacturers can have their carpet cleaning products independently tested and certified to give professional carpet cleaners and cleaning contractors peace of mind.

As recognition for the Woolsafe Organisation grows, more and more chemical products are submitted for testing and in the past six months 14 maintenance products have been added to the growing list of Woolsafe Approved products alone. Not only operating in the UK, Woolsafe has operations throughout the globe and this has seen products in the USA, Australia and Germany also making it onto the Woolsafe Approved list.

Australia-based Sonitron Cleaning Solutions, that formulates cleaning chemicals for a wide range of uses, has had two products approved under the scheme: Zenith Encapsulating Carpet Shampoo and SK50 Hot Water Soil Extraction Pre-spray.   Ecolab GmbH & Co in Germany has seen its Sapur Spray-Ex, Sapur A and Sapur Powder given Woolsafe Approved status, and these join Sapur Shampoo that was approved last year.

In the USA, JohnsonDiversey’s NuVac is a new style carpet cleaning product that is sprayed on to the carpet, left to dry and then vacuumed. Proven totally safe for use on wool and wool-rich carpets by Woolsafe, the chemical reaction of NuVac encapsulates the dirt on the carpet fibre and once dried this allows simple removal via vacuuming. Von Schrader Company’s Anti-Resoil Carpet Detergent (Red Label) also has approved status in the UK, USA and many other countries. This product is an anti-resoil detergent concentrate formulated for professional low-moisture extraction cleaning of carpets made from all fibres. This new status means that Von Schrader’s Blue Label and Red Label carpet detergents are all proven safe to use on wool and wool-rich carpets.

Finally, a total of six new carpet protectors from Fiber-Seal in the USA have been given Woolsafe approval. This new generation of protectors including Fabridyne 4002 and 2502, Masterpel 4006 and 2506 and Suretex 4010 and 2510, are all based on similar active ingredients but varying in other respects to meet the various requirements of the carpet cleaning industry.

A spokesman for Woolsafe said: “With 14 new products approved in the last six months from a growing throng of manufacturers, it is plain to see that chemical companies are regarding Woolsafe Approved status as an increasingly important part of product development and an essential marketing tool. This comes as great news to professional carpet cleaners, contract cleaners and homeowners alike as thanks to our stringent and independent testing, these products offer peace of mind providing they are used in accordance with instructions.”

Products are constantly tested by chemists within Woolsafe’s laboratory and, thanks to the stringent tests and requirements set out by the Woolsafe Organisation, not all products meet with Approved status. In effect, Woolsafe Approved status perhaps offers more peace of mind than any other approval scheme for carpet care products.