About On-Site Sterile

On-Site Sterile is a mobile sterilization service that removes Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) bacteria from football and hockey gear.  We sterilize the athlete’s gear at a reasonable cost, with our staff handling all aspects of the process while on the school grounds.

On-Site Sterile sterilizes the athletic gear with chlorine dioxide gas. The EPA considers this the highest level of bacteria kill, removing 99.9999% (6-log) of all pathogens, including MRSA, bacteria, and viruses. Chlorine dioxide gas is a safe, dry gas that penetrates sports equipment material. It reaches deep into seams and cracks, some so small that even liquids can’t penetrate.

Our services include:

  • Sterilization of sports gear (6-log kill) with chlorine dioxide gas

  • Removal of odors found on football and hockey gear

  • No deposits left on the gear after our process

  • A printout report is issued, verifying the sterilization process

  • Our equipment produces pure chlorine dioxide gas, without acidic byproducts

Student athletic gear most often sterilized:

  • Football helmets, gloves, shoulder pads, thigh pads, knee pads, football cleats

  • Hockey gloves, elbow pads, shin pads, hockey skates, goalie pads, neck guards, chin guards

  • Lacrosse gear, Wrestling helmets, Umpire pads, Baseball catchers pads

  • All other gear and equipment that cannot be washed in hot water

Financial Support Program

Schools often relay on alumni, booster clubs, and game day donations to support the athletic programs, gear, and equipment purchases.  On-Site Sterile offers support and training for managing a financial support program for athletic departments. This program requires the involvement of student athletes with training and phone scripts. These programs have been very successful, especially calling on alumni who recognize that the school’s current student athletes may well be wearing the very same gear they wore.

About On-Site Sterile

On-Site Sterile is a mobile sterilization service that removes Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) bacteria from football and hockey gear.  We sterilize the athlete’s gear at a reasonable cost, with our staff handling all aspects of the process while on the school grounds.

On-Site Sterile sterilizes the athletic gear with chlorine dioxide gas. The EPA considers this the highest level of bacteria kill, removing 99.9999% (6-log) of all pathogens, including MRSA, bacteria, and viruses. Chlorine dioxide gas is a safe, dry gas that penetrates sports equipment material. It reaches deep into seams and cracks, some so small that even liquids can’t penetrate.

Our services include:

  • Sterilization of sports gear (6-log kill) with chlorine dioxide gas

  • Removal of odors found on football and hockey gear

  • No deposits left on the gear after our process

  • A printout report is issued, verifying the sterilization process

  • Our equipment produces pure chlorine dioxide gas, without acidic byproducts

Student athletic gear most often sterilized:

  • Football helmets, gloves, shoulder pads, thigh pads, knee pads, football cleats

  • Hockey gloves, elbow pads, shin pads, hockey skates, goalie pads, neck guards, chin guards

  • Lacrosse gear, Wrestling helmets, Umpire pads, Baseball catchers pads

  • All other gear and equipment that cannot be washed in hot water

Financial Support Program

Schools often relay on alumni, booster clubs, and game day donations to support the athletic programs, gear, and equipment purchases.  On-Site Sterile offers support and training for managing a financial support program for athletic departments. This program requires the involvement of student athletes with training and phone scripts. These programs have been very successful, especially calling on alumni who recognize that the school’s current student athletes may well be wearing the very same gear they wore.

The On-Site Sterile Process

Frequently Asked Questions

What is MRSA and Why is it Dangerous?

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by staphylococcus aureus bacteria; often called “staph.” Staph bacteria can cause serious skin infections as well as bloodstream infection and pneumonia.

MRSA can be transmitted from person to person through close contact, especially contact sports (e.g., football, hockey, wrestling) and sports where participants are prone to skin abrasions. Transmission of MRSA infections among student athletes is well documented and can have substantial impact on the student and school.

Why Have NFL, NHL and Many NCAA Schools Been Disinfecting Gear for Years?

Professional and college athletes are very aware of the dangers of MRSA, which can spread rapidly into muscle, bone and blood if not treated. NFL players are 7 to 10 times more likely to carry MRSA than the general public and a recent study found college athletes who played contact sports were more than twice as likely to have MRSA on their skin compared to athletes of noncontact sports. MRSA bacteria is spread to equipment and playing surfaces as well as physical contact between athletes.

Some of the biggest names in pro sports have been sidelined by MRSA infections including Chicago Bears’ Matt Forte, Buccaneers’ Tom Brady, and Broncos’ Peyton Manning to name a few. This is happening with such an alarming frequency that all the teams in the NFL, NHL and many NCAA teams are spending tens of thousands of dollars on staff and ozone machines to disinfect the players equipment (e.g. helmets, shoes, shoulder pads, etc.).

Why Are Student Athletes More Susceptible to MRSA?

Student athletes are more susceptible to MRSA than profession athletes, since they are unlikely to follow good personal hygiene instructions.

The most important approach to preventing MRSA transmission in student athletic sports is through good personal hygiene and removing MRSA bacteria from athletic equipment that comes into direct contact with the student’s skin.

All persons associated with the school’s competitive sports activities and sports teams (e.g., coaches, trainers, parents/caregivers, and teammates) should engage in initiatives to prevent the transmission of MRSA skin infections and awareness of risk factors for infections.

Why Are Liquid Products Not the Best Answer for Cleaning Gear?

Choosing a process with 6-log reduction of MRSA is a huge benefit over liquid disinfectants or ozone, which only disinfects 3-log or less and could leave thousands MRSA bacteria on athletic gear after cleaning.

Some of the most popular disinfectants are effective on only a small number of pathogens. Often these products claim a kill rate of 99.9% of germs. However, in small print, it may kill only a small number of strains of germs, sometimes only 3-5 pathogens.

While disinfection will reduce harmful pathogens from inanimate objects, sterilization will kill all pathogens. Sterilization also destroys the spores of organisms present on the surface.

Learn More

Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) is a yellow-green gas with an odor like chlorine with excellent distribution, penetration, and sterilization abilities due to its gaseous nature. Although chlorine dioxide has chlorine in its name, its properties are very different, much like carbon dioxide is different than elemental carbon. Chlorine dioxide has been recognized as a disinfectant since the early 1900s and has been approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for many applications. It has been demonstrated effective as a broad spectrum, anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, fungicidal, and virucidal agent, as well as a deodorizer, and able to inactivate beta-lactams and destroy both pinworms and their eggs.

Molecular Size Matters

As can be seen in the chart above, the size of a chlorine dioxide gas molecule is 0.124 nm, much smaller than microorganisms and viruses, allowing the gas to easily penetrate any areas where these microorganisms might be concealed.

Although chlorine dioxide has “chlorine” in its name, its chemistry is radically different from that of chlorine. When reacting with other substances, it is more selective, allowing it to be a more efficient and effective sterilizer. For example, it does not react with ammonia or most organic compounds. Chlorine dioxide oxidizes products rather than chlorinating them, so unlike chlorine, chlorine dioxide will not produce environmentally undesirable organic compounds containing chlorine.

On-Site Sterile chlorine dioxide gas is registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a sterilizer. The US EPA defines a sterilizer as able “to destroy or eliminate all forms of microbial life including fungi, viruses, and all forms of bacteria and their spores,” meaning On-Site Sterile chlorine dioxide gas will inactivate all forms of antimicrobial life including spores. Testing has been done using chlorine dioxide on a multitude of specific organism types and to date, no organism tested against chlorine dioxide gas has proved resistant.

Chlorine dioxide is widely used as an antimicrobial and as an oxidizing agent in drinking water and swimming pools.

It is used in the health care industry to decontaminate rooms, as well as sterilize wheelchairs, implantable contact lenses, artificial joints, surgical kits and many more.

For high schools and colleges, chlorine dioxide gas is a sterilant for athletic gear (football, ice hockey, wrestling, lacrosse). And for the military, law enforcement and fire protection agencies, it is a sterilant for gear worn by their members.

The difference between spore and bacterial inactivation is the same as the difference between sterilization and disinfection. For a chemical agent to be classified as a sterilant, it must be demonstrated to be effective at inactivating spores. Spores are among the hardest organisms to kill and for this reason sterilizing agents are considered the most rigorous decontaminating agents and offer complete kill of all antimicrobial life.

Disinfection, on the other hand, does not require the complete inactivation of spores or all microbial life and is normally validated against only a few vegetative bacteria species. Sanitation is even less effective in killing bacteria and for this reason, disinfecting agents are less rigorous decontaminating agents and are not as effective as sterilizing agents.

Ozone gas is not a sterilant and it only kills 99% of bacteria. The remainder 1% of bacteria remaining on the gear will multiply many times before it is worn by the athlete.

Liquid sanitizers, such as those below, are only effective when they remain in a wet liquid form on the gear for 10 minutes or the time shown in the container. If the wet surface evaporates or is wiped dry before the specified time, the process of killing bacteria is lost. It is also impossible to reach the inside of gloves, skates, or shoes with liquid sanitizers.

It is also very dangerous to the athlete’s skin when, after drying, it is not properly removed from the gear. This process usually requires wiping the gear with a wet cloth which, of course, restarts the growth of all the bacteria which were not killed by the sanitizer.

Typical list of liquid sanitizers:

  1. Clear Gear
  2. ES Pro Sports
  3. Reek-Out Hockey
  4. Fresh Wave
  5. Zero Odor Pro
  6. Germ Blitz
  7. Odor Smarts
  8. And many others……

Finally, never use any product which includes bleach or sodium hypochlorite, sodium carbonate peroxide, sodium perborate. These chemicals can burn skin and are almost impossible to remove after applying to sports gear.

Download On-Site Sterile Information Sheet

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