ALEXANDRIA, Va. — July was a busy month for the Textile Rental Services Association’s (TRSA) Hygienically Clean Advisory Board, which oversees the association’s Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification process. Four textile services facilities were certified during the period.
Crothall Laundry Services in Belcamp, Md.; Hassler Textile Services, Connersville, Ind.; Metro Linen, McKinney, Texas; and United Linen Services-New England in Lawrence, Mass., all received Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification.
The added certifications bring the total number of facilities in compliance with the designation’s protocols for quality assurance (QA) to 56, TRSA notes. The first certification was awarded 2½ years ago.
Receiving the Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification hinges on laundries’ QA efforts to ensure best management practices (BMPs) are documented and followed for the production of hygienically clean textiles, says TRSA. These practices encompass applicable infection control guidelines, including those established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as recommended practices from The Joint Commission (TJC [formerly JCAHO]) relevant to the handling and processing of healthcare textiles. Bacteriological testing verifies these practices’ effectiveness.
When TRSA inspects facilities seeking the designation, the association says it is looking for QA documentation and other evidence that BMPs in the following categories are implemented:
- Plant Facilities: including functional separation of soiled and clean areas, equipment maintenance and calibration
- Housekeeping: use, cleaning and care of equipment; cleaning of carts, work surfaces and workstations; selection, measurement and proper use of cleaning supplies; cleaning schedule
- Laundry Process: soiled-linen handling, washing and drying procedures, transportation, delivery
Microbial testing verifies processes achieve the necessary outcome of laundered product hygiene. In addition to passing an inspection to clear the initial thresholds of the Hygienically Clean certification, facilities must submit laundered textiles to an independent, TRSA-approved laboratory for bacteriological testing. The samples must pass testing on three consecutive rounds.
After qualifying, facilities must then pass regularly scheduled testing to maintain the certification. Protocols include the Replicate Organism Detection and Counting (RODAC) quarterly for total microbial content and United States Pharmacopeia (USP) 62 semi-annually for specific microorganisms.
The Hygienically Clean Advisory Board consists of professionals encompassing the full spectrum of healthcare laundry, including commercial launderers, nurses, doctors, chemical manufacturers and research scientists, many of whom were drawn from TRSA’s membership due to their industry knowledge and expertise.
“The [Hygienically Clean Certification] Program is technically sound and would be a good first step in assuring continued quality control in commercial laundries,” notes Kellogg J. Schwab, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, and director of JHU’s Water Institute.
Schwab was consulted to confirm the certification’s testing protocols are significant and appropriate, says TRSA.
Nearly 40 more laundry facilities are working to clear the initial thresholds of the Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification, according to the association, with 13 of them having passed the microbial testing requirements and awaiting inspection of their laundries.
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