CHICAGO — There’s no question that industrial laundries can be dangerous.
Major machinery, chemicals, electricity, heat and steam … there are many hazards that employees must be aware of and navigate to stay safe during the workday.
Industrial laundry operators have a responsibility to their employees, and to their businesses, to create a safety-conscious work environment — and to constantly elevate safety awareness and knowledge among their employees.
American Laundry News asked four insiders for their insights and advice about evaluating and improving industrial laundry safety.
Donald Bock is principal of Seabright Safety Solutions Inc. in Santa Maria, Calif. Caleb Paige is director of safety for ImageFIRST Healthcare Laundry Specialists headquartered in King of Prussia, Pa.
Representing CORE Linen Services, a provider of hospitality and healthcare services with corporate offices in Huntersville, N.C., are Sandi McCulloch, director of safety and risk, and Pamela Barnett, manager of people and projects.
In your experience, where do you see industrial laundries being strong in terms of safety?
MCCULLOCH: In my experience, laundries tend to be strong in several key areas. One of the most consistent strengths is equipment maintenance and machine guarding — many facilities have well-established protocols for inspecting and servicing washers, dryers and conveyors to prevent mechanical failures and injuries.
Chemical handling is another area where laundries often excel, especially those serving healthcare or industrial clients. They typically have clear labeling, secure storage and employee training in place to manage hazardous substances safely.
Additionally, fire prevention measures — such as regular lint-trap cleaning, dryer vent inspections and fire suppression systems — are commonly prioritized and well-executed.
Facilities that pursue accreditations (from organizations) like TRSA or HLAC also tend to have strong safety cultures, as these programs emphasize compliance, documentation and continuous improvement. Overall, laundries that invest in training, maintain clear procedures and engage employees in safety initiatives often demonstrate a solid foundation in operational safety.
BOCK: In my role, I see that laundries are very committed to complying with regulatory standards such as OSHA’s. To that end, the laundries look to find ways to ensure that they have current information as to what standards are applicable to the operation.
While compliance with standards is required, compliance is not necessarily the most effective strategy for safety. This is an area where partnership with OSHA can improve safety above and beyond compliance. I’ve seen that several laundry organizations have adopted this methodology to ensure that employee safety is at a best-practice level. Star Site Certification through the VPP (Voluntary Protection Program) demonstrates an organization’s commitment to safety and risk reduction.
PAIGE: Over the years, our industry has made significant improvements in key risk areas. These include advances in ergonomics, bloodborne pathogen (BBP) safety protocols, and the use of technology to enhance safety practices — such as equipment interlocks, lockout/tagout systems, fleet dash cameras and real-time driver behavior monitoring with coaching systems.
How about areas where operations come up short?
BOCK: Often, operations come up short in safety performance by relying on the outcome metrics of their experience relative to BLS data. If the comparison is favorable, the operation becomes comfortable and tends to relax focus. Just as in every other area of operation (production, service and quality), focus on safety performance is an ongoing effort that requires continuous improvement.
Operations often overlook at-risk behavior because production requirements are being met. Operators may observe an employee performing their activity in an at-risk manner but fail to acknowledge that fact with the employee(s). We see this often, especially in terms of maintenance personnel failing to use lockout/tagout when working on equipment. That changes if the personnel are injured due to this failure.
Another way that operations come up short is not being able to allocate the resources needed to ensure safety. Many independent laundry operators have personnel who wear two hats: human resources and safety managers. In this role, human resources generally gets the most attention and safety becomes more of an afterthought. An operation with this arrangement often fails to recognize responsibility for safety while focusing on complying with myriad human resource issues.
PAIGE: One common pitfall is treating safety strictly as a compliance exercise owned entirely by leadership. While regulations are critical, real progress happens when front-line associates are empowered to participate in safety program development and process improvement. Enabling associate engagement is an ongoing opportunity for many operators.
Come back Thursday for the conclusion about strategies for growing a safety culture in a laundry operation.
Click HERE to read part 1, defining laundry safety and the importance of safety as an operational focus. For part 2 about measuring laundry safety through outside standards and internal processes, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
