Mission completed! Linen from Chico, California, has been awarded the Hygienically Clear certificates

USA

Mission Linen Supply, a family-owned company that has provided products and services to hospitality, healthcare, and industrial companies for more than 90 years, recently received Hygienically Clean Healthcare Certification for its Chico, California location.

The Hygienically Clean Healthcare Certification validates the effectiveness of laundries in protecting healthcare by reviewing quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

Headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, the company employs more than 2,500 people in five western states. The Chico site, along with Mission's Sacramento site, has Hygienically Clean certification. Hygienically Clean has been the quantified, validated standard and measure for hygienically clean textiles in North America since 2011. Achievement of this certification reflects their commitment to laundry best management practices (BMPs) as confirmed by on-site inspection and their ability to produce hygienically clean textiles as demonstrated by ongoing microbial testing based on established hygienically clean textile methods and Healthcare standards have been quantified.

The Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification confirms this organization's continued commitment to infection prevention, adherence to recognized industry standards, and processing of health textiles using BMPs as described in the quality assurance documentation, a focus for the evaluation of the Hygienically Clean inspectors. The independent third party inspection must also confirm material evidence that:

  • The employees are trained and protected accordingly
  • Managers understand the regulatory requirements
  • OSHA compliant
  • The physical facility is working effectively

To get certification first, laundries pass three rounds of result-based microbial tests that indicate their processes are producing hygienically clean health textiles and reducing the presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. You must also pass a facility inspection. To maintain their certification, they must pass quarterly RODAC and semi-annual USP 62 tests (RODAC results less than or equal to 20 CFU per square diameter and USP 62 results must indicate the absence of specified microorganisms) to ensure laundry conditions change. Like water quality, textile fabric composition and washing chemistry, the quality of the washed products is constantly maintained. The review takes place every two to three years.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on results and outcomes that verify that the textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate sanitary clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, doctor's offices, nursing homes, and other medical facilities.

Certified laundries use procedures, chemicals, and BMPs recognized by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instruments, the American National Standards Institute, and others . Introduced by TRSA in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for hygienically clean healthcare laundry and apparel used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization

Objective experts in epidemiology, infection control, nursing, and other health professions work with laundromats to ensure certification continues to enforce the highest standards for making clean healthcare textiles.

"Congratulations to Mission Linen Supply on their latest certification," said Joseph Ricci, President and CEO of TRSA. "This achievement demonstrates their commitment to infection prevention and that their laundries are taking all possible steps to prevent human disease."

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