United States of America
Hospital Cooperative Laundry (HCL), with locations in Pueblo and Denver, Coorado, recently qualified for the renewal of Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification. The recertification reflects their continued commitment to money laundering Best Management Practices (BMPs), as verified through on-site inspections, and their ability to produce hygienically clean textiles, as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.
Providing laundry processing, packing room service and hospital linen distribution to its member hospitals, HCL serves more than 40 hospitals and clinics in the greater Denver area and southern Colorado.
The Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification confirms the organization's continued commitment to infection prevention, adherence to recognized industry standards and the processing of health textiles using BMPs as described in the quality assurance documentation, which is a focus for the evaluation of the Hygienically Clean inspectors . The independent third party inspection must also confirm material evidence that:
• Employees are trained and protected accordingly
• Managers understand the legal 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 tests to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, fabric composition and wash chemistry, the quality of the products being washed is constant. 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.
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.
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 in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for bedding and clothing for healthcare, 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 Hospital Cooperative Laundry on their recertification, ”said Joseph Ricci, President and CEO of TRSA. "This achievement shows their commitment to infection prevention and that their laundry is taking all possible steps to prevent human disease."
For information on Hygienically Clean and other TRSA certification programs, please contact E: afreeman@trsa.org.
