Hand hygiene is a simple, cost-effective, and powerful approach to preventing the spread of germs and improving employee health. Keeping hands clean not only enhances the well-being of your employees and customers, but also supports the overall health of your workplace and community.
In laundries, it is important to routinely clean and disinfect work areas, technical equipment, and storage shelves to maintain high hygiene standards. Additionally, preventing cross-contamination of clean textiles, particularly during the post-washing phase, is essential. Educating employees about these risks and the necessary preventive measures is key to effective hygiene practices.
We recently conducted end to end bacterial testing at one of our customer facilities. As you would imagine, the initial ‘dirty’ sample yielded a high level of bacterial contamination, TNTC (too numerous to count). Through the wash process, the level of bacteria dropped to 3 CFU (colony forming units), after finishing the result was 0 cfu. To ensure a complete audit process, stored linen is also tested and to our surprise the linen had become contaminated, 340 cfu. Upon further investigation, we found staff hands had contributed to the contamination between the ironer and the stacked linen on the shelves. This highlights how easily a process can be incomplete or broken when it comes to staff personal hygiene.
JayChem offers a variety of solutions to ensure the safety of your staff, residents, patients or guests. Our range includes both manual and touch-free dispenser options, as well as hand washes, sanitisers and barrier creams, all designed to support your laundry’s hand hygiene needs.
By Simon Way.