Pathogen Control for Laundry Services

Medical Linen Safety. Hospitals and other medical facility linens have a high risk of transferring deadly pathogens between patients if not properly laundered. Healthcare professionals can limit exposure of these pathogens to patients by ensuring their facility uses laundry services that has successfully completed a Laundry Compliance certification in pathogen control.

The pathogen control inspection includes the following:

• Microbiological standards based on testing using the USP 61 Protocol
• Separating soiled and clean areas of their facilities
• Standardize soiled linen handling and equipment maintenance
• Documented housekeeping of surfaces, stations, cleaning schedules and equipment
• Strict washing procedures using pre-determined formulas specifying water temperature and chemistry and allocating specific amounts of time for soaking, rinsing, spinning and other wash cycle functions
• Use of specialized combinations of wash chemicals
• Ensuring acceptable pH for finished goods
• Dryer temperatures
• Quality control features

These measures are followed throughout the entire facility to ensure that the common cold, flu or other pathogen illnesses are not spread between soiled linens and cleaned linens while providing assurance that all pathogens are destroyed during the laundering process.