Electrolux EN 14065 User manual

Mini Guide
to hygienic laundry
practices
based on the RABC system/EN 14065

Index

Hygienic laundry page 4
Storing and sorting dirty laundry page 6
Measures recommended under European Guidelines
Advice from professionals
Washing page 8
Measures recommended under European Guidelines
Advice from professionals
Transfer from washing to drying page 10
Measures recommended under European Guidelines
Advice from professionals
Drying and finishing page 12
Measures recommended under European Guidelines
Advice from professionals
Protection page 14
Measures recommended under European Guidelines
Advice from professionals
Transport page 16
Measures recommended under European Guidelines
Advice from professionals
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Laundry is found throughout a hospital or care home: uniforms, bed linen,
catering articles, surgical dress, cleaning items (i.e. mops), patient clothing,
etc. Laundry plays an essential role in patient comfort whilst protecting
employees in their place of work.
Laundry is a potential carrier of healthcare acquired infections.
It is therefore vital to control its flow. Special measures must be taken to
ensure hygiene levels are maintained. The laundry items themselves must
not pose a threat to health and remain innocuous at every stage of their
storage, use and handling.
The key to this is to implement as strict process for all linen to be
processed, whether it is potentially poses a threat to health or not.
Hygienic laundry
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Dirty laundry can spread germs to other areas and therefore the clean linen
needs to be handled as carefully as the dirty. This requires an in-depth
understanding of laundry flows, the correct use of fabrics suitable to the
task and working practices which ensure the employees are aware of how
their every day actions can impact the laundry operation.
In the current climate whereby hospitals must be able to produce
documentation to prove the quality of the processes used, the laundry flow
implemented must ensure permanent control systems are in place
to minimise and prevent the risk of healthcare acquired infections.
Linen hygiene is a key part of your overall quality process. The following
stages can be tailored to every kind of laundry set up; carrying out an
audit of the existing process, risk assessment, drawing up preventative
measures, creating standard operating procedures and implementing
quality assurance procedures that are evaluated and monitored at various
intervals. In addition, any service provider should be selected according
to specifications and defined hygiene standards.
With this in mind, please take the time to read this “Mini Guide to hygienic
laundry practices based on the RABC system*/EN 14065”.
We hope you find it useful.
* Risk Analysis Bio-contamination Control
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Measures recommended under European Guidelines
European norm no. EN 14065
recommends that dirty laundry
be delivered to the laundry daily
in coloured textile bags
as follows:
Large flat laundry:
One colour for bags containing
sheets etc, all types of textiles,
all sizes.
Small flat laundry:
One colour for bags containing
pillow cases, bolster
cases, all catering laundry,
kitchen towels and aprons,
handkerchiefs, hospital gowns,
nightdresses and pyjamas.
Laundry to be tumble-dried:
One colour for bags containing all towels, flannels etc
All other laundry:
One colour for bags containing all other bedding, clothing, furnishings
Staff uniforms and “at risk” laundry is excluded from the above pre-sorting process.
• Collect textiles separately
• Do not store dirty laundry for long periods
• Do not bring dirty laundry into contact with clean laundry during transport
Storing and sorting
dirty laundry
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The packing does not meet the expected
barrier properties (risk of infection)
• Any packing or wrapping system, other than dirty laundry collection bags,
specially designed for this purpose must be avoided (e.g. bin bags, sheets
knotted to form bundles).
• Do not use RED bags, as this colour is only for transferring “at risk” laundry.
• Only use textile bags. Plastic bags are more expensive and encourage mould
to form which can seriously alter the fibres of the textiles.
• The colour of the bag must indicate its contents, not its origin.
The origin will be written on the handle at the bottom of the bag.
• Laundry bags must always be closed correctly once they are full.
• Always use clean collection bags that close properly and are in good condition.
• For ergonomic reasons, do not fill bags more than two-thirds full.
• The maximum ideal load should not exceed 10 kg.
Risk: Cross contamination (risk of infection)
• Dirty laundry must be packed without it coming into contact with clean laundry.
• Mixed trolleys (clean and dirty) must never be used:
use lightweight collection trolleys that are easy to clean and disinfect.
• Closing the collection bags must not generate aero-biocontamination:
the type of collection trolley used (with or without cover, with or without
foot pedal…) must be chosen in accordance with the risks
of aero-biocontamination and cross contamination.
• The dirty laundry collection bag support trolley must be regularly
cleaned and disinfected.
• The dirty linen area must be at lower air pressure compared to the
clean linen area.
Advice from professionals
!
Risk
!
Risk
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Measures recommended under European Guidelines
Washing
• Guarantee a complete decontamination of the washed linen
• Respect the service life of the fibres
• Develop a specific approach for “at risk” laundry
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• Install washing equipment in a barrier configuration to prevent any dirty
laundry being loaded into the washing machines coming into contact
with the clean laundry being taken out of the machines
• Adapt the detergents to the level of soiling
• Respect the wash programmes (pH, water hardness, temperature,
water levels, time laundry is in contact with the detergent, machine filling ratio)
• Use bactericidal products on all textiles washed at 60° or below
• Wash by textile family: a textile family is not made up of articles
of the same texture but articles to be finished in the same way
For example:
If you wash a cotton pillowcase and a cotton terry towel, you actually mix two different textile
families. When the laundry is taken out of the machine, the pillowcase goes
to the ironer whereas the terry towel goes into the tumble dryer. As the two finishing
processes are different, the laundry operator will have to sort the clean laundry.
This should be avoided at all costs.
Washing equipment
in a barrier configuration
Advice from professionals
dirty linen side clean linen side
loading unloading
Low air pressure Higher pressure
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Measures recommended under European Guidelines
• Do not store for long periods
• Do not store in unsuitable places
• Do not handle at the wrong time
Transfer from washing
to drying
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