Crothall Laundry Services’ La Mirada, Calif., facility is the latest recipient of TRSA Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification, reflecting their commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by TRSA inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.

The certification confirms a laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing healthcare linens and garments using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, the focal point for TRSA inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points minimize risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected;

• Managers understand legal requirements;

• OSHA-compliant; and

• Physical plant operates effectively.

Crothall now has 12 TRSA Hygienically Clean Healthcare certified facilities. In addition to the newest designee, these are located in Mobile, Ala. (Coastal Laundry); Phoenix, Ariz.; Ontario, Calif.; Lakeland, Fla.; Augusta and Rome, Ga.; Madisonville, Ky.; Bellcamp, Md., Winston-Salem, N.C.; Johnson City, Tenn.; and Milwaukee, Wis.

Certified facilities pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare linens and garments and zero presence of harmful bacteria. To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly annual testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.

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

Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations through testing and inspections that scrutinize quality-control procedures in textile services operations related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

Certified laundries use processes, chemicals and BMPs acknowledged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, American National Standards Institute and others. Introduced in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for healthcare linens and garments 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 healthcare professions work with TRSA launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles. With 100+ years as the textile services industry’s leading business association, TRSA’s expertise in laundry BMP development is unmatched.

“Congratulations to Crothall on their certification,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their dedication to building their customers’ confidence that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”