Laundry
signage and user guides that indicate best practices for categorising and collecting laundry should be placed throughout the room. It is also imperative that the storage area is kept clean and sanitised regularly to avoid bacteria growth. Any member of staff involved in the handling of linens must wash their hands thoroughly both before and afterwards.
Consider barriers as a solution Once laundry items are transported to a safe and secure holding area in preparation for washing, a swift turnaround is key. Staff should aim to wash items within just a few hours of collection and should be stored away from any clean laundry – in the interest of hygiene – beforehand. While some care homes may choose to opt for standard commercial washers, the best way to way to ensure total separation between dirty and clean laundry is through a barrier washer. Unlike a standard front- load domestic or commercial appliance, barrier washers feature a dedicated loading point for dirty laundry, with the unloading point located on the reverse of the machine. As the name suggests, the two are
separated by a barrier, eliminating the risk of any cross contamination while allowing staff to easily adhere to hygiene guidance. This feature also splits the OPL into ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’ zones, with the washer itself forming the physical barrier.
Here, the laundry manager can assign
dedicated staff to each – one to sort and load used linens, and another to unload, dry, iron, and re-sort. Alternatively, staff members can work on both sides of the washer through the incorporation of a decontamination suite between the two. This allows PPE to be changed and staff to
Efficient, ergonomic, effective The market’s latest barrier washers – such as our Line 6000 Pullman Barrier Washers – incorporate ergonomic and intelligent features to reduce strain on staff while speeding up the loading and unloading process. These include smart interfaces that
Ensuring consistent and stringent hygiene standards is a never-ending cycle
thoroughly disinfect themselves prior to entering the clean side. The former method, however, is preferred as it offers a failsafe approach to hygiene, all while promoting a leaner, efficient workflow.
allow staff to easily operate the washers with very little training, automatic lock functions that ensure linen is released only when a cycle is complete (guaranteeing maximum defence against the spread of infection within the care home environment), and digital weight displays to assist staff in loading washers to optimum capacity for every cycle. The United States Centers for Disease Control & Prevention stipulate that ergonomic interventions, such as these are crucial to reducing work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Crucially, this helps with reducing stress and eliminating injuries associated with the overuse of muscles, bad posture, and repeated tasks.
Loads of innovation When it comes to the layout of an OPL, the focus stretches beyond barrier washers. As with collection and loading, a swift turnaround is key to ensuring hygiene and safety throughout the entire process, with the added benefit of a swift operation. As an extra measure of efficiency,
dryers should be positioned close to the unloading point of the washers to reduce the manual labour required to transport wet linen between the two appliances. This has traditionally been restricted by the need for the supporting ventilation ducting for a dryer, though specifying heat pump dryers instead make this consideration a thing of the past.
Unlike standard dryers, units powered by a heat pump do not require exhaust
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www.thecarehomeenvironment.com July 2024
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