USA
Balfurd Linen Services, a family-owned linen provider serving the needs of the healthcare and food and beverage markets throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, has recently achieved both the Hygienically Clean Healthcare and Hygienically Clean Food Service certifications.
These certifications reflect Balfurd’s consistent commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. Earlier in the year, the Tipton, Pennsylvania, laundry has also qualified for renewal TRSA’s Clean Green certification in recognition of its environmental stewardship practices.
The two Hygienically Clean certifications confirm the organisation’s continuing dedication to infection prevention, compliance with recognized industry standards and processing healthcare and F&B textiles using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, a focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation.
The Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations by verifying quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services operations related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials. Hygienically Clean Healthcare 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 Hygienically Clean launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles.
Laundries that earn the Hygienically Clean Food Service certification adhere to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices, which are examined in the Hygienically Clean Food Safety inspection process.
On-site inspections also evaluate practices relevant to handling and processing textile products used in food manufacturing/processing establishments for adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives. Introduced in 2014, Hygienically Clean Food Safety brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for laundering garments and other textile products for food manufacturing used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.
“Congratulations to Balfurd Linen Services on their Hygienically Clean Healthcare and Hygienically Clean Food Service certifications,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Their achievement proves their commitment to infection prevention and that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”
For information on Hygienically Clean and other TRSA certification programs, contact E: afreeman@trsa.org.
