Home
Share |

Content about Personal hygiene products

March 11, 2013
Laundered Reusable Shop Towels Pose No Health Risk to Workers: Study

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — TRSA-sponsored study refutes claims of health risk made by disposables industry

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A scientific study released by ARCADIS, an international research firm specializing in environmental issues, found no evidence that laundered reusable shop towels pose any health risk to workers, refuting claims by the disposables industry, according to the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA), which sponsored the study.

The study refutes previously published reports by the disposables industry used to frighten workers who use shop towels to perform their jobs, claiming that residues imbedded in laundered reusable shop towels pose a health risk despite decades of use without any reported issues.

“As the trade association representing facilities that process laundered reusable shop towels, we felt we had an industry responsibility to conduct a health assessment to quantify if any real health risk existed,” says TRSA President/CEO Joseph Ricci, CAE. “This study reconfirms decades of experience, that laundered reusable shop towels are not only safe but are the most efficient, cost-effective and sustainable option.”

The ARCADIS study collected laundered reusable shop towels from 10 different laundering companies and facilities, measuring residue leachability to conduct a quantitative health risk assessment. Towels were incubated in synthetic human sweat to represent the releasable quantity of each residue that could be transferred to workers’ hands from laundered reusable shop towels. Subsequent hand-to-food or hand-to-mouth transfers were modeled with the risk assessment framework used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other authoritative agencies.

The study’s findings indicate that residues including metals in laundered reusable shop towels do not present any health hazard to workers using the towels, with exposure levels typically 100 or more times lower than EPA acceptable levels.

“Reusable cloth shop towels have been used by millions of workers for more than 100 years with no indications that laundered reusable shop towels have any impact on worker health,” says Ricci. “By measuring leachability, ARCADIS simulated a conservative, realistic model of potential transfer of residue that reaffirmed our confidence that there is absolutely no risk to reusable shop towel users.”

Unlike previous studies of reusable shop towels, TRSA retained independent analysis from a renowned industrial hygienist, Dr. Patrick N. Breysse, Johns Hopkins University, who conducted a systematic evaluation of previous studies.

These “estimates of exposure, data and assumptions used a deterministic analysis that cumulatively overestimated worker exposures,” says Breysse, and the ARCADIS study, “while conservative, provides a more refined and realistic health assessment.”

TRSA’s findings indicate there “is little or nothing to be concerned about with the use of clean, laundered shop towels,” Breysse observes, expressing disbelief in the prior overestimates of exposure. For example, the amount of lead exposure from shop towel use previously calculated was equivalent to the quantity faced by workers who manufacture lead batteries. In contrast, the TRSA study put the daily dose of lead from shop towel use at 1,000 to 10,000 times below the acceptable exposure level, “by far a more realistic result.”

“Overall, the assumed conditions of towel use represented by this exposure model are conservative, such that the resulting exposure estimates likely overstate actual exposure,” explains Kevin Connor, Ph.D., principal toxicologist from ARCADIS. These high estimates of the amounts of the 27 chemical elements “were not above regulatory thresholds for judging potential human health hazards.”

TRSA had also conducted a separate burn study of disposable shop towels that revealed that many of the same residues found on laundered reusable shop towels are also present on disposable shop towels.

Copies of the ARCADIS study are available by contacting TRSA’s Ken Koepper, 703-519-0029, ext. 109, or kkoepper@trsa.org.

November 1, 2012
Finding the Right Incontinent Pad for Low-Airflow Beds

ROANOKE, Va. — Beds pump air through mattress and provide cooler, dryer environment for patients

ROANOKE, Va. — In the battle to improve patient outcomes, many facilities are trying out low-airflow beds. These beds are designed to pump air through the mattress and provide a cooler, dryer environment to improve the skin care for high-risk patients. These beds are extremely expensive, and the good news is that almost all the bed linens currently in use work well with this new bed.

The bad news is that traditional incontinent pads are not recommended for use on low-airflow beds. The traditional barrier backing inhibits air flow and creates a zone where there is no air movement. Bed manufacturers recommend the use of a special disposable pad that is designed to allow air to flow through the pad.

These beds came to my attention when staff on several floors suddenly requested that they no longer receive reusable incontinent pads because they had just gotten these new beds. I started immediately to research the beds, the disposable pads, and if there were any reusable incontinent pads accepted for use.

Since the purpose of these expensive beds is to improve the skin care of at-risk patients, it is imperative that they contribute to a noticeable improvement in patient outcomes. Because of this need to justify the expenditure of capital funds on new beds, the hospital staff will always follow manufacturer recommendations. Therefore, it was no surprise when they stopped using the normal incontinent pads.

The problem with disposable incontinent pads is that once moisture is added to the pad, they no longer allow air to pass through the pad. The fluid-absorbent gel in the pad creates an impenetrable barrier. Since there is normally a delay between the use of a pad and when it is changed, there is a period of time when the low air-flow bed is not providing an improved micro environment for the patient.

The disposable pads also do not provide a safe product to lift or reposition the patient. The absorbent material in the disposable pads will cause major problems for the laundry if they are not removed during soil sorting and they get into a washing machine. This problem is especially severe if you use a tunnel washer.

I checked with several major linen companies to see if they had developed a pad that would work on a low-airflow bed. I was looking for a pad that would provide the benefits on a continuous basis.

Key factors to be considered are:

  • Is the pad commercially washable?
  • Can it be effectively dried in a commercial dryer?
  • Does it wick the moisture away from the patient?
  • Does the airflow feature of the pad work under dry and wet conditions?
  • Is it strong enough to be used to lift and reposition a patient?

Two linen companies said they have developed pads to use with these beds. Their documentation includes air permeability studies and some clinical studies. I will be field testing these pads in the near future. Nursing has realized the potential problems with the disposable incontinent pads and is willing to look at a more effective alternative.

July 2, 2012
New Research Clears Shop Towels of Toxicity Claims, TRSA Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Study indicates no health hazard from metal traces in laundered shop towels

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An initial health risk assessment of laundered reusable shop towels by international environmental engineering firm ARCADIS indicates that using laundered reusable shop towels creates no health hazard, TRSA announced during a press conference Thursday.

The association commissioned the study in response to 2011 Gradient Corp. analysis funded and used by disposable-wiper marketers to fuel speculation about risks associated with clean reusable shop towels.

ARCADIS’ risk assessment indicates that metals remaining on shop towels after laundering are not readily transferred to the hands of workers. TRSA plans to expand the research beyond the initial sample of shop towels from 10 locations to 15 randomly selected sites.

ARCADIS measured metal traces in laundered towels and increased the scope of testing to include leachability tests using “synthetic sweat” to estimate residual elements that could be freed when they are used. The firm determined the amounts of each metal a worker might be exposed to, based on factors including skin contact and hours worked. The potential non-cancer and cancer hazards associated with such exposures were assessed.

The independent research found either zero detectable risk from the transfer of these metals or a level insignificant even when compared to the EPA’s health-conservative values, TRSA says. The ARCADIS research protocol mirrored the Gradient analysis but went significantly further by conducting the leachability tests.

“Reusable cloth shop towels have been used by millions of workers for more than 100 years with no indications that clean shop towels have any impact on worker health,” says Joseph Ricci, TRSA president/CEO. “By measuring leachate, and not simply relying on a modeling format, Arcadis realistically portrayed the minuscule amount of metals that shop towel users are exposed to, reaffirming our confidence there is absolutely no risk to users.”

Reusable cloth shop towels remain the wiper of choice for industrial applications due to their absorbency and cost benefits, TRSA says. They are not regulated as solid or hazardous waste as long as launderers use the association’s voluntary management practices for handling and transporting them. A new federal rule, expected this summer, will codify these techniques.

April 5, 2012
Reducing Lint on Reusable OR Towels

ROANOKE, Va. — Providing an OR towel that has little lint or is lint-free is a universal challenge for all laundry facilities that

ROANOKE, Va. — Providing an OR towel that has little lint or is lint-free is a universal challenge for all laundry facilities that supply reusable OR towels to a healthcare facility. You can take some key steps to ensure that the product coming out of processing has a minimum amount of lint.

The first is to make sure that you purchase a high-quality reusable OR towel. The quality of the weave and the fiber used in product construction has a direct bearing on the amount of lint that will be generated in processing. As a general rule, the lower the cost of the OR towel, the greater the amount of lint.

Recently, several linen companies have experienced problems with previously reliable sources, as poor-quality cotton has made its way into the production pipeline. Carefully research your options and insist on test-washing any OR towels before committing your business to a particular vendor. This is one item for which you are better off committing all your business to one vendor based on its ability to consistently provide a high-quality product.

Constant vigilance for potential product problems has become a necessary part of laundry management. Product consistency will make, not break, your reputation with your customers.

Next, make sure that reusable OR towels are processed separately from disposable (single-use) towels. Most disposable OR towels are blue in color and of a lower quality than reusable OR towels. In addition, disposable OR towels are sterilized by irradiation, which has a detrimental effect on the cotton fiber.

Because of these two factors, the amount of lint generated by disposable OR towels when washed in the laundry will be much higher than that generated by reusable OR towels. It is therefore recommended that, during the soil-sort process, these towels be sorted into a separate batch. Disposable OR towels can easily be sold to a number of industries once they are properly cleaned.

You must take care during soil sorting to ensure that no foreign objects are placed in the load with the reusable OR towels. It is normal to find pieces of gauze in the bags containing reusable OR towels. These pieces will disintegrate into white pieces of lint during processing. Removing these foreign bodies will eliminate the problem.

I recommend sorting the OR towels twice to make sure that all foreign items are removed. During the initial high-speed sort, some items normally get past the sorters who are trying hard to make production numbers. Sending the OR towels past them a second time will help them catch what they missed the first time around.

I recommend adding one or two green poly-cotton sheets to each wash load of green OR towels. Ray Pierson, one of my supervisors who used to work for National Linen, made this recommendation based on his experience there. I had my doubts at first, but decided to give it a try.

We always fully dry our OR towels before inspecting them by hand and folding them. The process of ironing a damp OR towel will cause fibers to stretch and create thermal shock, which will result in additional linting next time. We have found that the green sheets act like lint magnets when washed and dried with a load of OR towels, greatly reducing if not eliminating the lint.

We inspect each OR towel to ensure the quality of the products that are delivered to our customers. This process greatly reduces inventory management issues. If the OR towels are not inspected, then facilities will order more than they really need. Through inspection, the orders accurately reflect what they really need. Having the responsibility for inspecting OR towels done by the surgical pack room simplifies the allocation between OR packs and loose towels.

The reusable surgical linen business requires a higher quality standard than general hospital linen but, if priced appropriately, can be a great addition to your volume and your bottom line.

September 26, 2011
TRSA Disputes Disposable Wiper Marketers’ ‘Research’

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — To address emerging confusion due to the disposable wiper industry’s most recent attack on the hygiene of clean shop towels, Textile Rental Services Association of America (TRSA) member companies are explaining to users of these laundered products the frivolity of claims that these goods contain trace amounts of ingestible metals.

TRSA has made the case against the validity of the analysis publicized July 11 that updates findings from 2003 for the International Nonwovens & Disposables Association (INDA).

In their new documentation, researchers for Gradient Corp., which also conducted the 2003 INDA study, noted they examined only 10 towels to reach their conclusions. They produced no evidence of any harm from use of these items, insinuating that metals could migrate from towels to users’ hands but offering no evidence that any such transfer occurs.

The analysis does not prove the presence of metals in washed shop towels, TRSA notes, and if any were present, they could not escape because laundering would bind them to towel fibers.

“The findings assume that workers wipe their lips with a laundered shop towel twice a day,” observes TRSA President Joseph Ricci. “Such a baseless assumption serves no purpose other than to strike fear and create doubt.”

Even the researchers noted their lack of methodology for evaluating exposure to metals from towels.

“The hygienic and economic benefits of using laundered goods have long been realized by manufacturing and service industries but have rarely been publicized,” Ricci says. “Marketers of disposables cannot deliver these same attributes so they are determined to spend whatever money is necessary to discredit reusables instead.”