Other Laundry Supplies

Large institutions that require a constant flow of clean linen, working-clothing or uniform, will often employ the services of an industrial laundry. Hospitals, prisons and hotels, for instance, will usually have their own laundry departments. more...

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The organized collection, laundering and timely delivery of textiled service ware is essential to the operation of the institution.

Stages of Operation

When linen is sent to be laundered, it goes through six stages. The first three stages are called "soiled side" operations, since they occur before the linen is actually washed. The last three are called "clean side" operations, since they involve the handling of clean linen.

1. Soiled Retrieval

In this step, the institution's linens are collected by laundry personnel and returned to the laundry facility. Members of the institution's housekeeping staff will place the soiled linen at a collection point, usually by dropping it down a laundry chute. Laundry workers will then collect the soiled linen, place it in carts reserved for soiled linen and transport it to the laundry facility.

Linen retrieval poses a problem, especially in health care institutions. Soiled linen can be contaminated with bloodborne and airborne pathogens. For this reason, employees who retireve soiled linen are required to use personal protective gear and standard safety precautions. This problem is especially prevalent in hospitals. Prior to sorting, the linen must be covered to prevent the spread of airborne germs.

2. Soil Sorting

At this stage, the retrieved linen is unloaded and sorted according to item type. Different items often require different washing formulas. Also, later stages in the process require the linen to be pre-sorted, since it is handled batch by batch. Heavy or biohazardous stains such as blood and feces may require longer wash times and stronger formulas. Thus it is inadvisable to mix different items of linen in the same wash batch. Large institutions often use a production-line method for soil sorting, with several full-time employees assigned to the task.

Since soiled linen may be contaminated with biohazards or sharp objects, employees involved in the sorting process are required to use personal protective equipment and standard safety precautions.

Smaller items tend to "hide" among larger items. For this reason, some sorting goes on during the washing, processing and packaging stages.

3. Washing

This is the stage in which the laundry is actually washed. The sorted linen is weighed according to the washing machine's load limit. Large washing machines are used, usually operated by a certified washer operator. The washer operator loads and unloads the washer, decides what is to be washed according to the laundry's schedule, and monitors the chemical levels in the water. Since modern tunnel washers monitor their own chemical levels and unload linen directly into the laundry's "clean area", the operator is required only to load the linen.

Read more at Wikipedia.org