RAL Quality Certification Mark 992/4 Clothing of Care Home Residents

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1 Press information Hygienic, safe, efficient RAL Quality Certification Mark 992/4 Clothing of Care Home Residents 18-Apr EN BÖNNIGHEIM (IS) Wherever people are cared for and nursed, hygiene is a particularly important factor in the area of textiles as well. There is always an increased risk of infection in care homes where elderly persons with pre-existing conditions or immune deficiencies are concerned. Respiratory infections, MRSA, diarrhoea or skin infections are not a great danger just for residents but also for personnel. Prevention plays a very special role when it comes to interrupting possible chains of infection. This involves a high level of responsibility, especially as legislators so far have only defined requirements for the care home sector which apply to the hygienic processing of general textiles such as bed linen or towels that require disinfectant washing processes. The lack of clear specifications for the disinfectant treatment of personal clothing and linen from care home residents results in a latent residual risk for these items. In order to provide optimum support to care homes for ensuring the hygiene safety of the residents' own textiles, the German Certification Association for Professional Textile Services created the quality certification mark RAL-GZ 992/4 Clothing of Care Home Residents in Gaps in hygiene safety for resident related textiles Textiles from healthy care home residents which can be washed as regular household laundry according to the recommendation by the Robert Koch institute Infection prevention in care homes mainly include washable outerwear such as trousers, blouses, jumpers and undergarments such as pyjamas, underwear, socks and non-washable outerwear such as silk blouses or scarves. During outbreaks of diseases with pathogens that are spread by contact as well as for persons with known MSRA colonisation the recommendation is to use a disinfectant washing process for underwear, towels and flannels from the residents concerned. In practical application, however, it is not possible in many cases to wash and dry the personal clothing of many different persons separately. Another factor is that the infection status of each resident is not known at every given point in time and people might be within the incubation period. Gaps in hygiene safety of personal clothing are therefore inevitable. According to Dr. Klaus-Dieter Zastrow, President of the Professional Association of German Hygienists, there should be a stronger focus on hygienic handling and proper processing of textiles in care homes: Residents in care homes must be protected from possible infections in exactly the same way as hospital patients. The use of disinfectant washing procedures for all textiles used in the facility is a practical example for a preventive measure and particularly for the interruption of possible chains of Editor: Hohenstein Laboratories GmbH & Co. KG Hohenstein Textile Testing Institute GmbH & Co. KG Hohenstein Institut für Textilinnovation ggmbh Hohenstein Academy e.v. Marketing & Business Development Schloss Hohenstein Bönnigheim GERMANY Phone: press@hohenstein.com Internet: Your contact for this text: Britta Gortan Phone: b.gortan@oeko-tex.com You can make use of the news service free of charge - please send us file copies.

2 Seite infection. The defined hygiene standards of the RAL-GZ 992/4 Clothing of Care Home Residents meet this requirement for the highest possible hygiene safety. Commercial laundries with this certificate always work with clearly defined target values and mandatory parameters. Regular unannounced inspections of the laundries through independent authorised testers from the Hohenstein Institute and mandatory self checks guarantee permanent safety. Maximum hygiene safety for care homes The basis for the specific requirements of the quality mark were the recommendations of the guideline Textiles in Care Homes initiated by the German Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and developed in cooperation with a group of experts in Hygienic handling and proper processing of all types of textiles in care homes within the framework of the RAL quality certification marks is an important element of infection prevention. The hygienic requirements for the processing of general textiles from the wards are covered by RAL-GZ 992/2 Healthcare Linen. All normative requirements for processing linen from the catering sector are met by RAL-GZ 992/3 Linen from Food Processing Businesses. The combination with RAL-GZ 992/4 Clothing of Care Home Residents therefore allows specialised commercial laundries from the German Certification Association to process all textiles from care homes properly and in compliance with the highest requirements regarding quality and hygiene. Water samples from different areas of the laundry facility, microbiological examinations of employees' hands and the processed linen provide information about the general state of hygiene in the facility.

3 Seite RAL certified laundries with RAL-GZ 992/4 Clothing of Care Home Residents offer a comprehensive service which ensures gentle treatment of the textiles as well as compliance with all crucial criteria and normative requirements: Separation of clean and unclean areas within the laundry facility Facilities for staff hygiene Creation and monitoring of hygiene plans Presence of a qualified hygienist Presence of a qualified textile expert for the laundry of care home residents Sorting laundry taking into account special recommendations Use of disinfectant methods to kill bacteria and deactivate viruses taking into account the protection of textiles Compliance with the microbiological requirements of RAL-GZ 992/4 Compliance with the requirements for regular washing cycle controls for process verification taking into account the protection of textiles

4 Seite RAL-GZ 992/4 for Clothing of Care Homes Residents certifies the hygienically sound processing of the residents' own clothing from care homes.

5 Seite RAL hygiene certificate GZ 992/4 for clothing of care home residents. The Textiles in Care Homes guideline focuses on hygienic handling and processing of textiles in care homes. It is constantly being updated and can be accessed free of charge at by care homes, family members and GPs of care home residents, supervisory authorities and textile service providers. The annual unannounced site inspections by experts from the Hohenstein Institute verify all aspects of operational hygiene, among other things.

6 Seite Regular washing cycle controls are a prerequisite for the proof of ongoing quality assurance. To ensure hygiene in business procedures, external audits are carried out regularly and unannounced for holders of a quality certification mark. The requirements for hygienic quality of the quality certification marks RAL-GZ 992 are set by the Quality Control Committee and verified by the experts at the Hohenstein Institute in Bönnigheim. The section Find laundries on the website of the German Certification Association for Professional Textile Services provides a list of commercial laundries with the respective RAL quality certification mark.