How To Deal With Contaminated Laundry

Many different organisations routinely deal with contaminated laundry, from hotels and schools to hospitals and care homes.

Any laundry that has come into contact with human bodily fluids should be treated as potentially contaminated – this includes hotel/hospital towels and bedding, hospital gowns etc.

Best practices should be established to minimise the laundry workers’ direct contact with potentially contaminated laundry, and more so when a known biohazard risk is identified. If contamination is suspected, contaminated laundry should be placed in colour-coded laundry bags with minimal agitation, to prevent contaminants from spreading.

Laundry management cycle

The following process is commonly followed in healthcare and care home environments to maximise safety and hygiene when handling contaminated laundry:

1. Pre-Sorting - known contaminated laundry is segregated at this point.
2. Bagging and Transportation.
3. Sorting – to remove sharp objects and non-textile waste products.
4. Washing – with the appropriate cycle duration and temperature to destroy suspected pathogens.
5. Drying and Ironing – if using soluble bags, the laundry will be safe to handle at this point.
6. Packing – sealed hygienic bags or containers are recommended to avoid re-contamination.
7. Transportation and Storage.

Managing the risk of blood-borne illnesses

Most pathogens present a low risk of contagion once outside of the human body for more than a few hours, but certain blood-borne illnesses continue to pose a high risk in the contaminated laundry. These include life-threatening diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C or B, as well as rare haemorrhagic fever viruses such as Ebola, and Marburg virus.

Water-soluble laundry bags

Water-soluble laundry bags are the best solution for dealing with contaminated laundry and avoid laundry workers having to touch soiled linen directly. These bags contain the items from the point of pre-sorting and bagging through transportation and washing. The bag is placed directly into the washing machine without the need for manual handling and then dissolves over the course of the wash cycle, leaving behind no toxic or plastic residues.

Laundry that has been soiled with blood should be immediately segregated into a water-soluble laundry bag and then placed in a nylon or polyester external bag for storage. Clear labelling should indicate that the bag contains soiled or fouled linen, and laundry bags should be stored in a separate area away from other lower-risk laundry items. The inner laundry bag should only be removed at the point of transfer into a commercial washing machine.

The HSE recommends a wash cycle of at least 10 minutes at 65°C, or 71°C for at least three minutes, in order to destroy the HIV and hepatitis viruses.

Talk to an expert

Slik Pak supplies a range of hygienic soluble laundry bags for commercial laundry applications. For help choosing the right type of bag for your needs, or to request a quote, please call one of our experts today on 0161 367 1205.

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