Hospital Cooperative Laundry of Denver has achieved Hygienically Clean (HC) Healthcare certification for the second time, reflecting their 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.

Recertification confirms the organization’s continuing dedication to infection prevention, compliance with recognized industry standards and processing healthcare textiles using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, a focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation. The independent, third-party inspection must also confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected

• Managers understand regulatory requirements

• OSHA-compliant

• Physical plant operates effectively

Facilities pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing to be certified initially, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare textiles and zero presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities.

HCL is owned by the hospitals it serves, producing more than 50 million pounds of laundry for these 36 hospitals and over 300 clinics. The operation began in Denver in 1991. Ten years later, a second facility opened In Pueblo, Colo. Today, the Denver laundry serves members and customers in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming while the Pueblo laundry covers Southern Colorado.

Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations through testing and inspections that scrutinize quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

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. 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.

“Congratulations to Hospital Cooperative Laundry on their recertification,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their ongoing commitment to infection prevention and that their laundry facilities take every step possible to prevent human illness.”