Laundry service providers (in particular those that work with healthcare / social care organisations) are keen to obtain certification for the European Standard EN 14065. This standard is for certifying the management and control of biocontaminants during laundered linen processing. In the UK, the Department of Health have published guidance for linen / laundry processors in relation to implementing this standard (BS EN 14065). In their documentation, the Department of Health encourage adopting the standard in commercial settings and the NHS.¹

Many laundry processors implement decontamination policies / regimes with the aim of identifying potential biocontamination risks and eliminating them. Monitoring microbiological contamination is also part of the controls that can be implemented. Policies / regimes that are applied to control conatmination in this area are often referred to as RABC (Risk Analysis and Biocontamination Control System). This is what the management system is described as in the European Standard BS EN 14065.

The RABC system requires that microbiological hazards are identified during each step of the process, risks are assessed and classified and control measures are put in place to reduce / eliminate risk. Environmental conditions need to be considered to reduce risks and microbiological target levels / limits need to be established. Scheduled testing / monitoring needs to be implemented with corrective actions being taken when control limits are surpassed. The RABC system should be evaluated to assess the effectiveness of the system in place and appropriate documentation needs to be produced and maintained.²

As part of their monitoring programme, some laundry service providers purchase dipslides from us. This enables them to test their laundry, equipment, hands and water for different micro organisms that may be present. Some customers may also use the dipslides for air sampling / testing.

When purchasing dipslides for laundry testing, user's requirements may differ. Some use general tests for 'total count' bacteria, yeasts and moulds and coliforms. Others also use micro organism specific dipslides such as Staphylococcus, pseudomonas and E.Coli.

If you are a laundry processor and wish to purchase our dipslides, you can choose the micro organism that you wish to test for on the homepage where it states 'View by microorganism'.

More information regarding BS EN 14065 can be found in the government documentation below.

References:
1 & 2: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/527546/BS_EN14065.pdf