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© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 1006

Laundry Safety
 Session Objectives
Identify laundry hazards
Prevent exposure to infectious materials
Avoid MSDs
Prevent heat stress
Take precautions against slips, trips, and falls
Avoid harmful exposures to other safety
and health hazards

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 Prequiz:
True or False?
You only have to worry about a few
hazards working in the laundry.
There’s not much you can do to protect
yourself from heat stress.
When you lift a heavy object, you should
use your leg muscles to power the lift.
You don’t need any special protection
when bagging or sorting laundry.

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 Laundry Hazards
• Bloodborne pathogens
• Back injuries
• Heat stress
• Slips, trips, and falls
• Skin irritation
• Burns
• Noise
• Machine hazards

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 Bloodborne Pathogens
Universal precautions—Treat all
laundry contaminated with blood,
urine, or other potentially infectious
materials as if it is infectious.

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 Bloodborne Pathogens (cont.)
• Always use universal
precautions
• Wear gloves
• Report contact with
blood

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 Bagging
Contaminated Laundry
• Wear gloves
• Bag where used
• Use leakproof bags
• Use biohazard
bags or labels
• Don’t hold bags
close to body
• Always assume
sharps are present

© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 1006

 Sorting and Washing
Contaminated Laundry

• Wear gloves
• Don’t sort or rinse where used
• Keep separate from other laundry
• Handle as little as possible

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 Sorting and Washing
Contaminated Laundry (cont.)
• Watch out for sharps
• Keep out of clean
areas
• Use appropriate
cycles
• Wash hands
thoroughly

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 Preventing MSDs
• Avoid awkward reaching
• Keep work waist high
• Squat—don’t bend
• Support your back
• Turn—don’t twist
• Keep back straight
• Take short stretch breaks

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 Safe Lifting
Squat down

Keep back straight

Lift with legs

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Inc.1006
1006
 Which of the following is a laundry hazard?

Slips and falls

Bloodborne pathogens
Heat
MSDs
Laundry products
Machines

© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 1006

 Review
Do you understand:
• Laundry hazards?
• Universal precautions?
• Safe procedures for
handling contaminated
laundry?
• MSD risks and
prevention?
• Safe lifting technique?

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 Heat Stress
• Heat fatigue
• Heat rash
• Fainting

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 Heat Stress (cont.)
• Heat exhaustion
• Heatstroke

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 6 Ways to Prevent
Heat Stress
• Acclimate
• Dress light
• Drink lots
• Use ventilation
• Pace yourself
• Take breaks in a
cool place
• Don’t take salt tablets

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 Slips, Trips, and Falls
• Keep floors dry
• Wear the right shoes
• Stand on mats
• Be careful on wet
surfaces
• Clean up spills

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 Slips, Trips, and Falls (cont.)
• Pick up fallen objects
• Watch where you’re
going
• Don’t block walkways
• Make sure you can
see over loads
• Use a ladder or
stepstool

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 Skin Protection
• Irritation
• Burns
• MSDS

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 Sound
• Loud sound can cause
hearing damage
• Symptoms:
• Ringing in ears
• Trouble hearing people, TV
• Trouble hearing certain
sounds

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 Machines
• Loading and unloading
• Machine guards

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 Match hazards to precautions below.

Wet floors Water

Sound Gloves
Machine Injury Nonslip shoes
Skin irritation Earplugs

Heat Stress Machine guards

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 Review
Do you understand:
• Heat stress and how
to prevent it?
• Slip, trip, and fall
hazards and
prevention?
• Skin protection?
• Sound hazards and
hearing protection?
• Machine safety?

© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 1006

 Key Points to Remember
Working in the laundry exposes you to
a variety of hazards.
Risks include both safety and health
hazards.
Be aware of potential hazards and keep
alert to protect your safety and health.
Taking simple precautions can prevent
injuries and illness.

© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 1006