In health and aged care facilities, managing laundry operations efficiently while maintaining high hygiene standards is crucial. Laundry systems, including barrier washers, play a vital role in these settings by helping to prevent cross-contamination and ensuring that textiles meet the rigorous demands of infection control.
Barrier Washers and Infection Control
Barrier washers are designed with a physical barrier between the clean and soiled sides, reducing the risk of cross-contamination. This design is critical in settings where maintaining the highest standards of hygiene is necessary for patient and resident safety.
Barrier washers have a door on both sides, with a physical wall in between. This forces separation between dirty and clean washing, preventing any cross contamination. Dirty linen goes into the washers in one room, and comes out clean in another room!
The plan below shows the laundry layout, including the "dirty side" and "clean side" - with pictures of the actual installation. The next image is the "dirty side", where soiled linen is loaded into the washers.
Once the clean washing is removed from the "clean side", it is transferred to dryers without risk of contamination.
Variability in Washer Extraction Force
Health and aged care facilities utilise a range of on-premise laundry (OPL) equipment that varies significantly in extraction force. Hard mount OPL washers typically operate between 100-200 G-force, whereas soft mount washers offer higher extraction speeds of 350-400 G-force and even up to 500 G's! These higher speeds can reduce drying times, which is beneficial in environments where laundry turnaround needs to be quick. Read our article to learn more about soft and hard mount technology.
In-House Hygiene Management
Even when outsourcing laundry services, facilities usually require the capability to clean certain items on-site, such as microfibre mop heads and other reusable cleaning materials. These items require specific hygiene practices to ensure they are adequately sanitised and safe for continued use.
The Speed Queen SY180 heavy commercial soft mount washer combined with a SA055 heavy commercial dryer are highly effective with this requirement, with electricity on demand heating for disinfection ( “ECO” function heats only when required), customised spin speeds and times enabling optimisation to your exact requirement and fully compatible with a wide range of chemicals, programmable by your current chemical supplier.
The washer is available with Quantum controls, or Touch controls. The dryer is also available in stainless steel.
Integrating Ozone Disinfection
Some laundry systems incorporate ozone disinfection to enhance hygiene. Ozone is effective at killing bacteria and viruses even at lower temperatures, which not only ensures high sanitisation levels but also reduces energy consumption. We can provide examples of installations making use of ozone technology.
Heat Pump Dryers for Challenging Environments
Heat pump dryers are particularly suitable for facilities in basements or heritage-listed buildings where venting may be challenging. These dryers operate at lower temperatures, are more energy-efficient, and are less likely to damage sensitive building structures. They are the logical choice when ducting is problematic - sometimes saving considerable cost for the fully installed solution vs expensive ducting. Read this article to learn how bad ducting can be....
OPL Traceability Software
Healthcare laundry traceability software works by tagging linens and textiles with unique identifiers, such as barcodes or RFID tags, which are scanned at various stages of the laundering process. Each scan records critical information—like wash temperature, chemicals used, and cycle completion—into a centralized database. This system ensures that all textiles undergo proper sterilization and are tracked from dirty collection through to clean delivery. By automating record-keeping, the software not only guarantees adherence to hygiene protocols but also provides actionable data to optimize laundry operations and resource use. This precise tracking and data analysis significantly enhance both safety and efficiency in healthcare environments. This is not yet widely available, but watch this space...
Efficiency and Environmental Considerations
Choosing the right laundry equipment involves balancing efficiency, cost, and environmental impact. Facilities must consider equipment that not only meets their immediate needs but also aligns with long-term sustainability goals.
In health and aged care facilities, laundry equipment must support stringent hygiene standards while being efficient and cost-effective. Ensuring that these facilities have access to the right technology and equipment is essential for maintaining patient and resident safety and operational efficiency.
Our distributors are laundry experts, with decades of experience in countless installs. They are here to help you implement the optimal laundry solution to fit your exact requirement.
Get in touch with our experts to find out how Speed Queen can help!
