Is employees washing their own Production Uniforms acceptable under SQF and FDA?

Hello!

I work for a beverage manufacturer and we are SQF Certified. Right now we use a uniform company to provide us clean work pants and shirts for the production employees however the cost of this service is getting a little out of hand. I'm trying to explore other options that would be acceptable for SQF and FDA.

We were thinking about providing production employees with enough shirts and pants for the week, plus back ups if they get dirty, and have them take their uniforms home at the end of the week to wash. We would require a clean uniform at the beginning of their shift and the shift supervisor would verify and document that all workers have clean uniforms.

I was wondering if anyone does something like this where employees wash their own uniforms and store their clean uniforms in their work lockers?

Any input would help! Thanks!

Bringing clothes home to wash is not a good recommendation. There are too many factors that can be questionable such as the quality and cleanliness/sanitization of the washer and dryer, how the uniforms are handled, the soap that is used, etc. Taking it out of the facility altogether isn't recommended altogether. There was a washer and dryer on site and they weren't used because of several factors; however, it was an option that the inspector was willing to accept with the assurance that they will clean/sanitize the uniforms properly.

Sending uniforms home with the employees is not recommended.  

There are a number of reasons for this, some of which are mentioned by rgoldilla2.

I saw where a company sent them home with their employees and the employees (rightfully so) felt that if they had to use their own time, their own resources, detergent etc to wash and dry the uniforms then they should be compensated.  By the time they figured out how they were going to pay extra and then dictate how the clothing was to be washed, etc there were more advantages to either establishing their own laundry or staying with the uniform company - as it turned out, they stayed with the uniform company.

Hey. 

We wash our own uniform at home but we are low risk and the product is enclosed, and a check is carried out at start up.

I know some sites of our business (super smelly environments) that have got washing machines and dryers so they just wash them on site. 

In our case (SQF facility, RTE), employees wash their uniforms at home and uniform cleanliness is checked and documented at the beginning of each shift. We conduct a risk assessment as justification, swab them once a year, and this has been acceptable at audits as there is no requirement to launder the uniforms for them in this standard. It is best practice to have a laundry service though not possible everywhere.

It mostly depends on executive management to want to invest in the service, and then look into locker rooms, allot time for changing etc.

If you already use this service I would try to keep it. 

If you have them store the uniforms in lockers you must make sure that the lockers are clean and they are not keeping personal belongings and lunches in there, this is the tricky part.

In our case (SQF facility, RTE), employees wash their uniforms at home and uniform cleanliness is checked and documented at the beginning of each shift. We conduct a risk assessment as justification, swab them once a year, and this has been acceptable at audits as there is no requirement to launder the uniforms for them in this standard. It is best practice to have a laundry service though not possible everywhere.

 

It mostly depends on executive management to want to invest in the service, and then look into locker rooms, allot time for changing etc.

 

If you already use this service I would try to keep it. 

 

If you have them store the uniforms in lockers you must make sure that the lockers are clean and they are not keeping personal belongings and lunches in there, this is the tricky part.

Thanks for your input! What micro tests/ swabs would you perform?

Thanks for your input! What micro tests/ swabs would you perform?

We do APC and keep the limits the same as any FC equipment swab.

I think if you go to generic smocks with a variety of sizes and quantity to fit your employees it will be cheaper.  We looked into that option and it would save use $10,000 a month with about 180 employees, but it was decided to keep the uniforms.  I'm sure it will get brought up again as costs continue to rise for the laundry service, it won't ever go down due to scarcity of water, environmental regulations, and specific cleaning requirements.