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Microbial swabs for worker's clothing

Started by , Jun 11 2025 12:58 PM
6 Replies

I conducted microbial swabs for worker's clothing . one of workers worker's clothing  had a total aerobic count of 400 cfu/g. What are the permissible limits for worker clothing, and I need references for them .

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Your limits should be the result of your risk analysis, but that number seems pretty low to me.

What's the limit in food you are dealing with? 

What kind of food are you making?

 

Was this in a high care, high risk or low risk setting?

 

Is the workwear externally laundered?  Or by the employee?

 

Was the workwear clean or in use?  

 

What other results have you had?

Was the swab performed on an employer supplied garment like a frock, or on the employee's personal clothing?

When was the swab done... at pre-op before the employee started working or mid-op during production?

I conducted microbial swabs for worker's clothing . one of workers worker's clothing  had a total aerobic count of 400 cfu/g. What are the permissible limits for worker clothing, and I need references for them .

 

From your RA, what have you determined the Target and Critical counts/limits to be?

 

 

Myself in HC facility i have determined -

 

ACC/TVC - Target <102 / Max 103

Ents - Target <10 / Max 102

Salm - Not det
Lis - Not det

 

I also asked for the laundry provider to provide their own allergen results & temperature results from washers.

 

If you have claims for allergens you would also need to validate these ...

 

Like others have detailed, swabing should be perfromed prior to use, take out of sealed bag, swab collar/cuff/external surface

No point after worker has been using as could be enviromental contamination

 

You may also have to complete an RA for changing of work wear -

 

8.7.3 -

Protective clothing for use in HR / HC shall be changed at an appropriate frequency based on risk, at a minimum daily

 

So if you have determined that after 2 hours work, that the coat is too heavily soiled, you could use the swabbing results (plus extra normal in triplicate) to determine the frequency of change!!


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