Anytime a safety incident occurs in a plant – including ‘near misses’ – laundry operators have a moral duty, as well as a legal obligation, to investigate what happened and why. Then they must take steps to prevent the incident from recurring. That’s the essence of a forthcoming article in Textile Services magazine on how companies can uncover the root causes of safety mishaps in a laundry operation and take steps to mitigate them.

A rising tide of regulatory mandates limiting the use of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles is making the internal combustion engine an endangered species. Federal and state environmental agencies in jurisdictions such as California are leaving businesses, including linen, uniform and facility services companies, with little choice but to begin converting their fleets to alternative-fuel vehicles.

Managing the fleet operations of linen, uniform and facility services companies comes with challenges that can generate stress and sleeplessness for fleet managers and other executives. Textile Services Weekly heard a lot about the difficulties confronting these managers during a panel discussion at the TRSA Fleet Summit in Baltimore.

Next month’s Textile Services magazine will feature a topic near and dear to many in the linen, uniform and facility services industry: the need for effective strategies to retain employees. Highlights of the ideas suggested by industry consultant Katie Cosgrove follow.

Brian Beere, owner of Single Source Plus, a hospitality launderer in Bellmawr, NJ, recently received a roughly $17,000 rebate check from his local utility, Public Service Electric & Gas Co. (PSEG), Newark, NJ, following his purchase of an energy-saving “insulation blanket” from an area supplier.

Chris Durrant, 49, an independent contractor working for Kannegiesser ETECH, died on Aug. 6 while testing a dryer in a new facility under construction in Lawrence, MA, for Unitex Textile Rental Services.

As part of a strategic outreach effort, TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci recently traveled to the United Kingdom (UK) for talks with the British Textile Services Association (TSA), plus tours of four highly regarded laundries around London and the northern city of Leeds, England.

So you thought getting through COVID-19 was bad? And the follow-on (continuing) crises of inflation and supply-chain/labor shortages? Well, buckle your seat belts laundry operators, because the EPA and state environmental officials are now in the process of targeting a textile chemical additive called PFAS. Their actions potentially could saddle you with extremely high wastewater-disposal costs.

As part of TRSA’s Next-Generation Executives Committee meeting on June 15 in Chicago, 20-plus leaders of their companies toured the Roscoe Co. plant on the city’s west side. The business is now celebrating its 100th anniversary as a family-owned-and-operated independent industrial laundry.

A recent TRSA Town Hall in Chicago examined priorities for mobilizing the industry on government advocacy issues and promoting linen, uniform and facility services as employers. The discussion on May 16 gave executives from local companies an easily accessible, in-person forum to learn about TRSA’s latest activities on these issues and share information on their efforts to deal with them.