On Sept. 13, members of the Wisconsin Association of Textile Services (WATS) gathered at The Edgewater Resort in Madison, WI, for the organization’s Annual Conference.

To continue building support for the Healthcare Worker Safety and Sustainability Act, AB 6995, TRSA’s Vice President of Government Relations Kevin Schwalb met with New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) to discuss the importance of the legislation.

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.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued its long-anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) altering the overtime pay regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The proposal increases the minimum salary threshold and automatically updates the threshold every three years.

TRSA participated in a recent meeting of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) to highlight the need for an increase in reusable healthcare contact textiles (HCTs) in healthcare facilities.

Nonprofit groups working to eliminate per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) acknowledged for threatening human health are advancing their cause through website compilations that highlight such risks. Two such compilations have been added to the TRSA PFAS Toolkit on www.TRSA.org.

TRSA’s Fourth Annual Canadian Production Summit is returning to Toronto on Oct. 4-5, and recently added more speakers to enhance the program.

TRSA staff recently visited the Nalco Water, An Ecolab Company complex in Naperville, IL, to discuss the company’s sustainability initiatives on behalf of the linen, uniform and facility services industry. The meeting included a tour of the Nalco Water University as well as the Research, Development & Engineering areas of the facility.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently initiated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), challenging employers to ensure reasonable workplace accommodations to these employees. See the Equal Employment Opportunity section of TRSA.org’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion webpage for a link to the EEOC webpage announcing the enforcement launch.

The brother and sister team of Doug and Sara Gunderson of Gunderson Uniform and Linen in Menasha, WI, recently hosted a bipartisan delegation of legislators to introduce the linen, uniform and facility services industry. The members of the delegation included State Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R), and State Reps. Lee Snodgrass (D) and Nate Gustafson (R), who had a front row seat to how a healthcare and hospitality plant operates.