TRSA proactively addresses and aggressively responds to federal, state and local agency rule making that could harm the industry thereby negatively affecting the economy or environment. We educate key audiences about the need to efficiently and effectively resolve issues to preserve industry viability.
Heat Illness | Shop Towel Resources | Earn Evaporation Credits | Wage & Hour Division | Promoting Our Track Record
Heat Illness Protection
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced a National Emphasis Program (NEP) focused on heat hazards, effective April 8, 2022. Under the NEP, OSHA will be conducting proactive inspections for heat-related hazards—in both outdoor and indoor work environments. It thus behooves employers to ensure they have implemented appropriate safety measures to protect employees from such hazards before potentially coming under OSHA’s attention. Click to read full brief
Shop Towel Resources
TRSA has compiled shop towel-related resources including research, best practices and reusable vs. disposable comparisons to help members retain business. In addition, TRSA has posted a toolkit to comply with the EPA’s “Conditional Exclusions from Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste for Solvent-Contaminated Wipes; Final Rule” which codifies best practices for handling reusable shop towels including a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) and other materials designed to help launderers, customers, employees, and route drivers to comply.
Earn Evaporation Credits
TRSA supports Operator members seeking evaporation credits from their local publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). These credits ensure a laundry is billed fairly for its sewer discharges when the POTW bases the billing on the exact volume of fresh water the laundry receives. A laundry sewer bill should be calculated on a lesser volume because of evaporation from drying, finishing and other processes. This contact form alerts TRSA to a member launderer’s interest in TRSA resources that make the case for a fair credit.
Wage & Hour Division
TRSA periodically reports on rulings by this division of the federal Department of Labor, which enforces overtime pay rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Of particular interest are decisions involving sales work by route drivers.
Promoting Our Track Record
Ahead of anticipated regulatory proposals that may unfairly and unnecessarily burden the industry, our customers and the economy, TRSA is communicating with agencies to seek alternatives.
EPA
TRSA promotes to EPA the industry’s efforts to protect the environment including the reporting and resources developed through TRSA’s Clean Green Certification program and the “good business and operations” benefits of conserving and recycling water, recapturing heat and minimizing energy usage.
SafeTRSA
Citing the successes of the SafeTRSA program to improve employee safety, TRSA is reporting to OSHA and offering to provide the agency with more information to prove that workers’ health is better protected by voluntary compliance programs as opposed to increased regulation. This effort also extends to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
U.S. Workplace Safety Statistics
TRSA works with the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics to ensure key incident rates are calculated each year to gauge safety performance nationwide of industrial launderers and linen suppliers in separate statistical categories for each of these textile services industry segments. Comparing these results with the SafeTRSA survey proves TRSA member companies are safer than nonmembers.