TRSA To Launch Safety & Health Certification

In an industrywide effort to reduce work-related injuries and illnesses, TRSA in January 2025 will roll out a new certification program aimed at preventing such incidents in linen, uniform and facility services operations across North America.

The TRSA Safety and Health (S&H) Certification will document participants’ use of best practices in incident prevention, including compliance with all regulations promulgated by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as well as state and local agencies.

“This new certification program is a critical step forward for our industry,” said TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci. “Business success means little if companies don’t do enough to protect their staffs from workplace hazards. TRSA’s Safety & Health Certification program will raise the bar on incident-prevention efforts for the industry.”

Samlane Ketevong, TRSA’s senior director for certification and accreditation, added that the new certification will provide linen, uniform and facility services operators with a laundry-specific alternative to S&H certification programs, such as OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). “I don’t think that we’re competing with (VPP),” Ketevong said. “I think it’s an enhancement.” Brian Varner, a safety consultant who’ll oversee the TRSA program, agreed with Ketevong, adding that, “It is an enhancement. But remember that VPP is very broad. It’s not specific to the laundry industry. We are specific to the laundry industry. This is really important because all of our content, our visuals, everything will pertain to the laundry industry, whereas the VPP is more broadly based.”

TRSA’s S&H Certification verifies that your facility meets standards that consistently exceed OSHA requirements. The S&H certification is based on a portion of the OSHA VPP certification guidelines. The TRSA program focuses on four major elements that auditors review at individual locations on a three-year basis for certified plants. They include:

• Management Leadership and Employee Involvement
• Worksite Hazard Analysis
• Hazard Prevention and Control
• Safety and Health Training

While expanding incident-prevention efforts is reason enough to pursue TRSA’s plant-based S&H certification, there’s ample research that shows how a safer environment can have a range of positive effects on a commercial laundry. For example, consider staff morale. An emphasis on safety and health shows employees that management cares about them. That, in turn, drives employee engagement. Motivated employees help generate improved business results.

Standardizing your S&H program with TRSA’s third-party certification will help protect people and equipment through the implementation of safety protocols and compliance programs. These efforts lead to fewer incidents. That, in turn, can generate savings by reducing or eliminating OSHA fines. Avoiding work-related employee injuries also can fuel a lower Experience Modification Rate (EMR). Improving your EMR can potentially save your company hundreds of thousands of dollars on workers’ compensation premiums.

Varner, the owner of Safety Solutions for Healthcare, Denver, notes that many of his clients have achieved savings by improving their safety record under his guidance. Workers’ compensation insurers use the EMR as a key factor in determining premiums for commercial laundries. Varner’s website features testimonials from clients, including Chris Corcoran of HHS-FMA, who noted that in a previous job, a lower EMR generated savings on worker’s comp insurance. “The results of the programs and processes were phenomenal!” says Corcoran of a program he pursued with Varner under a previous employer. “We experienced a 33% decrease in workers’ compensation claims and a 74% decrease in ‘out of’ workdays,” he said. “We also experienced a 51% decrease in strain-related claims (our No. 1 injury). This all resulted in an impact on our bottom line, with a $350,000 reduction in premiums.”

Individual plants can qualify for the S&H certification program by meeting these criteria:

• No OSHA citations for the facility in the past 12 months or
• The facility has experienced a drop in its EMR over the past year (12 months)
• The plant has experienced a decrease in its Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR). This metric tracks the number of OSHA-recordable incidents per 100 employees over the past 12 months. A second metric is the Days Away Restricted or Transfer (DART) over the past 12 months. The DART rate measures the number of days that employees missed work, were given restricted duties or had to accept transfers to alternative assignments due to work-related injuries or illnesses.
• They must participate in the TRSA Safety Survey.

While these requirements are rigorous, Varner said he and Ketevong will work with launderers to help them achieve the standard, which requires an audit process similar to TRSA’s Hygienically Clean program. “I think that the thought of the (TRSA) Safety Committee was, ‘How do we make it so that it’s not too stringent and give the plant a chance to be eligible, right?’” Varner said. “We have the two different criteria: One is the citations and the other is a decrease in the EMR, OK? If I have one citation or two, let me see if I can qualify under the second pathway. You know, there are going to be certain circumstances where a plant really does want to be eligible for the certification. The S&H team will work with them and try to figure out a way that they can be eligible. So although we’re looking at two different pathways, there’s always alternative methods. If the plant is actually showing that they are interested in the certification.”

To learn more, click here, or contact Varner at bvarner@trsa.org or Ketevong at sketevong@trsa.org. Click here to see a PDF version of a January 2025 article in Textile Services magazine with additional background on the program.