How garments can contribute to a safer work environment

The Working Conditions Act stipulated that the employee must be protected from external forces. For this purpose, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is available. This usually includes protection in the form of gloves, work boots or protective glasses. Sometimes PPEs include yellow vests with reflecting strips.

Workwear has a number of purposes within an organisation. Corporate identity is important to many employers. Recognisability and a neat appearance are part of the marketing budget. For example, in the healthcare sector it is important to make a clear distinction between visitors and employees, so the patient knows who to address.

A second purpose is employee comfort. Workwear protects employees in cold and wet environments. In many sectors, garments must be suitable carrying out physical tasks, such as lifting and carrying patients.

The most important purpose of workwear is of course safety. This includes:

• Protection against the elements
• Protection against falling components, for instance from machinery, that could cause serious injury to an unprotected employee if it were to land on the leg.
• Hygiene from employee to customer, client or patient, and vice versa.

An American study conducted in 2012 showed that taking home healthcare sector garments must be desperately avoided. Many bacteria, including resistant ones, can be transferred from the workplace to the private sphere. Safety therefore does not only apply to the employee, but also to the family and potentially other people in public spaces.

Solution to the distribution of garments

To monitor and provide this safety, an LCT-Textilligence distribution and collection depot is the best solution. A record can be kept for every employee in terms of the type of garments they take and also how many and how often garments are collected and returned.

If so desired, a hygiene index report can be drafted, in which employees who do not collect clean garments frequently enough or keep garments in their possession for too long, get a higher value than users that swap garments on a daily base. This way, the employees can be held responsible for meeting the standards for hygiene.

The food sector often works with colour codes. Yellow for Monday, green for Tuesday. This way, there is a code for each day so it is verifiable whether the employee meets the standards for hygiene. The automated distribution system registers which employee has exchanged garments. There is even the possibility to reject employees if they have not collected a clean set of garments that day, by keeping the revolving door or entrance locked.
This guarantees the safety of the process and the employee. The LCT-Textilligence distribution system takes care of the logistics and saves costs with regard to redundant inventory and fluctuations in demand. The influx of temporary staff, additional clean-ups, an external mechanic that needs access to the workplace fast: situations that occur frequently that can all be solved with an LCT-Textilligence distribution system.

The same goes for the industry sector. Employees that deem the workwear uncomfortable sometimes buy their own, uncertified, workwear. Thanks to the LCT-Textilligence distribution systems, it becomes clear that this employee does not change workwear frequently enough and consequently, this employee can be confronted.

Garments contribute to a better image of your company and, more importantly, contribute to the safety of your employees and in some cases even their families. In order to remain in full control of expenses, you can use the garments management software, integrated in the distribution system, to gain insight in the processes. Redundant stocks, analysis of how old the garments are and so on. You gain an insight in the process and in the safety of your employee.

The technical arguments set forth by the Working Conditions Agency alone are perhaps not sufficient to switch to a garments distribution and collection system. But it is a qualitative argument that cannot be expressed in monetary value, in addition to all the arguments that are clearly beneficial in terms of expenses.

Please leave a message here in case you would like to be better informed on the qualitative and quantitative arguments for purchasing a garments distribution system. We will then contact you to make an appointment to non-bindingly inform you on the possibilities. LCT-Textilligence can offer a solution for any organisation.