There is much discussion as to whether or not laundered shop towels are safe to the user and the environment. Shop towels are reusable, natural-fiber cloths used as rags in various workplaces for wiping engines, mechanical parts, work surfaces and other equipment.
A recent study has found that workers who routinely use shop towels had no increased health risk above regulatory levels of concern.
This study was commissioned by TRSA (www.trsa.org), the leading global textile services trade association. It was conducted by Arcadis US (www.arcadis-us.com), a leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm.
HAZARD INDICES
The research measured heavy metal exposures in laundered shop towels sampled from 10 laundering facilities. Twenty-seven metals were evaluated in the study with hazard indices (HI) calculated for three exposure pathways: towel-to-hand and subsequent hand-to-food or hand-to-mouth transfers.
Simply put, an HI is a value of potential adverse health effects that could develop when a person is exposed to a chemical. A value of 1.0 or less indicates that no adverse human health effects are expected to occur.
In each evaluation, the highest HIs for all metals were at least 10 times lower than the regulatory level of concern.
"This study definitively demonstrates reusable shop towels do not put workers at risk" explain Joseph Ricci, TRSA’s president and CEO.
While the TRSA study confirmed previous reports of low, but measurable levels (i.e., part-per-million) concentrations of several heavy metals in reusable shop towels, these trace residues do not pose a concern to worker health based on minimal regulatory health standards,” he adds.
The full study is available by calling TRSA at 703-519-0029, ext. 109.
