
What is HLAC?
Medical institutions must ensure a clean, sterile environment. They must also ensure that surgical gowns, bed sheets, and patient gowns are disinfected and cleaned.
The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council is a non-profit organization. It accredits medical laundry facilities. It plays a key role in this.
What is HLAC?
Founded in 2005, It aims to set high standards for the medical laundry industry. Its goal is to ensure that these facilities can safely handle medical textiles.
HLAC’s main goal is to certify medical laundry facilities. They must meet strict hygiene and safety standards when handling textiles.
Its standards cover every link in the textile supply chain. They include collection, washing, processing, transportation, and storage. The goal is to reduce all possible sources of contamination or infection.
As a non-profit, HLAC certifies and promotes advanced laundry processes. It aims to improve the industry’s hygiene and help providers meet hygiene regulations.

Why HLAC certification?
1. Improve trust in medical institutions.
This certification guarantees trust in medical service providers. Certified laundry institutions can maintain the highest hygiene standards. This reassures hospitals and medical providers when choosing laundry services.
2. Prevent hospital-acquired infections.
Hospital-acquired infections are a big problem in healthcare. Improper cleaning of medical textiles may spread pathogens.
This certification lets medical institutions ensure that cleaned textiles are fully disinfected. This reduces the risk of hospital-acquired infections.
3. Enhance the competitiveness of the laundry services industry.
As the medical industry demands higher hygiene, HLAC-certified laundries will have an edge. They will be more competitive. They can prove their high sanitation standards to customers, gaining more cooperation opportunities.

What are HLAC's certification standards?
HLAC’s certification standards are extremely detailed and strict, covering all aspects of medical textile processing, ensuring that all steps follow hygiene standards. These standards are divided into several key areas:
1. Cleaning and disinfection
This requires all certified institutions to use cleaning and disinfection processes that meet medical hygiene standards to ensure that all pathogens on textiles can be completely removed. In addition, the washing water temperature, the amount of detergent used, and the disinfection time are strictly regulated to ensure that the final textiles are safe and contaminant-free.
2. Facilities and equipment
It will also evaluate the facilities and equipment of the washing agency during certification, including the cleanliness, maintenance, and operation procedures of the equipment. Any equipment problems that may cause contamination or cross-infection must be resolved before certification.
3. Staff training
In addition to equipment and processes, It also has requirements for staff training in washing agencies. Only qualified and trained personnel can operate the relevant equipment and ensure hygiene and safety during the processing of textiles.

What is the certification process?
1. Application and preparation
First, the laundry organization needs to submit an application to HLAC and provide detailed information, such as the operating manual of the laundry facility, process description, etc. Next, the organization needs to conduct a self-inspection of its facilities and processes to ensure that all aspects meet the HLAC certification requirements.
2. On-site evaluation
After the self-inspection is completed, HLAC will send an independent auditor to the organization for an on-site inspection. The auditor will check the laundry equipment, operating procedures, employee training, etc. one by one to ensure that each link meets the hygiene standards.
3. Continuous certification
HLAC certification is not a one-time completion. Every year, certified organizations need to be re-audited to ensure that they continue to comply with hygiene standards. If the organization does not meet the requirements during the annual inspection, its certification may be revoked.

As global hygiene standards continue to improve, the future prospects of HLAC certification are bright.
Emerging technologies such as automated washing equipment and green disinfectants are expected to further improve the cleaning standards of medical textiles, and will continue to play a leading role in the application of new technologies.
In addition, the frequent occurrence of global public health events has prompted medical institutions to pay more attention to the cleaning and disinfection of textiles, and the importance of HLAC certification will continue to increase.