ROSWELL, Ga., Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In a survey released today by Kimberly-Clark Professional, nearly four in five manufacturing workers agreed that shop towels should be banned if they are not 100 percent-free of hazardous materials after laundering. The survey exclusively targets production floor employees, and is representative of the millions of U.S. manufacturing workers who use shop towels every day, in industries such as automotive, aviation, printing, food and beverage processing, as well as metals and equipment manufacturing. Harris Interactive conducted the survey online on Kimberly-Clark Professional's behalf from November 8 to 22, 2011, and it reflects responses from 263 U.S. manufacturing workers who spend at least 50 percent of their time on the production floor.
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The results show that once the potential contamination risks of laundered shop towels are known, workers have near-universal agreement on the need to seriously address the issue. However, worker knowledge is limited, with only 44 percent of workers citing awareness of an exposure risk after shop towels are laundered.
"This survey demonstrates an urgent need to further educate manufacturing workers about shop towel safety issues," said Kim MacDougall, research scientist at Kimberly-Clark Professional. "Workers care deeply about their safety, and overwhelmingly express that shop towels delivered as clean should be free of any residual contaminants. Once fully informed of the safety issues surrounding shop towel contamination, workers will demand that these unnecessary risks be addressed in their workplace."
In a 2011 study conducted by Gradient, an environmental and risk science consulting firm, which was sponsored by Kimberly-Clark Professional, toxic heavy metal residues were found on 100 percent of the laundered shop towels that were tested. Shop towels are routinely used in manufacturing to wipe machines, parts and equipment, then washed by industrial launderers for re-use at multiple facilities. Residues retained on shop towels after laundering could pose a long-term health risk to workers who handle the towels daily.
In the Harris Interactive survey, if metals retained on laundered shop towels could result in workplace exposures exceeding toxicity exposure guidelines, workers would take the following actions:
- 93 percent would take greater safety precautions.
- 87 percent would ask for a safer alternative.