Disinfecting textile equipment
Cleaning textile equipment seems simple at first sight. And yet, done badly, it can irreparably damage the webbing, the fibres and the plastic parts, or give a false impression of cleanliness without having removed very much at all.
Here is a complete overview of good practice, of the mistakes to avoid, and of a few emerging methods that are worth a closer look.
Read the instructions first
Every item of PPE has its own tolerances, whether to chemicals, to temperatures or to prolonged moisture. A harness, for example, is cleaned with water and mild soap, wiped with a dry cloth, and dried hanging in a ventilated room, away from any direct heat source. Metal parts, for their part, need to be wiped with a cloth lightly soaked in petroleum jelly oil. These are never generic recommendations, they are what the manufacturers prescribe, and departing from them has real consequences for the strength of the materials.
Hand washing
For the vast majority of textile equipment, nothing replaces hand washing. In lukewarm water between 30 °C and 35 °C, with a few minutes' immersion, then immediate rinsing. Excess water is removed without wringing the textile, and it is left to dry naturally.
Drying is precisely the stage that is often underestimated. Depending on the ambient humidity and the density of the textile, it may take far longer than expected. Rushing this step means going back out with damp equipment, and a silent degradation that sets in.
The mistakes to avoid
Here are the main mistakes to avoid
• High heat: from 65 °C onwards, machine washing can soften the webbing, deform the plastic keepers and damage the back plates. The textile takes on a different shape. The equipment is technically clean and functionally compromised.
• Aggressive disinfectant products: whether bleach, alcohol, hospital detergents or high-temperature thermal disinfection methods, none of these processes is suited to textile PPE, because they degrade the fibres and the plastic parts significantly, sometimes invisibly to the naked eye at first.
Quarantine
It is often overlooked, but when an item of equipment comes back from a use whose conditions are not fully under your control (a shared site, an exceptional loan, new equipment whose logistics history is unknown, and so on), leaving the equipment to rest for 48 to 72 hours in a ventilated room before any reuse is good practice. It costs you nothing, and it is easy to do.
Gaseous ozone: a method worth talking about
This is the least well-known approach, and yet the data is solid. Gaseous ozone acts as a virucide, bactericide, fungicide and odour eliminator without leaving any chemical residue on the equipment. Specialised disinfection cabinets make it possible to expose PPE to precise concentrations, up to 1,000 ppm × minute according to validated protocols.
Tests carried out on PPE subjected to 60 exposure cycles under these conditions showed no significant alteration of the materials. And the operational advantage is real: the equipment can be used immediately after treatment. No drying time, no residue.
One precaution is nevertheless essential: strict compliance with the recommendations of the generator's manufacturer, in particular to protect operators from any direct exposure to ozone.
Assign your equipment to a single person!
A harness is not something you lend out. Ideally, each item of PPE is assigned to a single user. Inevitably, this limits cross-contamination, simplifies wear monitoring, and makes it possible to spot an anomaly more quickly. In environments where equipment fleet management is taken seriously, this is not optional.
Visual inspection: the action that takes precedence over everything else
Whatever cleaning method is chosen, visual inspection by the user themselves is essential before each use. A frayed piece of webbing, a seam starting to give way, a karabiner that no longer catches as cleanly: these are signals that the cleanliness of the equipment will not change.
The instructions for use specify the inspection criteria to be complied with. If any doubt remains after the check, the equipment is not to be used.
Our commitment
At KRATOS SAFETY, we have been designing and manufacturing category 3 fall protection PPE since 2011: harnesses, lanyards, retractable fall arresters, anchor points and rescue equipment. Our KSTC training centre, our K-S.ONE application for the traceability of your equipment, and our after-sales service are all part of the same commitment: that every professional working at height goes home at the end of the day.
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