In a survey released by Kimberly-Clark Professional, nearly four in five manufacturing workers agreed that shop towels should be banned if they are not 100%-free of hazardous materials after laundering. The survey exclusively targets production floor employees 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 manufacturing workers in the US who spend at least 50% of their time on the production floor.
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% of workers citing awareness of an exposure risk after shop towels are laundered.