TRSA has launched a website, me.trsa.org, for its new Middle East Chapter. The site introduces linen, uniform and facility services in the region to TRSA programs that enable them to access TRSA’s expansive knowledge base of industry trends and best practices to improve efficiencies and market growth.
The Middle East endeavor is the association’s first chapter outside the United States. Launched with Dubai-based TRSA member Rent-A-Towel (RNT), the chapter’s initial activities will focus on certification and education. Thus, the site highlights certifications these operations can earn: Hygienically Clean (Food Safety, Food Service, Healthcare, Hospitality), Clean Green and Safety and Health. Also detailed are individual education/recognition programs, led by the Certified Professional Laundry Manager (CPLM), Hygienically Clean and Soil Sort courses and the Production Management certificate program. These programs for individuals are provided online.
Most laundry in the region is currently processed in on-premise laundries (OPLs) in hotels and hospitals. TRSA activities will guide chapter members in adapting techniques typical of larger-scale (outsourced) laundries that improve hygiene, maintain plant safety and health, conserve resources, and otherwise positively impact customers and employees as laundry operatio
ns evolve.
The site enables OPL operators to enroll staff as individual members and their organizations as general members. These are in addition to the two standard forms of TRSA membership for outsourced laundries and associate supplier partners. A student membership is available in the Middle East as well.
The chapter will operate in the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen.
TRSA President & CEO Joseph Ricci, CAE, said, “We look forward to learning the management priorities of the laundry management teams throughout the region and supporting their professional development. COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of our industry worldwide to sustainability: providing sufficient inventory levels of hygienically clean reusable textiles and reducing natural resource depletion through the most efficient laundry practices. TRSA is committed to advancing these causes globally.”
