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- Clean and dry clothing, bedding or furniture coverings
- Requires practical skills to operate and adjust machinery, and good attention to detail
- With experience, you could start your own laundry business
As a laundry worker, you'll use a keen eye for detail with knowledge of clothing and detergents in order to clean and launder materials.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Checking items before washing for damage or stains
- Using water and chemicals to remove stains before processing
- Sorting items according to colour, size and type of fabric
- Tagging items with barcodes or computer chips for easy identification
- Loading items into machines
- Adding cleaning agents and setting controls
- Finishing items by drying, pressing and folding
- Processing orders
- Sending out invoices and updating customer databases
- Delivering laundered items back to the customer
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
Part-time work is often available. You could work at a laundry, in a hotel, or in an NHS or private hospital. Your working environment may be physically demanding, humid and hot.
You'll need
To be a laundry worker, you'll need the ability to work well with your hands and have good co-ordination, patience in stressful situations, initiative, thoroughness and attention to detail, and the ability to work well with others.
There are no set requirements, so you can apply directly for jobs. Previous experience in dry-cleaning or commercial clothes pressing may give you an advantage, although many employers will often train you on the job.
You could get into this job through an intermediate apprenticeship for textile care operatives.
CAREER PROSPECTS
With experience you could progress to supervisor or manager, or even start your own laundry business.