Up In Flames - Salon Interiors, Inc

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122 DAYSPA
June 2008
Up inFlames
By Andrea Renskoff
and set up
Is your laundry room a fire hazard? Here’s how to assess your risk
up in smoke.
protocols to prevent your property—and profits—from going
© istockphoto.com
I
n April 2006, Bruce Schoenberg and his family
were on their way to a relaxing vacation in the
Cayman Islands. When they touched ground in
Miami from New York City to change planes,
the co-owner of Oasis Day Spa (oasisdayspanyc.
com) noticed several messages on his cell phone from
his landlord and insurance company. The laundry
room in one of his spas, located in a Manhattan walkup in Union Square, caught fire during the night and
destroyed the facility.
The damage was so extensive that the spa was
declared a total loss. Schoenberg flew home immediately. “When I saw the extent of the smoke and water
damage, I knew I was dead,” he recalls. “I figured we’d
have to gut it and start over.”
The fire had raged through hallways and into
treatment rooms, ravaging inventory, equipment,
furniture and décor. In his heart, Schoenberg knew
the Union Square location would probably never
recover. “I was overwhelmed,” he says. “I had
other locations, but I had a staff here. That was
the first thing I thought of.” As he predicted, his
landlord used a disaster provision within the lease
to terminate their agreement. “That was the end,”
Schoenberg says. “We moved to another location.”
Clean towels, linens and robes are a big part of the
hygiene and luxury of the spa experience. Due to the
volume, Schoenberg’s spas have most of their laundry
done off the premises. However, he pays a hefty price
for the convenience. “I spend six figures a year on
laundry,” he says.
For this reason, many spas launder their own linens
and garments. If they’re unable to afford a housekeeping
staff dedicated to the chore, spa attendants, estheticians and management often coordinate marathon
laundry efforts. “We do it continuously from morning
to night,” says Bella Schneider, who lost one of her
LaBelle Day Spas and Salons (labelledayspas.com) in
a February 2007 fire. The Palo Alto (California) Fire
Department was unable to determine the cause. “It
originated in the laundry room,” Schneider says. “After
the fire, we had to demolish our spa because of smoke
damage.” The financial toll exceeded $600,000.
The U.S. Fire Admi nistra tion (usfa. dhs.go v)
reports an average of 15,600 commercial and residential laundry fires each year, resulting in 15 deaths and
400 injuries. The official cause of the Oasis fire was
undetermined, but the outcome was devastating. It
cost Schoenberg $500,000 in property damage, and
several hundred thousand more in lost business.
“Chances are, you’re never going to recoup customers
or your great lease price,” he says.
An alarming number of day spa laundry rooms
across the country have hidden fire hazard risks. In
fact, a recent survey of business owners by DAYSPA
revealed that 10% of those who do their washables
in-house have suffered a laundry room fire (see
“Coming Clean,” page 126). All were caused by
dryer lint screen/vent problems, or the spontaneous
combustion of garments and linens due to a highly
flammable combination of massage oil residue and
dryer heat. However, recognizing potential problems
before they occur, and establishing proper washing
and drying procedures, considerably minimize your
chances of being taken to the cleaners by a businessbusting blaze.
June 2008
dayspamagazine.com
Reproduced with permission from DAYSPA magazine. © 2008 by Creative Age Publications. All rights reserved.
123
Dirty Laundry
Spa laundry typically consists of towels, robes and
linens soiled with oils, scrubs, lotions and chemicals
used during treatments. Most of these substances are
highly flammable, making spa laundry much more
hazardous than the average domestic load. While
fires usually start with a particular source of ignition, such as a lit cigarette, chemical substances can
cause spontaneous combustion. This means the fire
is created without an outside source of ignition.
Substances such as oil can oxidize, which
causes them to release heat. If the chemical’s oxidized heat becomes hot enough and has no way
to escape, spontaneous combustion can occur.
Small amounts of oil left on towels inside a hot
dryer provide an ideal environment for this to
take place.
This was the cause of two incidents at Evo
Spa (evo-spa.com) in Mill Valley, California, in
February 2007. The first time, a load of laundry
had been left in the dryer overnight. When the
staff arrived the next morning, the laundry room
was filled with smoke. The fire department concluded that oil residue combusted due to trapped
heat and lack of circulation in the dryer.
Owner Gail Ann couldn’t believe it. “I’ve been
in business for 30 years and nothing like that had
ever happened,” she says.
Even more shocking was that another incident
occurred two days later. Since the spa was short
124 DAYSPA
June 2008
Safety First
Proper care and handling of laundry requ
ires
careful analysis of your current appliance
s. Miele
Professional (miele-professional.com), whic
h
manufactures and services commercial equip
ment,
offers six tips:
1. Make sure your washer and dryer can
accommodate your needs. Consider usage,
and
choose a wash program appropriate for the
soils that
contaminate your laundry. Look for one that
offers
high-temperature washing, and ample agita
tion
and rinsing.
2. Make sure appliances are installed and
grounded
by a qualified technician. Do a maintenan
ce check
on the heating elements, drum interiors and
ventilation fans.
3. Clean lint filters at least once a day. Chec
k
manufacturers’ recommendations for main
tenance.
Some machines have lint-cleaning indicator
lights. If
a filter is damaged, replace it.
4. Laundry that’s greasy or has been satur
ated with
other residues shouldn’t be placed in the
dryer.
5. Choose a soft-mount washer, which extra
cts more
water and reduces time spent in the drye
r.
6. Select a dryer with residual moisture senso
rs
instead of a timed dry to reduce drying perio
ds.
one dryer due to the first fire, Evo’s staff took
surplus laundry to a laundromat. When workers brought back the robes, linens and towels in
plastic bags, they left them sitting in the laundry
room. Spontaneous combustion took place again,
and smoke permeated the entire spa, forcing Ann
to close for a day.
“My insurance company had to send in a crew
with special blowers to get rid of the smoke,” she
says. “It was a huge cleanup.”
Following the incidents, Ann carefully analyzed her business operation. Did she add any
new services that had increased the volume of
her laundry? Had business changed in a way that
would have affected laundry? Were any alterations
made in laundry procedures or to the room itself
that could be responsible for the fires? No matter
how many ways she mulled it over, the answer was
a resounding “no.” Nothing pointed to the reason
for these outbreaks.
Despite a spa’s best laundering efforts, traces of
oil and other product residue sometimes remain
on garments and linens. “If they’re not properly
removed during the wash process and remain on
fabrics while drying, fire potential is elevated,”
says Celeste Kopyscianski, product manager at
Miele Professional (miele-professional.com), a
“In massage rooms, we’ve
switched from linen to thicker
sheets. We now use flannel,
which takes more time to
heat and absorb oil. Drying
takes longer, but the sheets
don’t heat as fast.”
Bella Schneider, Founder/CEO
5 Star Formulators
LaBelle Day Spas and Salons
San Francisco, Stanford and
Palo Alto, California
commercial laundry equipment manufacturer.
Chemical interactions can be a factor as well.
“If a towel soaked in acetone nail polish remover
comes in contact with a towel soaked in hydrogen
peroxide, it could cause spontaneous combustion,”
Kopyscianski says.
For oils to be removed during the wash cycle,
they need to undergo a chemical change that
breaks them up and releases them from the fabric.
“Spa laundry should be washed with a mild detergent that contains enzymes to lift residue,” says
Dale Cooper, vice president of strategic sales for
textile manufacturer Peacock Alley (peacockalley.
com), which supplies many hotels and spas with
linens. “Bleach, liquid softeners and dryer sheets
leave residue, so they shouldn’t be used.”
Another concern is soiled laundry that sits
around before it’s washed. “Stains and oils are
harder to lift out if left to set and
penetrate fabric,” Cooper says.
“But my guess is that dryers are
being run at too high a temperature. Gas dryers especially can get
way too hot.”
While a hot wash cycle helps
remove oil, an extra-hot dry
cycle heats any leftover residue
to dangerous temperatures. “So
much about spontaneous combustion is unknown,” says Amy
Beasley Spencer, senior chemical
engineer for the National Fire
Protection Association (nfpa.org).
“Every liquid chemical has a flash
point—the temperature at which
it’ll ignite. The lower the flash
point, the lower the temperature
needed for ignition. Employers
are required by the Occupational
A laundry room fire forced the closure of the Palo Alto, California, location of LaBelle Day
Safety and Health Administration
Spas and Salons last year. In the Palo Alto Daily News, the local fire department incorrectly
(osha.gov) to provide a Material
estimated the damage to be $35,000. The financial toll actually exceeded $600,000.
Reproduced with permission from DAYSPA magazine. © 2008 by Creative Age Publications.
All rights reserved.
June 2008
dayspamagazine.com
125
Coming Clean
12%
08
5% 9%
07
06
0
10
Outsourced
Other
In-house &
outsourced
If your washables are done in-house, have you
experienced a laundry-related fire?
90%
No
10%
Yes
If you’ve had a laundry-related
fire, what was the cause?
75%
Dryer lint screen/
vent problems
20
At many spas, laundry is done around the clock to keep
up with treatment room demands. Linens, towels and
robes are often laundered during off hours. Closing staff
may run one last load before going home. If the first
signs of combustion take place at night when no one is
present, smoke and flames can get out of control.
30
40
25%
Spontaneous
combustion
50
June 2008 Reproduced with permission from DAYSPA magazine. © 2008 by Creative Age Publications. All rights reserved.
60
0
126 DAYSPA
74%
In-house
06
05
04
03
02
01
10
0
Tired Dryers
Where is your laundry done?
05
04
03
02
01
0
Safety Data Sheet, which contains hazard information, including the product’s flash point.” And
since oil can potentially be flammable, it’s best to
dry at lower temperatures, she adds.
Others learned this lesson the hard way.
“We had three fires in a single year caused by
spontaneous combustion,” says Douglas Preston,
president of Preston, Inc. (prestoninc.net),
consultant, private label skincare manufacturer
and educator. “We switched to a different oil and
began to store towels in a special bin, and the
problem ceased.”
Whether one oil over another would pose a greater risk is up for debate. Many are marketed as water
soluble, suggesting that they’re easier to remove from
fabrics. “Water dispersants are added to most of these
oils,” says Jean Shea, founder and CEO of Biotone
(biotone.com), manufacturer of massage products.
“The problem isn’t unique to the spa industry. All
industries that use linens exposed to oils, such as the
cooking industry, have this potential—no matter
what oil is being used.”
All oils are flammable but essential oils pose a
higher risk. In fact, they’re often imported and exported by sea because they’re considered too hazardous to
be flown. Although generally used in small amounts,
a little might be all it takes to pose a fire risk. “In the
essential oils trade, we store rags and absorbent paper
used to mop up spills in metal bins away from combustible sources,” says Tony Burfield, co-founder of
Cropwatch (cropwatch.org), an independent watchdog group for endangered and vulnerable natural aromatic products used in the aroma, herbal, traditional
medicine and phytochemical industries. “Every night,
we empty them into an outside covered container.”
Other industry experts point out that diluted
essential oils are far less hazardous than undiluted. “I
don’t think it’s fair to blame spa fires on essential oils,
which if used properly at 2% to 5% are entirely safe,”
says Sylla Sheppard-Hanger, chair of the National
Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (naha.org).
“However, undiluted oils are another issue.”
50
40
30
60 Do you currently have laundry room procedures?
20
50
10
50%
0
40
30
20
“Home Depot posts signs in
their dryer section warning
consumers to clean lint
screens to avoid fires. I’ve also
known dryer sheets to cling
to the recirculating vent inside
the drum of the dryer, which
causes the motor to heat
excessively and potentially
start a fire.”
Jennifer Hochell, regional director
National Association for Holistic
Aromatherapy
Spokane, Washington
36%
14%
Owner Angela Black remembers the phone call
she received from the cleaning lady who arrived
one morning in January 2006. The front windows
of her bnatural Salon & Day Spa (bnaturalvillage.
0
No
Draft
in
com) in Bowie, Maryland, were shattered. “She
Yes
progress
thought a burglar had kicked in the glass, but it was
the fire department,” Black says.
80
The day spa was in shambles. The fire chief
Do you conduct regular fire drills?
declared that spontaneous combustion had
70
resulted from laundry left overnight in the dryer.
“I was in a trance as I walked around looking at
72%
60
everything,” Black recalls. “Nothing prepares
you for it. The fire was contained to one room,
50
but the sprinkler system caused water damage
throughout the spa.
“I was in denial,” she adds. “I told myself we’d
40
only be closed for three weeks, but we didn’t reopen
for eight months. It happened right after Christmas,
30
so I had to turn away hundreds of appointments
from people who wanted to use gift certificates.”
20
As part of the rebuilding process, Black purchased
a high-quality washer and dryer. While
14%
14%
10
a small spa might use machines intended for
residential use, others may invest in commercial
0
equipment. “We use residential equipment, but we
No
Yes
Plan in
installed additional electrical wiring,” Black says.
progress
“Residential dryers work properly if you folAbout This Survey
low the directions for capacity,” Peacock Alley’s
Responses are from an online survey of 270 day spa
Cooper adds. “Keep lint buildup under control and
professionals nationwide, conducted by DAYSPA in April 2008.
know how the dryer is vented.”
Fire experts warn that lint
buildup can trap heat inside a
dryer. If vents get blocked or
lint screens become clogged,
exhaust might not be escaping.
No one can predict a fire. Protect your staff and spa by:
The U.S. Consumer Product
1. Maintaining a good inventory, so you can itemize damage.
Safety Commission (cpsc.gov)
2. Having workers’ compensation insurance. If employees are hurt or
recommends cleaning the lint
injured and you don’t have it, expect fines from the state.
screen before or after drying
3. Checking to see that your general liability policy provides proper
each load, clearing the exhaust
coverage should a client be hurt or injured.
ducts regularly, and checking the
vent while the dryer is running to
Source: Darryl Stevens, president, Marine Agency Corporation
10
Preparing for the Worst
June 2008
dayspamagazine.com
127
ensure that air is flowing properly (see “Heated
Issue,” page 130). It also suggests replacing
plastic or foil, accordion-type ducting material,
which can kink or crush, with metal ducting to
increase airflow.
Checking behind the dryer, and having the
interior of the machine cleaned and serviced
regularly can also prevent buildup that’s not visible to the eye. For more information on professional dryer maintenance tips, see “Safety First,”
page 124.
It’s not only vents and ducts that need ongoing maintenance. “Coils and motors should be
cleaned regularly by professionals,” says Darryl
Stevens, president of Marine Agency Corporation
(marineagency.com), an insurance company that
serves many spas. He adds that oil residue and
“I find it more economical to
send laundry to a service. I don’t
have to worry about the electrical
expense, and I provide all the
detergent, dryer sheets and bags
for assembling. I’ve actually saved
money this way.”
Thomas Bogle, owner
Hands On Therapeutic Massage & Spa
Las Vegas
electrical problems caused the fires his clients
reported. “We had a spa in Brooklyn, New York,
that had three fires within a couple of weeks
because of oil on towels. One of them was a case of
hot, folded towels that were sitting on the counter.
You can’t leave laundry unattended.”
Rising From the Ashes
Putting the pieces back together after a fire can be an
unimaginable challenge. A day spa owner who wants
to expedite the cleanup and rebuilding process may
face frustrating delays. “Nobody prepares you for how
long it takes, and all the back and forth with your
insurance company,” bnatural’s Black says. “It took
us three weeks just to approve a contractor.”
The sudden depletion of revenue hurts your
bottom line, but the loss of regular customers and
staff can be even more devastating. “Customers
who consistently came in for hair and nail services were finding somewhere else to go,” Black
128 DAYSPA
Laundr y Room
Protocol Tips
Bruce and Marti Schoenberg, co-owners of
Oasis Day
Spa in New York City, created the following
procedures
to handle laundry safely.
1. Don’t mix contents of
loads. Wash robes and
towels separately. Don’t
mix light and dark towels
in the wash.
2. Dry similar items
together (e.g., towels with
towels and robes with
Bruce and Marti Schoenberg
robes). This will facilitate
quicker drying times.
Don’t overstuff the dryer. Items must be
able to tumble
freely.
3. After removing items from the dryer, fold
robes and
bath towels neatly into thirds.
4. Restock treatment and locker rooms, and
linen
closets as necessary.
5. Clean lint from the dryer filter prior to
each use and
empty the water filter in the washers.
6. Only wash the amount of laundry you’l
l be able
to dry in the same day. Don’t pile wet laund
ered
items. Hanging laundry over heaters and
radiators is
prohibited.
7. Allow towels to cool before folding and
placing in
closets, as hot ones can be a fire hazard.
8. If laundry begins to pile up, you may need
to visit a
laundromat to catch up.
9. Before leaving for the evening, turn off
dryers and
open doors to release heat.
10. Under no circumstances should laund
ry be left in
any machine overnight.
says. She was only able to retain one employee
who worked from home while the spa was
being rebuilt; the others had to find new jobs.
Fortunately, when she was ready to reopen, her
key employees returned.
Given that Oasis had multiple locations, only
one employee was let go after its Union Square
fire. The others were absorbed into the remaining locations, because existing staff voluntarily
gave up shifts.
While nobody expects a fire or other catastrophe
June 2008 Reproduced with permission from DAYSPA magazine. © 2008 by Creative Age Publications. All rights reserved.
Towels should be promptly removed from dryers and folded as shown
above at LaBelle Day Spas and Salons. At A Touch of Bliss Day Spa (right),
a bamboo curtain allows warm air in the laundry room to circulate.
to strike, laundry protocols and procedures help
reduce your risk. Spa owners usually learn how to
implement them from their previous workplaces
or experiences at home, which may perpetuate
bad habits. Some businesses turn to consultants to
design a laundry protocol. When opening a new
spa, owners may look to interior designers and
architects to set up a safe and functional laundry
room. Other spas have no protocols at all, which
means whoever is available starts a load that
someone else may finish.
The spa industry has no official guidelines to
address the problem yet. “We’ve never given a
workshop,” says Hannelore Leavy, executive director of the Day Spa Association (dayspaassociation.
com). “The only person I can think of who might
offer one is an insurance broker.” The International
Spa Association (experienceispa.com) also suggests
turning to an insurance company. Although Marine
Agency’s Stevens doesn’t recall any workshops being
offered in the insurance industry, he says agents are
happy to help out, as are local fire departments.
A dryer fire at a hotel in Kentucky prompted
a University of Houston study in loss prevention.
The report, published by the university’s Loss
Prevention Management Institute in 2004, recommended that training and operating procedures be
carefully defined for employees. Workers shouldn’t
adjust the settings on washers and dryers, or interrupt a machine’s cycle due to schedule demands.
“You can’t rush a wash cycle,” Cooper says, “nor
should you stop and start the dryer mid-cycle.
Only leave the dryer on for as long as it takes to
dry the towels, and don’t overload it.”
Handling of soiled and freshly laundered loads
should also be standardized. “We now wash sheets
and towels within hours of them being used,” Evo
Spa’s Ann says. Some spas store soiled laundry
in metal hazardous-chemical drums, cloth rolling carts, or straw or plastic laundry baskets.
Others have baskets or hampers in treatment
rooms, which may be emptied throughout the day,
or have attendants remove used towels, linens
and robes to a laundry room after every service.
Laundry being sent to and returning from a service
requires the same attention.
In Schoenberg’s case at Oasis, laundry perils
continued to plague him after his Union Square fire.
Smoke and water damage closed down another location for a day after a robe belt got caught in a dryer
mechanism. In another episode, freshly laundered
towels contained in a storage cabinet began to combust and smoke. Each of these incidents gave birth
“I use coconut oil for my massages, which is waterdispersible and doesn’t stain linens. When linens
become too saturated with oils, they get thrown
away. I also use medium heat rather than high,
which keeps things a little cooler and prevents
damage to more delicate
linens. I use the ‘max
extract’ setting on the
spin cycle in the washer.
Loads are less saturated
with water, which
reduces drying time.”
Colette Fontana, owner
A Touch of Bliss Day Spa
Clearwater, Florida
June 2008
dayspamagazine.com
129
Heated Issue
Ways to prevent overheated dryers from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
to refinements in thorough and
carefully executed guidelines for his
Inspect and
staff (see “Laundry Room Protocol
Use rigid or corrugated
remove blockages
Tips,” page 128).
semi-rigid ducting material.
in the dryer vent
“We have specific procedures for
or exhaust path.
daily, weekly and monthly maintenance of equipment plus service
Clean lint filter
contracts with professionals,”
before or after
Schoenberg says. “We have strict
Exhaust Air
each load.
policies in the laundry room, including measuring the detergent and
letting hot laundry cool down.”
Prompt removal of laundry
from the dryer may be the single
greatest safeguard against spontaneous combustion fires, industry
experts reveal. “When the laundry
is finished, it’s quickly removed,
folded and put away,” LaBelle’s
Schneider says. “Nothing is left in
dryers or bins. Piling-up of laundry isn’t permitted.”
Schneider established several
Take special care in washing and drying clothes soiled by
procedures
for her housekeeping
gasoline, cooking oils, finishing oils or other stains.
staff, and she requires strict adherHave the interior of the dryer chassis cleaned periodically
ence. Instructions include: “Ensure
by a qualified service provider.
all dirty laundry is free from saturated product residue (rinse with
Keep the area around the dryer free of clutter.
cold water if needed)” and “Clean
out dryer lint compartments after
each load is completed, and at closing each night.
Lint screens and compartments should be rinsed and
vacuumed before excess lint dust has accumulated.”
Her laundry is also organized by towels, linens, wraps
If you have questions or need additional advice
about this issue, email the industry experts cited in
and robes, and washed and dried separately.
this article.
Other day spa owners closely monitor air quality. “My
laundry
room isn’t vented to the outside, so I keep the door
Gail Ann [email protected]
open
while
drying to prevent overheating and humidity
l.com
bnaturalvillage@ao
Black
Angela
problems,” says Colette Fontana, owner of A Touch of
Thomas Bogle [email protected]
Tony Burfield [email protected]
Bliss Day Spa (atouchofbliss.com) in Clearwater, Florida.
Dale Cooper [email protected]
“I’ve installed a bamboo curtain that keeps the laundry
Colette Fontana [email protected]
room private but allows air to circulate.”
Jennifer Hochell [email protected]
In addition, regular fire drills should be mandatory.
Celeste Kopyscianski [email protected]
Make
sure employees are aware of all emergency exits
Hannelore Leavy [email protected]
and
posted
regulations, such as smoking prohibitions.
Douglas Preston [email protected]
“As
a
leader,
how are you going to respond to a disasBella Schneider [email protected]
ter?”
Oasis’
Schoenberg
asks. “I always ask myself,
Bruce Schoenberg [email protected]
‘What
could
go
wrong?’”
Jean Shea [email protected]
Sylla Sheppard-Hangar [email protected]
Amy Beasley Spencer [email protected]
Darryl Stevens [email protected]
130 DAYSPA
•
Andrea Renskoff is a DAYSPA contributing editor based in
Los Angeles. Email her at [email protected].
June 2008 Reproduced with permission from DAYSPA magazine. © 2008 by Creative Age Publications. All rights reserved.
Original Illustration courtesy U.S. Consumer Product
SAfety Commission, recreated by DAYSPA
E-Networking