If you provide work clothes for your employees, as an employer you are responsible for maintaining and cleaning them. Your organisation should wash the workwear itself or call in a specialised company to do so.

If employees could get dirty during their job, as an employer you should provide them with work clothes. Professions may include nurses, kitchen staff and workers in industry. On top of this, the repair, maintenance and timely replacement of work clothes are also the employer’s responsibility. You can do this either in your own organisation or you can outsource that task to a professional laundry company.

Even if the work could not be classified as dirty, as an employer you can choose to require an occupational uniform. This is often the case for employees at reception, for example. In this case, specific collective agreements and regulations apply. In this case, other collective agreements and regulations apply.​

Since 1 August 2023, it has been permissible to include in your collective agreement that employees - at the employer's expense - should cover the cleaning, repair and maintenance of their work clothes themselves. You have to meet some conditions to do so: 

• The risk analysis must show that maintaining work clothes does not pose a risk to the health of employees and that of others. 
• The prevention adviser and the committee advise in favour of personal maintenance.
• Employees are provided with clear instructions to carry out the cleaning, repair and maintenance of work clothes correctly and safely. 
• From 1 July 2024, stricter measures will apply for violations around workwear, such as failure to pay for delivery, maintenance or cleaning.

1. Give the washing instructions from the supplier to the laundry service employees. This clearly explains how best to maintain the workwear, without damaging the material. If you did not receive written instructions with the delivery, please ask for it specifically.

2. Regardless of who washes the work clothes (you, employees or a specialised company), only laundry detergents that reduce wear and tear on the clothes are recommended. They contain as few chemical substances as possible (perfumes, dyes, etc.). They can cause allergic reactions, such as an itchy rash or sneezing fit. If you treat the clothes with a disinfectant, this product must be approved in accordance with the Royal Decree of 8 May 2014.

3. Specific measures apply in certain sectors. This is the case, for example, in healthcare facilities. There, wet or humid textiles should never be left in a washing machine over night, and special attention should be paid to work clothes that have been stained with blood. Ask your prevention advisor about the rules for your organisation.

If workwear only serves to keep workers from getting dirty, the law does not consider this personal protective equipment. If a risk analysis shows that workwear must also protect employees from health risks, then the workwear does serve as personal protective equipment. The law then imposes other provisions, which you will find in Title 2 of Book IX of the Codex.