Per the 2015 FDA guidelines, mattress manufacturers must validate their cleaning and disinfection procedures.23 This means that the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning and disinfection should be able to consistently produce a certain level of disinfection throughout the stated expected life of the product. However, that does not necessarily mean that following MIFUs for mattress reprocessing provides a 99.9999% reduction in pathogens, and unfortunately, bed manuals written prior to 2015 may not be updated to reflect processes that follow the guidelines. Manufacturers also test to ensure that the disinfectants they recommend will not significantly damage the mattress skin before reaching the expected life. Not all mattress fabrics are the same and can have vastly different expected lives. The stated expected life assumes the user is cleaning and disinfecting the mattress per the MIFUs. Therefore, chemicals recommended by the manufacturer could cause premature damage to your mattress if you fail to rinse after using the disinfectant or use a different process, greater concentrations, or longer contact times than recommended.17,18
FOLLOW-UP: Review the MIFU for all the different mattresses in your facility. Not all mattresses are the same. They can have different life expectancies depending on the composition of the polyurethane coating. Ask your mattress manufacturer for testing of the compatibility/efficacy of your facility disinfectant on each of your mattress models.