Dear Ministry of Health,

My request concerns the public safety requirements for sanitation equipment in registered premises such as cafes, restaurants and rest homes which are in place to limit the spread of disease through personal items such as dishes, cups and clothes that are washed in equipment that shares its operating space and cleaning or drying media such as water or air between the items.

Currently there is a requirement for premises of this type to have where appropriate installed dishwashing equipment that can maintain a regulated temperature for a regulated minimum period of time to ensure that pathogens that can be transmitted through water or air are killed to a reasonable degree to prevent the spread of disease through the use of common equipment that shares water or air in the course of sanitising the items.

Is there currently any similar requirement for clothes drying equipment used in registered premises to maintain a specific air temperature for a specific time period in order to prevent the spread of disease through clothing being washed in shared equipment using shared water supplies.

Yours faithfully,

Patrick Dunford