I work in a school as a custodian. I just started in this position recently, so I am still learning and school has not started yet. We have a washer & dryer for cleaning rags, mops, whatever we use to clean the school.
There is only one other washer & dryer in the school & it's for the cafeteria.
The school nurse asked me to wash some donated clothes that are kept in the office for kids who need a change of clothes for various reasons. I didn't really think twice, it made sense that I would help with that as she should not be expected to bring those clothes home to wash.
We just washed some classroom seat covers recently too, so I figured the washer could be used for anything in the school as long as it is no one's personal items.
But today I got told by my boss to /never/ do that again, everyone needs to bring whatever they need washed to their house. Their reasoning is that sometimes we wash rags that were used to clean bodily fluids.
This does not make sense to me. I wouldn't mix gross rags with clothes. We also wash rags that are used to clean the tables kids eat on. Should we not do that then???
If non custodial staff needs to bring work items home to wash they should be getting paid for their time and resources. I don't understand the logic behind not allowing them to use the washer and dryer.