Employee safety is of paramount importance in workplaces. This is important for sensitive establishments such as medical institutions and laboratories. Considering that there is a considerable risk of exposure to contaminants, including pathogens, that can lead to additional complications, the administration and maintenance departments must be vigilant and strict in enforcing policies.
Cleanliness and safety protocols are a marker of good healthcare facilities. It shows that the administration is taking measures to ensure that everyone within the premises remains safe. It also indicates that the facility is professional in its operations.
Since cleanliness is the first thing one notices upon setting foot in a hospital, it is the administration’s most noticeable aspect of professionalism.
Healthcare workers are prone to injuries, infections, and hazards, yet they continue to work day and night to give the patients the care they need to recover and live healthily. They can be exposed to bloodborne and airborne diseases, including violence. It is only fair if the administrations of medical institutions treat them fairly and take measures to ensure their safety.
During the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare workers were on the frontlines dealing with emergencies and trying to save lives. Many doctors, nurses, and support staff were infected while performing their duties with limited access to protective gear. Regardless, they continued to perform their duties and went on to save lives.
This illustrated how vulnerable healthcare workers are to these dangers. Therefore, if you are working in the administration of a medical facility and are looking for ways to improve employee safety, this guide is for you.
These points will help you ensure that employees are safe from possible hazards. For professional training, you can also enroll in the best online occupational health and safety degree programs to make it big in the industry.
With that said, here are some tips to keep employees safe at medical institutions:
- Keep the workplace clean:
This usually goes without saying, considering that cleanliness is essential in hospitals. It is the first line of defense against pathogens and is usually the first indicator of a hospital administration’s professionalism.
However, there are many medical institutions in the world where cleanliness is ignored. This leads to the medical facility becoming a hotbed for diseases, putting employees and patients at risk and visitors.
Therefore, if you are working in the medical facility’s administration, this is one area you need to focus on to improve the safety of employees, patients, and visitors.
You can take several steps to improve cleanliness, which includes creating an environment that should be unfavorable for pathogens, thus reducing the chances of spreading from one host to another.
Make hand sanitizers readily available alongside sign boards urging people to use them frequently. Restrict access to sensitive areas and have all people inside those places wear face masks.
Moreover, you need to give proper gear to cleaning staff to have them clean all areas promptly, especially the floor and the handles. There are various other similar measures you can take to ensure cleanliness.
- Provide fire safety:
Another critical aspect of workplace safety in medical institutions is fire safety. While this generally applies to all workplaces across the globe, it is all the more significant in medical institutions.
Human life is of utmost importance in workplaces because those working within the premises silently leave the responsibility of protection from hazards to the administration managing the matters there. Therefore, the administration must ensure that the people are safe when an emergency emerges.
Fire safety is one aspect of this silent agreement and should be regarded with the utmost seriousness.
In medical institutions, the patients are there to seek treatment for their health conditions. Moreover, the doctors, nurses, and other staff members are constantly engaged in providing them with the right services.
However, a critical aspect of this situation is that if a fire breaks down, healthy people might still be able to find an exit, whereas those who are sick may not be able to do the same. So, when staff members stop and help in an emergency, it risks the staff and the patient.
Therefore, the administration must ensure an infrastructure to protect human lives in a fire emergency.
- Be careful with sharp objects:
Doctors and nurses have sensitive jobs, requiring them to work close to the patients. This means that there are more chances of them being infected. There are also risks of injuries with scalpels and needles to those giving care to patients, which can lead to injuries and rapid infections and could pose threats to their lives as well.
Therefore, caution must be exercised in this regard as well. The staff members need to be trained to be cautious with sharp objects while dealing with them.
There are various ways to do this. Staff members should be trained to avoid recapping needles with their bare hands and dispose of them immediately after use. Moreover, they should be told to use tools to remove arrows from syringes.
Furthermore, they should be instructed on handling needles, such as pointing them away from themselves while holding them and keeping an eye on them while they’re uncapped. While many professional doctors and health workers would be accustomed to these safety protocols, they should be given reminders to ensure compliance.
Conclusion:
While there are various ways to ensure the safety of employees in medical institutions, this article has limited it to a few points. You can continue researching this area or opt for the degree mentioned earlier if you need professional training.
However, we would still like to give you one bonus tip before we conclude this article. You need to handle your staff efficiently if you are an administrator at a medical facility. This is important because people tend to make mistakes when they are overworked.
Therefore, you want to avoid this situation to minimize the chances of fatigue-related accidents. This can be done through efficient staff scheduling.
