Healthcare Setting Safety Assignment

Healthcare setting safety assignment
By
Nayna Parikh
MA275-Online Clinical Competencies II
Prof: Leon Deutsch
Kaplan University
February 02,2015

Health and safety in healthcare setting
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The health care sector is complex and covers a variety of professions and work places facing different occupational health hazards and associated health problems.
A hazard, in general, refers to anything with the potential to cause harm in terms of human injury or illhealth, damage to property, damage to the environment or a combination of chemical substances, machinery or methods of work.
The first step in safeguarding safety and health is to identify hazards and risk from materials, equipment, chemicals and work activities.
The employer is required
Fire and electrical equipment
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Fire prevention is a predominant issue in the safety, health and welfare of everyone working within healthcare setting. All staff must be aware of how to prevent fire and know the procedure for the safe evacuation of patients, visitors and staff if fire does break out. This means that an emergency plan must be available detailing what should be done in the case of an outbreak of fire. All staff must be trained in fire safety and regular testing of fire alarms and practice evacuations. Fire extinguishers, fire blankets, smoke alarms and sprinkler system should be fitted and tested frequently in accordance with legal requirements.
The most frequent elements that could contribute directly or indirectly to the start of a fire are: smoking outside of designated areas, faulty electrical wiring, faulty electrical equipment, poor housekeeping, heaters, flammable liquids, medical gases.

Infection
Infection control is the responsibility of everybody but staff working within healthcare setting must be aware of their responsibilities to educate patients and visitors. Hand washing is a simple procedure to control infection. Posters in each toilet and bathroom indicate the correct hand-washing techniques can help to prevent the acquisition and spread of infection. Hand should be washed before and after direct contact with patient, after contact with bodily fluid, before touching food, after using the toilet, following the removal of gloves.
The use of PPE is an essential element of infection prevention and control. PPE need to be worn to prevent contact with bodily fluids or when contact with broken skin or mucous membranes is likely. The types of
PPE used within healthcare setting is gloves (non-sterile and sterile) , mask, goggle, aprons or gowns.

Reference :

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Safety and Health Topics | Healthcare. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthcarefacilities/index.html