Hazards are potential sources of harm and/or adverse health effects on people. Health care facilities are filled with them. These include biological, chemical, physical, safety, ergonomic, and psychosocial hazards. These need to be controlled if healthcare facilities are to be safe and properly functional.

Hazards in healthcare facilities are a risk to healthcare workers, patients, and even those who escort patients to hospitals and clinics. For a clearer picture, here are some of the hazards associated with healthcare facilities:

Viruses and bacteria that can cause serious health issues
Chemicals and harmful substances that can cause health and physical impacts like blindness, respiratory system irritation, and skin irritation
Safety hazards like noise, radiation, heights, and pressure
Workplace violence, sexual harassment, stress, and victimization which my lead to mental health problems.

It’s important to take measures to prevent hazards in healthcare facilities. This will help to protect the wellbeing of staff and patients. The facility will also avoid unnecessary lawsuits this way. Here’s a list of ways to control hazards in healthcare facilities:

It’s important to take measures to prevent hazards in healthcare facilities. This will help to protect the wellbeing of staff and patients.

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Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Effectively

Personal protective equipment goes a long way in protecting staff as well as patients. It includes gloves, protective clothing, helmets, face shields, goggles, face masks, and respirators. It prevents viral and bacterial contaminants from touching the skin, eyes, nose, and mouth of healthcare practitioners.

Healthcare practitioners need different levels of PPE depending on the level of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. For example, a dentist only needs gloves to perform routine teeth cleaning on a patient. For a surgical procedure, surgical gloves are required. It’s important for every healthcare worker to be educated accordingly as to what, when, and how to wear PPE.

Also, proper use of PPE by healthcare practitioners will also protect their patients. It’s easy for healthcare practitioners to spread infectious diseases from one patient to the next if they don’t put on the appropriate PPE when handling many patients at a time. Disposable PPE should be disposed of appropriately and should never be used on more than one patient.

Apply Administrative Controls

Administrative controls involve adopting standard workplace practices. After identifying the best practices for your healthcare facility, staff can undergo the proper training to measure up. this usually involves safe work practices like proper use and disposal of PPE, safe injection methods, and how to handle patients with disabilities, to mention a few.

The hospital administration may also put in place a rule wherein only persons with permits in their field can be employed. This will go a long way in eliminating fraud. Some people may fake qualifications, putting lots of patients’ lives at risk.

Administrative controls also work to control conduct issues like sexual harassment, fights, and theft. Theft is especially dominant in developing countries where staff steal medicines meant for patients to sell them at black market rate. As a result, patients may not get their required doses of medicine, putting their lives at risk.

Eliminate Hazards

Chemicals and harmful substances are dangerous to healthcare workers and patients. For example, during renovations and construction, lead, mercury, PVC, and flame retardants can put people at risk for respiratory infections. It’s wise to make provision for hospital beds away from chemical exposure for the safety of patients and workers.

Also, getting input from staff during planning stages may help healthcare facilities save resources in the future. This is because frontline workers are better equipped to identify hazards before they arise. The importance of engaging health and safety professionals to incorporate safety measures can’t be stressed enough.

Substitute Hazards With A Lesser Risk

Harmful substances used in healthcare facilities can be hard to completely get rid of. However, whenever possible, it’s wise to replace them with something less harmful. For example, when it comes to laboratory research, toluene is now the preferred substitute for benzene. While benzene and toluene have similar solvent properties, toluene is less toxic.

Isolate The Hazard

It’s important to isolate any harmful substance or dangerous chemical in healthcare facilities, especially from patients. To achieve this, you can lock harmful substances away under strict controls. You can also restrict access to equipment and only allow those who are trained to use it to have access.

Make use of fume cupboards to isolate flammable chemicals from patients. Noisy equipment may also be placed in non-accessible enclosures to isolate hazard from patients. Noise my cause sleep deprivation, increased blood pressure, and increased heart rate and vasoconstriction to patients. Likewise, it may lead to irritability and decreased concentration in staff.

Disinfect Medical Equipment

Medical equipment should be kept clean and sterilized at all times. This will ensure the safety of patients and medical healthcare practitioners from possible spread of diseases. Sterilizing equipment eliminates pus, blood, and dirt that could infect the next patient.

Install Proper Lighting And Floors

Use non-slip mats for areas with continually greasy and wet floors. Also, replace tiles that are loose and out of place as well as curled or ripped mats to keep work areas uncluttered. When it comes to lighting, use natural lighting when possible. When you use artificial lighting, make sure it provides sufficient illumination. This will help reduce slips, trips, and falls.

Conclusion

Healthcare facilities have a lot of hazards that are threats to healthcare workers and patients every single minute. Necessary precautions and care should be taken to control and prevent these hazards. Facilities should also ensure that every healthcare practitioner in their employ practice these tips without fail. This will better equip practitioners to protect themselves and their patients from all sorts of harm.