Running Head: WORKPLACE SAFETY INITIATIVE PROPOSAL Workplace Safety Initiative Proposal Maurice Boyd Rasmussen College 05/23/2016 1 WORKPLACE SAFETY INITIATIVE PROPOSAL Introduction Workplace safety is an essential issue that requires extensive research. The health and safety of individuals must be ensured and stated as a primary objective of healthcare organizations. There must be knowledgeable acquisition and use of resources in the workplace to ensure the safety of workers and other stakeholders in healthcare. Safety must be made a fundamental part of the organization since it is a major determinant of the quality assurance systems of the organization. Workplace safety policies form part of the regulatory requirements that must be met by organizations. The senior management along with the administrative staff has the responsibility of the development, implementation and the maintenance of the elements of the safety programs and risk management. The commitment to the safety programs must be supported by the risk management services to provide guidance and the technical expertise. Productivity and performance in organizations are always linked with the standards of health and safety in such organizations. It has become a pressure from different quarters as part of the requirements of the organization to link productivity and performance with health and safety programs. The organization sometimes incurs costs related to safety and health standards. Such costs have a direct or indirect impact to the productivity of the organization. OSHA standards require the efficient handling, storage, and the transportation of health care waste. The workplace safety initiative proposal is to recommend the use of Rolling Garbage Bins for safe waste disposal. Sound management of the healthcare waste must form a crucial component of the organizational health protection. 2 WORKPLACE SAFETY INITIATIVE PROPOSAL Rolling Garbage Bins as a safety consideration in healthcare settings for waste management Remarkably, health care services inevitably create waste that is hazardous to health. The waste that is produced carries potential for infection. Whenever waste is generated, use of the Rolling Garbage Bins is a safety consideration that the health management should recommend. Improper healthcare waste management results in environmental pollution while the infectious waste result in the transmission of pathogens. Use of the Rolling Garbage Bins helps in the appropriate handling, treatment, and the disposal of healthcare waste. It is the key in the reduction of costs and the protection of the public health. Bins are puncture proof and tamper proof. They are also fitted with covers to mark them as international infectious substances so that individuals can handle them with care. The Rolling Garbage Bins are enhanced with autoclaving for the sterilization of highly infectious waste. Some of the bins are leak-proof containers for handling cytotoxic healthcare waste. Rolling Garbage Bins ensures that there is correct segregation of healthcare waste and storage. They are secure and appropriately designed so as to accommodate the waste that is produced in the process of pursuing the aims of reducing health problems and the elimination of potential risks to people’s health. Use of Rolling Garbage Bins is a sure way to reduce the inadequate and inappropriate handling of healthcare waste which has severe public health consequences. Successful implementation of the use of Rolling Garbage Bins, both in the short-term and long-term, requires multisectoral cooperation and interaction from all the healthcare departments. Global generation and coordination of waste management policies must supplement the local 3 WORKPLACE SAFETY INITIATIVE PROPOSAL healthcare management policies. Personnel training also ensure that there is effective handling of waste. At the same time, raising public awareness through proper labelling is critical so as to avoid the contact of hazardous waste. Unsuccessful implementation of the proper use of Rolling Garbage Bins is as a result of the lack of proper awareness for the potential harm from healthcare wastes. The management has not been taking responsibility for the health care waste from their medical care and related activities. Inadequate resources are also the cause for unsuccessful implementation of the proper waste management practices. In most of the cases, there are inadequate resources to manage waste as well as the fact that waste management is delegated to the untrained and poorly educated workers. Therefore, they handle waste without proper guidance and the required protection practices. Proposed idea with expected benefits The management should enhance the use of the Rolling Garbage Bins for proper waste management. Rolling Garbage Bins form an essential component of healthcare waste management. The management responsible for healthcare waste management must conduct a walk-through of the healthcare facility so as to make assessments and identify the areas that result in waste. It will ensure that the management obtains an estimate of the types of healthcare waste and the anticipated quantities of the waste to be generated. The management will obtain sufficient information to identify the gap that needs to be filled with the use of the Rolling Garbage Bins. With the use of the Rolling Garbage Bins, it enhances the indiscriminate and erratic handling and disposal of the healthcare waste. Use of the bins is a proper healthcare waste 4 WORKPLACE SAFETY INITIATIVE PROPOSAL management and helps in the reduction of unnecessary health risks of healthcare waste. The long-term benefits include the enhancing of environmental conservation. Proper segregation and healthcare disposal is an incentive for environmental cleanliness. Roles and responsibilities of the involved stakeholders in proper healthcare waste management Healthcare organization’s top management is responsible for the formation of the healthcare waste management. He or she must designate the healthcare waste management officer (WMO) who will coordinate the proper management, treatment, and the discarding of the healthcare waste. The officer is responsible for the control of waste collection, monitoring of the on-site and off-site disposal of waste and the coordination of the disposal operations. The top management also ensures the efficient allocation of financial resources along with the required human resources for proper waste management. They also ensure that there is proper empowerment and training for the staff members involved in the waste management along with the awareness on the effects of improper waste management. The department management contributes to the training of the staff in their departments. He or she also contributes to the implementation of the correct procedures for the healthcare waste management. The department management also makes an assessment of the present situation of the waste management and carries out waste survey. Through this, the department management identifies the opportunities that are available for the minimization, reuse, and recycling. It is the duty of the department management to identify the waste management options for the healthcare waste. 5 WORKPLACE SAFETY INITIATIVE PROPOSAL The individual allied health employees are responsible for the courses of actions for healthcare waste management. For instance, the hospital manager is responsible for training nurses, medical assistants along with other ancillary staff for corrective procedures on healthcare waste management. On the other hand, the chief pharmacist is responsible for the safe management of cytotoxic wastes and the minimization of wastes in the pharmaceutical stores. The supply officer liaises with WMO to ensure that there is the continuous supply of the required Rolling Garbage Bins. For the hospital engineer, he or she installs and maintains the necessary storage facilities along with the handling equipment so as to ensure compliance with the OSHA standards. The infection control officer liaises with the WMO so as to give advice on the proper control of infections and standards related to the waste management and disposal. Conclusion In conclusion, workplace safety should form a fundamental part of every healthcare organization. It is for this reason that there is the workplace initiative proposal on the adoption of a waste management initiative to ensure that there is proper handling, treatment, and the disposal of health care waste. The management should enhance the use of Rolling Garbage Bins. Use of the Rolling Garbage Bins ensures the indiscriminate and erratic handling and disposal of the healthcare waste and helps in the reduction of unnecessary health risks of healthcare waste. The health care top management should coordinate efforts to ensure that the OSHA standards are adhered to on the handling of healthcare waste. 6 WORKPLACE SAFETY INITIATIVE PROPOSAL References Berwick, D. M., & Hackbarth, A. D. (2012). Eliminating waste in US health care. Jama, 307(14), 1513-1516. Nwachukwu, N. C., Orji, F. A., & Ugbogu, O. C. (2013). Health Care Waste Management– Public Health Benefits, and the Need for Effective Environmental Regulatory Surveillance in Federal Republic of Nigeria. Thakur, V., & Ramesh, A. (2015). Healthcare waste management research: A structured analysis and review (2005–2014). Waste Management & Research, 0734242X15594248. 7
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