Ensuring the effectiveness of Life-Saving Rules
While the healthcare environment is very much its own "thing," there are certain universal risks that can come into play in any workplace (some more than others, but it's important to embrace the universal). These fundamental risks include:
- Mobile equipment and driving safely
- Lifting operations
- Electrical safety
- Working from heights
- Confined space entry
- Geotechnical, ground control, and stability
- Hazardous materials and explosives
- Equipment safeguarding and barricading
- Lockout/tagout
These risks don't have to represent a "clear and present danger" to the folks working in your organization though. The Mosaic Company, an American chemical company, has prepared a booklet outlining some of the basic information concerning the Life-Saving Rules. I think you'll find it helpful to see that, to a fair degree, risks to be managed are risks to be managed.
The key piece of this is the extent to which certain elements are practiced in the environment:
- Safety and hazard awareness: knowing and understanding the risks
- Avoiding hazards: staying safe in your space
- General safety: the safety everyone knows and can practice
- Situation-specific safety: the safety that only comes into play in certain situations
- First aid and emergency response: effective response when something happens
As it should happen, dss+ (formerly Dupont Sustainable Solutions) is hosting a free webinar that focuses on effective and sustainable implementation of Life-Saving Rules on June 17. Again, healthcare is unique, but that doesn't mean that we can't learn from other industries when it comes to the "bottom line" of safety. A safer environment works for everyone, so if you have an hour on June 17, it might be worth your while to listen.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Chartis Group. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is an advisory board member for Accreditation and Quality Compliance Center. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.