Every country and every hospital has its own systems and procedures catering to facility management and waste disposal. These facilities ensure the safe management and disposal of all chemical pollutants, biological contaminants and any chance of contracting infections due to poor management of the facilities. In all hospitals, there are health and safety measures. These procedures for environmental management in hospitals are discussed in this paper.
In Health and Safety, hospitals must ensure workers are not at risk of any health hazards when providing the necessary care and medical attention to patients. The United States Department of Labour states that more workers get injured in Healthcare facilities than any other industry. In response to this, every hospital has a comprehensive and proactive safety and health management system. It is comprised of the provision of various items such as latex gloves, fresh needles, anti-disinfectants and other materials that aid in health and safety. In addition, hospitals have provided adequate information and training on how to maintain health and safety within the hospitals. Proper sanitation measures have been taken to ensure the same. Hospital Management ensures and adequate supply of water in the hospital and functional sanitation facilities all over the hospital. In addition, the hospital should ensure the cleanliness of all facilities by employing skilled and knowledgeable cleaning parties (Charney, 2009).
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Environmental management also requires hospitals to enact proper anti-pollution measures. Hospitals are one of the largest consumers of chemical and biological matter and also one of the largest Organizations practicing disposal in large quantities. To secure the safety of the environment, Pollution controls have been enacted in all hospitals. The Healthier Hospitals Initiative has been founded to help hospitals reduce energy and waste, select safer and less toxic products and provide healthier food option for purchase (“Hospitals and Pollution Prevention,” n.d.) . Hospitals have also provided waste disposal bins that are bio classified. This measure ensures the environment is kept safe by providing proper waste disposal for various types of waste, such as incineration for used medical equipment that is not biodegradable. The world Health Organization has identified that 85% of the waste produced by hospitals is not hazardous, while 15% is considered hazardous (“Safety and Health Topics | Healthcare | Occupational Safety and Health Administration,” n.d.) .
Hospitals must also ensure there are fire precautions all through. The hospital is equipped with chemical substances that are flammable. Technology within the hospital can also be a fire hazard. In the event of malfunction, or accidental fires, it is essential that the hospital have in place Fire extinguishers at strategic locations, smoke detectors, camera’s that monitor all activity within the hospital and alarm systems. The employees should also be well trained on fire management and necessary precautions to be taken in the event of fire. They should also be informed on safety zones where people can populate in the event of a fire (Charney, 2009).
In Implementing and preventing environmental Management, Hospitals have to ensure the people they hire are environmentally conscious. The Employees have to be aware of the necessary precautions to be taken in order to sustain their surroundings and consequently there environment. As a consequence, Hospitals have to ensure their labour and workforce is environmentally conscious. Management has to consider making necessary plans on educating and training employees on necessary precautions to be taken in Environmental Management. In addition, the Organization can provide working schedules for Monitoring and Evaluating on the current Environmental Policies and how effective they are. If not successful, the management can restructure these policies. In addition, there needs to be an accurate record of the various Pollution Control, prevention control and waste management facilities within the Hospital. These facilities have to be assigned to a given department or institution to ensure they are always relevant and up-to-date. For instance, fire extinguishers maintenance is a repetitive action that has to followed up and managed. In response to this, Responsibility Charts can be drawn up showing how well and cooperative the various facilities aid in Environmental Management and from that establish the best methods to employ within the Hospital (Charney, 2009).
In Conclusion, all hospitals should ensure the presence of health and safety policies that are functional. Employees should be aware of these policies and actively participate in the management of these policies. In addition, the hospital management should ensure the hospital building is secured with the necessary facilities to ensure accident prevention as discussed. In addition, the hospital should provide training and information on actions to be taken in the event of accidents to employees and the general public. This would ensure that the hospital reduces the risk of health hazards due to poor hospital health and safety management policies (“Safety and Health Topics | Healthcare | Occupational Safety and Health Administration,” n.d.) .
References
Charney, W. (2009). Handbook of Modern Hospital Safety, Second Edition . United States of America: CRC Press.
Hospitals and Pollution Prevention. (n.d.). Retrieved July 7, 2017, from http://epa.ohio.gov/ocapp/hospital.aspx
Safety and Health Topics | Healthcare | Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved July 7, 2017, from https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthcarefacilities/index.html
