Implementation Plan
The implementation of a workplace safety plan requires the identification of risk and hazards to ensure the formulation of a comprehensive plan for mitigation. Assessment and identification of potential risks and hazards are of great importance. Towards this end, hospital or health facility owners should analyze the workplaces and different work-related functions to anticipate and subsequently prevent the occurrence of hazards. The goal is to ensure that all employees understand the potential hazards within their working environment. The identification of risk precedes formulation of policies and procedures to permit the employees to carry out their duties and responsibilities safety.
Leading from the top is an essential and effective strategy that will ensure the implementation of workplace safety. Therefore, the commitment from hospital owners and the top management normally ensures that employees show a high level of dedication as well. The management has to succinctly and clearly define the company’s safety objectives, communicate those goals to the employees, and act as role models for the employees to follow. Closely related to that is the fact that employees need to be trained and the safety measures reinforced routinely. Holding training sessions whenever a new rule is formulated, or new equipment is introduced in the workplace is important. It is worth noting that workplace safety equipment may include safety footwear, respiratory protective equipment, goggles, personal protective equipment, respirators, and hard hats. Specific to the nursing department, the training sessions should focus on the identification of hazards, prevention of accidents, and the best possible ways of responding to injuries sustained by either the patient or a nurse.
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The development of a workplace safety plan requires time to actualize. It is imperative to make the plan as comprehensive as possible to ensure a safe working environment. The implementation of the plan encompasses educating the employees, the manager, and making sure that everyone within the company is responsible for the safety policies within the workplace. The first step is to designate a health safety officer for the company that maybe someone who already works in equipment includes masks, sterile gowns, caps, and gloves for the nurses who insert central venous catheters. The hospital or health facility may also hire someone with health and safety experience. Furthermore, the individual tasked with such responsibility should designate time each day to enforce health and safety regulations and policies.
It is important to educate each manager on the designated health and safety program. The training involves explaining the penalties that the federal and state governments may levy if the rules are not followed. In this regard, it is important to create a set of penalties that will apply to every employee and manger that breaks the set rules and regulations aimed at mitigating workplace hazards (Husebo et al., 2015). Once the management buys into the implementation process, then it is easy for the employees to follow the rules as well. The safety policies within the nursing department should involve the patients, the nurses, the support workers such as cleaners, and management.
Conducting monthly training with the employees to review and further familiarize with the program is of great essence. Setting up demonstrations for a safe and proper working environment, and the consequences of not following the rules and regulations are of great significance. The objective is to ensure that the employees can see the danger, which makes them keener in trying to avoid it. The employees should sign forms to ascertain that they understood the program. The management should supply each employee with a workplace safety program. Additionally, it is necessary to supply the employees with written updates to the program when changes are made. It is imperative to remind the employees to go to the hospital’s health and safety director with any queries about the safety plan. Additionally, the employees should report incidents of potential workplace danger. In essence, the evidence-based practice (EBP) model will focus on the collection and analysis of data on patient safety and then formulating the best possible way to prevent the occurrence of injuries.
Evaluation Plan
The first step in the evaluation plan is to monitor the indicators that track performance and progress. The employers, nurses, supervisors, and other workers should establish and follow the procedures for collecting, analyzing, and reviewing the performance of data. Lagging indicators that track worker exposures and injuries and leading indicators help in determining the implementation of illnesses and injuries. The lagging indicators should include data on the number and severity of injuries and illnesses, the consequences of worker exposure, and the data on workers compensation. The leading indicators should include data on the number of employee suggestions on safety, hazards, the amount of time taken to respond to reports, management walkthroughs, level of nurse and employee participation on programs, number of nurses who have completed training health and safety, and the worker opinions on the effectiveness of the program
The second step involves the verification of the program to determine implementation and operation. The step is to ensure that the program is operational as initially intended, meaning that it should be effective in controlling identified hazards and making impressive progress towards the pre-set health objectives and goals. Program evaluation should be as per OSHA standards that involve the scope, maturity and complexity of the program (Wald et al., 2012).
Accomplishing such consists of the verification of the core elements of the program. Additionally, it is imperative to involve the workers in all aspects of the program that include a review of information, tracking performance indicators, and the identification of opportunities to improve the program. It is important to verify the key aspects of processes that include reporting injuries, illnesses, incidents, hazards, and concerns. Conducting workplace inspections and incident investigations, tracking progress, and checking whether the hazard control measures are in place are some of the necessary steps. The final step of evaluation is to correct any shortcomings within the program, which is a measure that involves the coordination from nurses, managers, and supervisors that take prompt action to prevent possible recurrence of the problem.
References
Husebo, B. S., Flo, E., Aarsland, D., Selbaek, G., Testad, I., Gulla, C. & Ballard, C. (2015). COSMOS—improving the quality of life in nursing home patients: protocol for an effectiveness-implementation cluster randomized clinical hybrid trial. Implementation science , 10 (1), 131-137.
Wald, H., Richard, A., Dickson, V. V., & Capezuti, E. (2012). Chief nursing officers’ perspectives on Medicare’s hospital-acquired conditions non-payment policy: implications for policy design and implementation. Implementation Science , 7 (1), 78-87.
