RECALL CAMPAIGN
The manufacturer Medi-Man has issued a recall campaign concerning the Medi-lifter II and Medi-lifter III lifts. More info
New
BBF Poster !
New Blood & Body Fluid posters are available. Download off the OHSAH Website or order one for your facility today!
OSHTip
of the Month:
Policy and Procedure
The occupational health and safety programs at your facility should include written instructions that are easily accessible and available for review by all workers. Remember to consider the specific needs of each department and develop appropriate policies and procedures.
OSHTips contains a selection of sample policies and procedures, which your facility can use as a starting point when developing your own. Sample documents are available for general safe work procedures, emergency response, violence prevention, among others.
Visit the OHSAH website for these documents and more OSHtips.
Do
you have any news for the Health & Safety Update?
Email your stories,
comments and suggestions to update@ohsah.bc.ca
OHSAH is pleased to
present the Health & Safety Update! Coming directly to your email
once a month, the Update is designed to ensure that you are informed of
occupational health & safety developments from OHSAH and other organizations
around the province. Please pass this e-newsletter along to your friends
and colleagues and send us your health and safety news for inclusion in
future issues.
In this Issue:
Protecting
the Faces of Health Care Workers
Report on effective protection for healthcare workers from SARS and
related diseases.
WHMIS
Training
Online training
to be available via the OHSAH website.
Ergonomic
Update
Integrating ergonomics into the facility design process
Update
on WHITE
WHITE to go live soon!
The
final report: “Protecting the Faces of Healthcare Workers”
is now available on the OHSAH website. The report describes what is known
about SARS and other respiratory, nosocomial (in hospital) infections
with respect to worker safety and identifies several priorities that require
further attention in order to ensure the safety of healthcare workers.
These priorities include:
- Organizational factors that facilitate safe work environments.
- Epidemiology and transmission of SARS.
- Risk reduction through engineering controls and personal protective equipment.
Funded by the Change Foundation in Ontario, the final report is the result of strong collaboration between a variety of agencies, including Vancouver Coastal Health, BC Centre for Disease Control, Workers’ Compensation Board of BC, the BC Nurses’ Union and OHSAH.
OHSAH is pleased to announce the success of its inter-agency application to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and has been awarded $250,000 in funding to address the #1 priority identified in the report. The full report is available for download from the OHSAH website.
OHSAH will launch its first online learning module, WHMIS, on June 1st
2004. The web based learning tool, which will be available via the OHSAH
website, includes topics such as the goal of WHMIS, individual responsibilities,
hazard identification, and communication methods.
This innovative approach to healthcare training was made possible by the
extensive collaboration and support of the following people:
• Marsha Bell,
OHS Advisor, Interior Health
• Tony de Castro, Consultant, People Development, Fraser Health
• Lance Stone, OHS Manager, Interior Health
• Don Tait, Director, Human Resource Services, St Joseph’s
General Hospital (Victoria)
• Frank Talarico, Regional Manager of Workplace Health & Safety,
Northern Health Authority
The WHMIS module uses an innovative approach to learning and is a free resource to BC Healthcare. For further updates, please click here.
East Kootenay Regional Hospital
Ergonomic Redesign
Cranbrook’s East Kootenay Regional Hospital in the Interior
Health is currently redesigning the Emergency, Ambulatory Care,
and Diagnostic Imaging Departments, as well as the Laboratory and Cardiac
Stress Clinic. This project, still in its preliminary stages, is using
participatory ergonomic methods to proactively involve front line staff
in the design development process.
In order to ensure the best possible design for the various departments,
the project includes staff questionnaires, observations of staff performing
their duties to determine how the workstations and work process flow can
be improved, and providing information from other sites and reference
sources to staff.
Staff and managers within these departments participated in focus group
sessions from May 19-20th with the project architects and Interior Health
planners and ergonomists, and discussed the proposed facility schematic
designs. The architects described the proposed changes to staff who then
provided feedback on the new design. Whenever possible, ergonomic input
was incorporated to improve the design in terms of room size, workstations,
workflow, and organization. The first mock up of a work area was also
constructed to assist staff with future design.
OHSAH is pleased to be participating in the project and looks forward
to its progress!
Workshop: Integrating ergonomics into
the facility design process
On June 28, 2004, OHSAH in conjunction with the BC Facility Planning Task
Force, Healthcare Benefit Trust, Vancouver Coastal Health and the Worker's
Compensation Board is sponsoring a workshop on ‘Integrating Ergonomics
into the Facility Design Process.’ Designed for MSIP Advisors and
Ergonomists in the Healthcare Sector, this workshop will
cover a number of different areas of the design process, including how
the planning process works from the Planning Department’s perspective,
basic ergonomic guidelines that should be incorporated into the design
processes, and case studies on successes and challenges. For more information
or to register, please contact Connie Prier, Administrative Assistant,
Employee & Workplace Health Services at Healthcare Benefit Trust by
June 11, 2004, at conniep@hbt.bc.ca.
The
Workplace Health Indicator Tracking and Evaluation (WHITE) System is a web-based
health and safety system that will facilitate analysis of workplace incidents
and injuries and provide healthcare stakeholders with comparative performance
indicators on workplace health and safety. Incident tracking and case management,
which are part of the WHITE system, are essential components of the injury
prevention and intervention process. 38 staff in Fraser Health (FH) have been trained on WHITE and the system will soon go live. Implementation has also started in Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), and will roll out to Interior Health, Northern Health, and the Children’s and Women’s Hospital shortly thereafter.
For a WHITE fact sheet, please click here
Tel: (604) 775 - 4034 or toll free (800) 359 - 6612
Fax: (604) 775 - 4031
Web: www.ohsah.bc.ca
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