In this assignment, I will be reflecting the risk of working at elevation and suggesting solutions, to reduce the incidents of workplace falls. In Canada, many industries are faced with a risk of workplace falls, due to a wide range of scenarios from daily work activities being performed, that will be discussed in this assignment. I personally had the opportunity to work in some of the different provinces across Canada, under a safety role and experienced firsthand, on how people handle working at heights. So with that being said, I will provide my view, to enlighten those with my intake on this subject.
As time progresses, as a workforce, we become more advanced and experienced in regards to working at heights, but yet, statistics indicate,
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For example, they must begin by identifying and evaluating applicable hazards then create a fall prevention program that is specific to their work activities and jurisdiction to ensure it is relevant when communicating it at company level. Employers must also have their best interest in fulfilling their legislative responsibilities and creating an open feedback culture, where workers do not feel intimidated to discuss their observations and suggestions. This can allow decision-makers in the company, to carry out any high-level action item that is required of them to eliminate or control falling …show more content…
They have communicated detailed regulations, guidelines, established general duties, created a contact line, performed site visits, fined and prosecuted companies and the list goes on. However, it all primarily falls back to the employer, supervisor and worker to reduce these type of incidents in joint efforts on the field. So in this case, I only have one suggestion for regulators. Get more support from associations since many companies want recognized safety programs. This can create an opportunity for audits to be much more stringent as far as compliance in a fall prevention program and more information communicated to stakeholders through training and newsletters.
I believe falling hazards remain a problem due to the complexity of these projects, worker’s behaviour and misjudgement. These factors become critical concerns when the employer does not have the proper planning and procedures in place, the supervisor and workers are not fully utilizing there training adequately and efforts are not being made to improve the program by all stakeholders. Many companies experience an incident of this nature when these factors take place, especially when control measures of the hazard is prolonged and neglected it becomes the norm and creates a negative
At Diversicare Rehabilitation, DVCR, between the months of May and July, there were fifty-two falls. Of these falls, twenty-two resulted in major injuries and were reportable to state. All the reportable falls resulted in a form of injury. The injuries noted were ten hip fractures, five femur, three shoulder and four elbow fractures. Out of all the falls, twelve falls with major injuries occurred to residents who had suffered a fall within the past week. Two falls were reportable to the coroner but they were both ruled non-related. In this project, there will be a review of the causes of falls at DVCR. The project will review main reasons why this is such a problem at this facility. The project will focus on the preventable falls and those that may have been avoided. There will be recommendations to prevent falls and an evaluation will be done to determine whether the recommendations are effective in preventing falls.
The nurse would firstly identify if Mrs Jones is at risk of falls by conducting a falls risk assessment using an evaluation tool such as the Peninsula Health Falls Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT) (ACSQHC, 2009). The falls risk assessment enables the nurse to identify any factors that may increase the risk of falls (ACSQHC, 2009). The falls risk assessment tool focuses on areas such as recent falls and past history of falls; psychological status for example, depression and anxiety; cognitive status; medications including diuretics, anti-hypertensives, anti-depressants, sedatives, anti-Parkinson’s and hypnotics; as well as taking into account any problems in relation to vision, mobility, behaviours, environment, nutrition, continence and activities
It is important that key factors in determining who is and who is not a risk to fall are sought out by the health care team. In this paper we will focus on how to determine who is a fall risk.
Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). (2005). Prevention of falls and fall injuries in the older adult. Retrieved from http://rnao.ca/sites/rnao-ca/files/Prevention_of_Falls_and_Fall_Injuries_in_the_Older_Adult.pdf
...op occupational illness prevention programs by having a written plan with specific procedures. This needs to be communicated to all employees and employees will know the hazards that exist to prevent injuries (Bernardin & Russell, 2013). The plan can involve management where they can be in charge of the program, and they can train employees on hoe to follow and report hazards to their immediate supervisor. Evaluate workplace conditions by conducting a survey on equipment, materials, machinery, and daily operations (Bernardin & Russell, 2013). Then evaluate current illness and injuries within the organization. Then develop and action plan and keep reviewing it to see if it is working. Communicate with employees and it is important that they know how the injury and illness plan works. It may be beneficial to designate someone to monitor the programs progress.
The leading cause of injury to nursing and hospital staff is the repeated manual lifting, and lifting and transferring of patients. This increasing incident rates cost to healthcare organizations. “Safe Patient Handling” programs have become one of the top initiatives for healthcare organizations. With the help of this program, work-related injuries and injuries due to patient falls can be reduced. Hill-Rom’s high technologies, processes, and tools assist hospitals to enhance outcomes for patients.
A fall is an “untoward event which results in the patient coming to rest unintentionally on the ground” (Morris & Isaacs, 1980). When it comes to patient safety in health care, there isn’t any subject that takes precedence. Patient falls are a major cause for concern in the health industry, particularly in an acute-care setting such as a hospital where a patient’s mental and physical well being may already be compromised. Not only do patient falls increase the length of hospital stays, but it has a major impact on the economics of health care with adjusted medical costs related to falls averaging in the range of 30 billion dollars per year (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2013). Patient falls are a common phenomenon seen most often in the elderly population. One out of three adults, aged 65 or older, fall each year (CDC, 2013). Complications of falls are quite critical in nature and are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries including traumatic brain injuries and fractures. A huge solution to this problem focuses on prevention and education to those at risk. ...
To: Professor Valdes From: Max Swienton Date: 11/27/15 RE: Assignment #7 – [Safety Article] Name of Company: Leopardo Companies Inc. Name and location of Project: Gold Coast Project-Luxury Condo Building Summary of the accident: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation into the death of a construction worker who was killed Friday in the Near North Side neighborhood. Joel Ogiego, 45, of the 5100 block of Lakeview Avenue in Portage, Ind., was crushed in a construction in an unfortunate accident, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Fall can lead to serious injuries and death which, increase the health care cost. Hence prevention of fall is an important public health issue in the hospital for patient safety. We had many falls incidents reported in our unit every month. Therefore, it is essential to implement prevention strategies through multidimensional approach by interdisciplinary team. Through the proposed fall management program, we can reduce fall rate drastically.
Patient falls in the hospital is a serious issue and challenging problem that could lead to prolonged hospital stay, longer recovery time for patients, increased costs for hospitals, and a source of distress and anxiety for patients, nurses, and families. Patient falls can cause minor or major serious physical injury depending on the situation and the age of the client. In addition to the physical harms, patients can suffer from psychological injuries which make them lose their independence and confidence on themselves and build a lot of anger, distress and fears of falling.
Patient falls is one of the commonest events within the healthcare facilities that affect the safety of the patients. Preventing falls among patients requires various methods. Recognition, evaluation, and preventing of patient falls are great challenges for healthcare workers in providing a safe environment in any healthcare setting. Hospitals have come together to understand the contributing factors of falls, and to decrease their occurrence and resulting injuries or death. Risk of falls among patients is considered as a safety indicator in healthcare institutions due to this. Falls and related injuries have consistently been associated with the quality of nursing care and are included as a nursing-quality indicator monitored by the American Nurses Association, National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators and by the National Quality Forum. (NCBI)
Reese, C.D. and Eidson, J.V. (1999). Handbook of OSHA construction safety and health. Boca Raton, FL. CRC Press
Fall is sudden, unpredicted, unintentional occurrence resulting in-patient landing on ground or at lower level. Falls and fall related injuries incur cost for the patient as well as the health cares system. The fall has a significant impact in patient quality of life and usually fall has many reasons to happen. Thus, preventing falls among patients in healthcare settings requires a complex approach, and recognition, evaluation and prevention of patient falls are significant challenges. Falls are a common cause of injury and the leading cause of nonfatal injuries and trauma-related hospitalizations in the United States (Barton, 2009). Falls occur in all types of healthcare institutions and to all patient populations. Up to 12% of hospitalized patients fall at least once during their hospital stay (Kalisch, Tschannen, & Lee, 2012). It has been using different strategies in many hospitals to prevent or at least to decrease the incidence of fall. However, the number of falls in the hospitals increases at alarming rate in the nation. The hospitals try to implement more efficient intervention strategies, but the number fall increase instead of decrease. In fact, many interventions to prevent falls and fall-related injuries require organized support and effective implementation for specific at risk and vulnerable subpopulations, such as the frail elderly and those at risk for injury.
A candidly of risk occurs in every organisation. Governance principals and the occupational health and safety urge that the organisations take reasonable measures to hinder loss, charge or rage to the organisational and all stakeholders/management. Injury and accidents can even happen ultimately with stringent OHS and the fact that an accident when occurs, does not mean that someone is liable if all responsible steps for prevention or minimisation has been taken.
Although workplace accidents are very common, the majority of them can be prevented. As a company, you are obliged by the law to protect your employees, so it is important to take the necessary actions that will minimize the risk of accidents (Intelligent HQ, 2015).