A heightened sense of urgency coupled with an innate desire to treat needy patients puts medical facility staff in constant physical jeopardy. Healthcare venues typically possess extremely hard floors constructed with materials designed to decrease any allowance for infectious diseases to take hold. Yet, these very same surfaces cause many attentive medical personnel to slip and fall when moving about quickly to help the sick and hurt.
Risk of injuries related to slipping and tripping can be curbed. Medical staff will still likely try to move with urgency, but the areas where they are moving can be made safer. Reducing these risks should be seen as a win-win for medical facilities. Workers will feel safer and fewer injuries would result in fewer missed days of work, potential lawsuits and workers’ compensation claims.
Safety updates such as anti-slip floor mats, warning cones, brightly colored steps and more might not be cheap. But a greater expense experienced by healthcare facilities comes in the form of missed workdays when employees fall because of a dangerous workplace.
A proper and thorough examination of the medical workplace can help facility managers identify areas of concern that can be reduced or limited without expensive high-tech solutions. Management seeking to find a solution to unsafe work environments should first confer with the employees working in these environments. The day-in and day-out exposure to the workplace increases an employee’s awareness of certain dangerous spots.
Our personal injury law firm helps victims who have sustained injuries because their workplace isn’t as safe as it should be. Visit our workplace injuries page to learn more about how we handle cases involving unsafe work environments.
Source: amednews.com, “How to save medical office staff from slips, trips and falls,” Victoria Stagg Elliott, Dec. 11, 2012
