A Multifaceted Program to Managing Your Hyperbaric Facility Safety: Part 1

Multifaceted Program
A safety program is multifaceted. Although there can be a variety of program elements depending on the specific setting and need, there are several common aspects elementary in program design and execution. These basic elements are as follows:

• Operational policy and procedures: Management, medical directors, and safety directors should develop a comprehensive set of operational policies and procedures that cover the complete spectrum of issues based upon the type of patients treated and equipment employed by a given facility.

› Policy: Policy is an umbrella statement developed by administration that covers a broad course or principle of action.

› Procedure: Procedure is the detailed practice developed by the management, medical director, and safety director of the hyperbaric facility. Not only should these procedures cover all items of medical equipment to include the chamber or chamber system, but they should also address patient care activities as well.

• Attention to detail: Procedures should address every aspect, no matter how mundane, of operating and maintaining a given type of chamber system, medical device, or patient treatment processes. The level of detail should be sufficient to ensure no critical process or procedure has been omitted. Being thorough is a time-consuming process and one that some can easily justify not completing; however, thoroughness is necessary.
  
  
• Vigilance: An organization may have the most comprehensive safety plan possible, but if the staff is not constantly aware of their surroundings and the consequence of their actions or the actions of others, it means little. As noted in Chapter 6.1: How Accidents Happen, mishaps are rarely the result of a single event but from a chain of events that lead to an accident. Maintaining constant awareness of one's situation may help break a link in this chain.
  
  
• Checklists: Checklists are an invaluable tool in a safety program. Conducting frequent workplace safety, pre- and post-chamber operations, preventive maintenance, and environment of care inspections using checklists is one of the most widely accepted means of identifying hazards and unsafe behavior. Regular self-inspection using safety checklists is an essential component in every proactive safety program.
  
  
• Risk assessments: Documented risk assessments are becoming more commonplace. The safety director should have training in how to conduct risk assessments. These can be complex or simple assessments depending on the issue at hand. It may be a piece of equipment required for patient care that is not approved by the manufacturer for hyperbaric conditions or a wound dressing that the facility has not encountered. The ability to complete an adequate risk assessment and accompanying documentation is a skill the hyperbaric safety director should have.

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Continued here...
A Multifaceted Program to Managing Your Hyperbaric Facility Safety: Part 2 CONTINUED on  GetHCC.com

Excerpted with permission from the publisher.
Source Reference: Hyperbaric Facility Safety: A Practical Guide, 2nd Edition by Wilbur T. Workman and J. Steven Wood
Chapter 6.4 How to Manage Your Hyperbaric Facility Safety Program
Best Publishing Company

"Safety awareness begins in the classroom and is applied in the facility."

Continue your Hyperbaric Safety Training with the following Steps:

• Introduction to Hyperbaric Medicine
• Hyperbaric Safety Director Role
• Hyperbaric Certified - Safety (HC-S©) designation.