The environmental safety pointers
Hospitals discharge basic services needed by the population. Therefore, the design of hospitals should be checked to ensure that all environmentally acceptable standards are followed. This strategy protects the people using hospital facilities. This will also be critical in protecting both the internal and external environment of the hospital. Crowding is a very sensitive issue in hospitals and thus should be given much attention by the hospital administration. Overcrowding in hospitals poses numerous challenges to people in the hospital. In this case, both the hospital staffs and patients become vulnerable. In addition, the maintenance of hospital hygiene has become quite challenging. This scenario happens because most hospitals operate beyond capacity. In such cases, the cleanliness of the institution is compromised.
The risk of an outbreak of diseases related to cleanliness becomes eminent. In most cases, overcrowding is considered to be an environmental hazard in the institution as it exacerbates the manageable risks to unmanageable levels. The hospital has to be spacious enough, and the population of people using the facilities should be controlled. The capacity of the hospital has to be maintained at certain levels, which are tolerable to avoid further exposure to health hazards. The management of the hospital should control the number of people using the facilities to avoid overcrowding. Additionally, the hospital has to establish and implement a policy that will assist in monitoring and controlling the flow of people within the hospital. This policy has to include the standards of maintaining a manageable number of patients in the hospital wards to give ample time and a serene environment to the hospital staff. In addition, the policy should introduce plans to create emergency medical centers. This would help to check and maintain the hygienic and safety standards within the hospital.
Fire safety standards in a hospital
Safety measures are very important, especially for an institution associated with a vulnerable or weak population, such as hospitals. This is because such a population is already exposed to environmental hazards like diseases, and any further incidences may totally harm the population. In addition, hospitals install expensive facilities, which are costly to purchase. Therefore, cases of fire accidents can cause huge damage to hospitals. The hospital should establish comprehensive fire preparedness measures to reduce the risk of fire incidences. The measures should be contained in the fire safety policy. The implementation and enforcement of the policy should be a prerogative of the management of the institution (Fleming, 2009). The hospital employees should adopt, internalize, and ensure that fire preparedness remains active in the hospital at all times. Some of the preparedness measures that have to be contained in the preparedness plan include the following:
- The equipping of the hospital with fire detection and fighting equipment like smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and fire alarms.
- They are training the firefighting team of the hospital. The team must know how to respond and mitigate fire accidents promptly. In addition, the entire hospital employees have to be trained about using the firefighting equipment installed in the hospitals.
- There should be fire exit points that are clearly labeled, clear escape paths, side lifts, and spiral stair to help in rescuing the patients.
- A fire assembly point is also important and should be established. It will help in tracking the record of people or victims of the fire.
Reference
Fleming, R.S. (2009). Effective fire and emergency services administration. Tulsa, Okla: PennWell Corp.