Assessing the Size and Nature of Problem
The first step in addressing the issue of patient handling is to assess the size and nature of the problem. Comprehensive reporting of worker injuries helps ensure that you have the data available to develop your hospital's safe patient handling program.
Assessment Steps
Below are some steps you can take to assess your safe patient handling concerns and needs.
- Review injury data for your facility. Injury data can be a useful diagnostic tool. Such data include:
- OSHA 300 Log and OSHA Form 301
- Workers' compensation claim summaries
- Incident/accident investigation reports
- Corrective action reports
- Safety inspections and observations
OSHA already requires many workplaces (including any hospital with more than 10 employees) to use the OSHA 300 Log to report serious job related injuries and to complete the Form 301 for every recordable injury. The OSHA 300 Log and Form 301, available on OSHA's website, help to identify work areas or tasks where injuries frequently occur.
Please see OSHAcademy course 708 OSHA Recordkeeping Basics for more information.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-4. Which of the following workplaces would be required to use the OSHA 300 Log to report serious job-related injuries?
- Any hospital with more than 10 employees
- All hospitals regardless of the number of employees
- All healthcare employers in the private sector
- All employers in both private and public sectors
You forgot to answer the question!