ABSTRACT
Healthcare safety continues to develop and has emerged as a distinct discipline. Many healthcare organizations realize that preventing or avoiding losses improves the bottom line, but controlling hazards, managing risks, and maintaining proactive safety programs are essential activities still overlooked by many top healthcare leaders. A well-organized safety program plays a vital role in meeting the challenges of providing effective patient care and other services within a safe environment. Integrating safety into the care environment using a systems approach remains the most proven method for achieving these desired results. Challenges facing organizations include:
• Making safety an integral part of job performance • Understanding accidents and their relationship to cost, time, and performance factors • Educating all personnel on basic safety management concepts and principles • Increasing involvement of staff and departments in the safety program • Establishing a functional safety committee that can make a difference • Implementing an effective system of information collection and evaluation • Conducting safety-related causation analyses • Applying system safety techniques to the safety program • Establishing quality safety orientation, training, and education sessions • Focusing on unsafe behaviors as well as hazard control
Safety Management Principles — Accidents, injuries, and loss events occur as a result of management deficiencies and reveal the existence of managerial and leadership problems. The following actions should be taken to minimize the likelihood of accidents:
• Correct the causal factors to make better use of human and material resources. • Understand that placing blame never addresses real safety problems. • Use analysis to help pinpoint system problems. • Improve safety throughout the organization by integrating safety programs into all
functions within the organization. • Improve organizational performance and the bottom line. • Determine ways to reduce the costs of accidents, insurance, equipment, hiring, and
training. • Bolster worker morale and promote good public relations.
