ABSTRACT
Healthcare organizations are high-stress, high-stakes environments in which safety is of primary concern to both patients and employees. Building a safety culture is part of building a sustainability culture. There are numerous examples of unsafe healthcare products that contain chemicals known to have negative health impacts. Equally concerning are the chemicals used in healthcare whose interactive effects have yet to be studied. Increased awareness of environmental safety hazards places additional scrutiny on healthcare leaders to ensure that healing environments are safe. Beyond direct patient impact, there are safety concerns related to the use and disposal of toxic materials.
Chapter 8 helps readers understand when and how to use sustainability as a tool to mitigate safety risks related to potentially dangerous chemicals. The leadership learning embedded in Chapter 8 is that chemical management is not on the healthcare leader’s priority list, but safety certainly is. As evidence mounts that healthcare needs to improve chemical management processes, leaders will increasingly recognize that – like any other sustainability topic – chemical management is ultimately about safety, accountability and facilitating a culture of empowerment.
