Exercise 3

Introduction

There are few things that are needed to be clear here. Glendale Hospital doesn’t fulfill the

standards of OSHA’s health and safety standards. It can also be stated as Glendale Hospital

doesn’t consider health and safety of employees as its priority. Furthermore, it fails to see the

difference between direct and indirect costs, insured and uninsured costs which brings about the

demise of the hospital.

Correlation Between Back-Injuries and Staff Cutbacks

The fact that the staff suffer with back-injuries means that staff is overworked, overly

exhausted and not trained enough to handle patients. It can also mean that hospital fails to

provide patient handling aids/equipment such as lift hoist, slip sheets, infrastructure such as lifts

etc. Back injuries may be irreversible but always a lost time injury (3 consecutive days off) or

hospitalized for longer periods. The suffering staff will fail to assist with problems such as lifting

patients and hence, the staff cutbacks.

Steps Towards Improvement

 Provision of manual aids for lessening the impact of ergonomics on staff

 Frequent rest breaks and job rotation for employees responsible for lifting/handling

patients

 Training of staff in patient handling and tools associated with patient handling

 Quarterly review of their health and safety management systems

 Refresher courses

 Hiring more staff to lessen the burden/prevent overworking and exhaustion of staff
 Changing layout of hospital to provide ease to staff (patient that requires lifting should be

treated at the first floor