Eliminating workplace hazards in the OR

Healthcare workplaces are among the most hazardous in the nation. In 2010, the Department of Labor reported 653,900 workplace injuries/illnesses occurred in healthcare, 152,000 more than the next most afflicted industry sector, manufacturing. A team from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA adapted techniques used in industry to make the OR a safer place to work through formal observations of work performed and subsequent mitigation of recognized hazards. To help guide observations, the team identified critical safe behaviors and hazardous conditions in the OR using injury data, input from a staff survey, job safety analysis, direct observation and cause and effect analysis. An observation tool from industry was customized to address hazards unique to the healthcare environment such as sharps safety. Implementation of the process has been so successful in reducing or eliminating identified hazards, which led to a 68% reduction in days away from work due to injury in the east campus operating suite, that it is being spread to other areas of the hospital including Central Processing and Environmental Services.