Health Care Material And Patient Moving

                       A SAFETY TALK FOR

                      DISCUSSION LEADERS



This safety talk is designed for discussion leaders to use in

preparing safety meetings.



Set a specific time and date for your safety meeting.  Publicize

your meeting so everyone involved will be sure to attend.



Review this safety talk before the meeting and become familiar with

its content. Make notes about the points made in this talk that

pertain to your workplace.  You should be able to present the

material in your own words and lead the discussion without reading

it.



Seating space is not absolutely necessary, but arrangements should

be made so that those attending can easily see and hear the

presentation.



Collect whatever materials and props you will need ahead of time. 

Try to use equipment in your workplace to demonstrate your points.





                      DURING THE MEETING



Give the safety talk in your own words.  Use the printed talk

merely as a guide.



The purpose of a safety meeting is to initiate discussion of safety

problems and provide solutions to those problems.  Encourage

employees to discuss hazards or potential hazards the encounter on

the job. Ask them to suggest ways to improve safety in their area.



Don't let the meeting turn into a gripe session about unrelated

topics.  As discussion leader, its your job to make sure the topic

is safety.  Discussing other topics wastes time and can ruin the

effectiveness of your safety meeting.



At the end of the meeting, ask employees to sign a sheet on the

back of this talk as a record that they attended the safety

meeting.  Keep this talk on file for your records.











Health Care Material And Patient Moving

TG16



Sprains and strains affect more Ohio workers than any other type of

injury.  Recently, they accounted for 36.7 percent of lost-time

claims filed with The Industrial Commission of Ohio. But health

care workers are even more at risk for sprains and strains; more

than half of their lost-time injuries were in that category

during that same year.



Because manual material handling and patient transfer are frequent

tasks in health care work, extra care in approaching them may help

to avoid some of those injuries.



Moving materials or people should be thoroughly planned in order to

keep manual handling to a minimum. Both the load and the route

should be considered carefully.



As much mechanical help as equipment and ingenuity can

provide--carts, dollies, elevators, dumb waiters--should be used to

avoid manual handling. If no mechanical solution can be found for

a handling situation, look for one or more co- workers to share the

load.



When there is no choice but to move objects or people manually,

here are a few guidelines to remember:



ù Balance and stability will be more likely with good housekeeping

and the right shoes. Twenty percent of accidents in private health

services in a recent year were caused by the work surface. Floors

that are clean, dry and free of unexpected obstacles give the best

chance to work without slips and trips. Shoes that provide

stability and traction will enable the wearer to work on a firm

footing.



Loads that have a handle or grip are easier to move. Often a handle

can be attached to a load to make it less awkward.



ù When lifting, hold the load close to your body rather than at

arm's length. To experience the difference in effort needed by the

two positions, try holding a book close to your waist. Then hold

the same book out in front of you at arm's length.



ù Whenever possible, limit handling to the area between knuckle and

shoulder height. Avoid reaching above or below those levels.



ù If turning is necessary during lifting or carrying, move your

feet, legs and torso in the same direction at the same time.



When patients are being moved, follow those guidelines. But further

care is also needed. The best way to move a patient is with a

mechanical lifting devices, so avoid manual handling. If no

mechanical lift is available, enlist enough helpers to limit to a

reasonable amount the weight each person will handle.



Knowing the patients' weight and condition is important to moving

them safely, whether they are to be moved mechanically or not. Are

they conscious or unconscious? If conscious, can they help with the

move?



To reassure patients, be sure to let them know in general terms

what will be happening, and ask for their cooperation if that is

appropriate.



Adjust the bed to the best working level before beginning the move.



Moving any patient except a small child can be made easier and

safer by attaching a sturdy belt around the patient's waist to

provide a handle.



A carrying device that can help in moving a patient who is lying

down from a bed to a cart is a sheet under the patient's body with

the sides rolled up and gripped like handles.



Another "handle" can be devised to turn patients onto their sides.

Hoist the patient's bent knee until the foot is lying flat and the

knee is bent. Push the knee away from you to turn the patient.



If the lift is over a very short distance, moving one segment of

the patient's body at a time divides up the weight.

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Text Version