Citation

Tremblay JC, Gauthier F. Safety Sci. 2018; 103: 207-217.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2017.08.018

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Safety of machinery is a major concern in the manufacturing sector, but machines are also present in many other fields of activities, including healthcare. With the importance of machine-related accidents, the risk management practices related to the safety of machinery in the manufacturing sector are well known and documented. However, there is very little knowledge about the importance of machinery-related risks and their management practices within the hospital sector. The exploratory study presented in this paper addresses (i) the context of safety of machinery in hospitals; (ii) the characteristics of the machines used and their inherent hazards; and (iii) the level of integration of risk management practices for the safety of machinery in hospitals, such as risk assessment, machine safeguarding, lockout/tagout, inspection, and training. Five hospitals were visited and a questionnaire was used to collect the opinions and perceptions of non-medical managers and workers regarding machinery risk management. A total of 17 managers and 17 workers were interviewed. Documents related to machinery risk management practices, and information regarding the machines used and their hazards, were also collected. The results show that machine-related risks are a reality in this sector and that safeguarding of machinery is often deficient. None of the visited facilities had machine risk assessment procedures, a lockout/tagout program, or any specific document on safety rules related to machine hazards. Yet, the majority of managers and workers agree to say that these practices are relevant and can be implemented in the hospital sector. The results suggest that the hospital sector is generally aware of the best practices in machinery risk management, but that their level of implementation is lower than what can be observed in the industrial sector.

Language: en