In 2022, CMS plans to restart its pilot project to improve validation surveys but is likely to continue pressure on accrediting organizations (AO) to be more vigilant in finding deficiencies in physical environment (PE), infection control (IC), fire safety, and patients’ rights.
Healthcare Safety Leader asked Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance and a consultant and expert on the Life Safety Code®, for tips about safety and compliance with washing machines and dryers in patient laundry rooms in...
Check manufacturer’s instructions for use (IFU) as well as nationally recognized standards when updating your policy on the regular maintenance and cleaning of washing machines and dryers used for patient belongings.
Surveyor concerns will be about infection control (IC), says ...
Plan now for how you are going to flush toilets if you lose water for several hours or even days, or you might find yourself and your staff having to deal with toilet paper disposal by hand.
During a prolonged and extreme cold snap in February 2021, Houston Methodist West Hospital lost...
Q: We just had a CMS validation survey and received a finding under K-tag K-926 for not having good enough documentation of training on oxygen transportation. How many times a year do we have to give training on this? Is annual plus new-hire training enough?
In the last Healthcare Safety Leader, we noted the caustic chemicals found in the basement of a hospital by Ernest E. Allen, ARM, CSP, CPHRM, CHFM, a former life safety surveyor and now Life Safety consultant with HealthTechS3, then asked, “What else should be in the basement...
In case you missed it, here’s a compilation of breaking news from the Accreditation & Quality Compliance Center since Healthcare Safety Leader was last published.
In the upcoming year, surveys will include new standards, revised requirements, modified processes and procedures, and a continued focus on infection control and fire safety. However, none of that promises to be more difficult than facing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether snow and ice removal is a duty for your facilities staff or for a contractor, remind them that they must clear all means of egress—not just the main entrances.
Under The Joint Commission’s Life Safety standard LS.02.01.20 requiring hospitals to maintain the integrity of the means...
A key element of an emergency preparedness plan is assessing how the staff and facility handled the disaster at hand and what lessons were learned for the next event.
In July 2019, after three earthquakes in two days, including a 7.1 magnitude temblor that was the largest earthquake in...
