It’s a lot like you: The dangerous type of emergency risks!
I know we chatted just last week about emergency management concerns, but once again, there’s more news stuff relating to the management of utility systems (it’s not just about water features) during emergencies and it does appear that the consequences of inadequately managed risks can get you into trouble with more than just the usual regulatory suspects.
A USA Today story from a couple of weeks ago outlined the charges/arrests resulting from the deaths of a number of nursing home patients in the aftermath of hurricane Irma, back in 2017. The sticking point, as it were, was the failure of the facility to evacuate once they lost the ability to effectively cool the facility. The news story paints a bleak picture of negligence, failure to call 911, etc., but also provides some indication that 911 calls from the facility received no response. I imagine that some details will emerge during trials as to what may or may not actually have transpired, including the existence of a “fully functional hospital across the street” to which (apparently) evacuation was not an option. I still maintain the most important part of any emergency response plan (and if not the most important, one of the very, very most important) is having a very clear understanding of what the trigger points are that would result in a need to evacuate. The worst thing that can happen with evacuation is to wait so long that a safe evacuation is not possible. I guess we’ll (hopefully) see what circumstances led up to this circumstance.
On a related (somewhat) note, our friends at the CDC have collaborated with the American Water Works Association to develop an Emergency Water Supply Planning Guide to assist healthcare facilities in their efforts to prepare for, respond to, and recover from, a total or partial water supply interruption. The Guide is designed to help folks assess water usage, response capabilities, and water supply alternatives. I suspect that this might be especially useful to folks in areas that tend to experience drought conditions, so if you want to check out the CDC Guide, you can find it here, along with links to some other preparedness resources.
Closing out things for this week, I’d like to share with you folks an article that I found to be of interest; while I don’t personally have managerial oversight in my current role, I saw enough parallels to “back in the day” to prompt the thought that “I wish there was something like this available when I was starting out.” So, in case you’re starting out in the amazing field of management or are interested in what’s going on in management theory, I think this would be worth your while. There’s a quote from Warren Buffett that I think really captures the essence of the compliance wars: “What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.” I bet that everyone reading this knows at least one human being like that…
You can find the whole article here.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Greeley Company in Danvers, Mass. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is also a contributing editor for Healthcare Safety Leader. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.