You have to know where you shut them off—make sure you label those shutoff valves!
That’s one of the pearls of wisdom dispensed during the most recent Executive Briefings by our friends in Chicago. It appears that there’s been a run on unlabeled shutoff valves during this year’s surveys,...
I apologize for not pushing this out a few weeks earlier than now—I’m writing this a few days after Daylight Savings Time, so my brain is wonky and erasing my thoughts like an Etch A Sketch (you all know about that, yes? If not, this will...
I’ve had an interesting couple of weeks scrambling up and down ladders while engaged in a focused above-the-ceiling life safety compliance assessment. The experience gave me time to think about one of the basic tenets (at least, for me) of managing the physical environment, which I will...
This week brings us something of a mixed bag, but I think the two articles speak to the heart of how our management of the healthcare physical environment informs everything that goes on around and in it. I have consistently maintained (small pun intended) that pretty much everything in...
Recently, I’ve seen some survey activity that prompts me to chat a little bit about essential electrical systems (EES) and to provide you with a source of information in that regard. The survey findings have related to the connection of inappropriate equipment to a branch of the EES or an...
One of the truisms of managing healthcare in current climes and times is the importance of creating environments that can withstand the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (and we’ve certainly had more than our share of those). In looking back at the last five or so years, it is very clear...
In the past, we’ve talked about the various advocacy groups working on behalf of healthcare facilities and safety professionals, and certainly, the most prominent among those groups are the good folks at the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE). I don’t know how closely you follow...
As with any risk management undertaking, there is always the potential for a risk assessment, but in areas that are not “directly” under your control, you probably want to have the assessment in place before you start any new process, including adding new contractors to the mix.
The Joint Commission recently released a clarification on how it evaluates multiple-tenant occupancies—cases where an accredited healthcare organization rents or shares a building with a nonaccredited business and renters.
