Engineering Co-op News
Occupational Safety & Health Students Create Guidelines for Local Hospital
April 29, 2020
Six senior Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Management students stepped up to create guidance for a local hospital to improve the administration of respirator fit testing as well as implementation of proper cleaning products and safety apparel.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an influx of respirator donations to area hospitals. While these donations are wonderful and deeply appreciated by the healthcare providers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that employers fit test every respirator prior to use. To assist with this task, the OSH students created an information sheet on the different types of respirators and assigned protection factors as well as a guide on how to conduct proper qualitative fit testing.
The pandemic also created a shortage of available cleaning products and materials, meaning that hospitals may have to adjust to using different products than they have used in the past. In order to ensure adequate protection for hospital employees turning over rooms between patients, OSH students created a general job hazard analysis for hospital room changeover, and developed guidelines regarding which cleaners are approved for use on which biohazards as well as what kind of gloves are needed for personnel using said cleaners. The OSH students created a form and researched a software option that hospitals could use to quickly notify employees by pushing information out to their phone numbers or email addresses.
Health systems interested in obtaining a copy of these materials for their own use should contact Professor Derek McCormick.
Visit the Occupational Safety & Health Management website to learn more about the program.