FEBRUARY 21

Inside FEBRUARY 21, 2019.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/19 6:37 PM Page 6
How to clean your nails
• Clean dirt from under your nails
Use the tip of the nail pick on a pair of
clippers, clean underneath your fingernails
to remove dirt and other built-up
grime. Do this in the bathroom, under
good lighting, so you'll be able to see
your nails clearly. In general, it's easier to
clean the dirt from underneath your nails
before you wash your hands instead of
after.
• Wash your hands
Use a mild, natural soap and wash
your hands under warm water. You don't
need to focus on your nails specifically,
just wash your hands. It's generally better
to use mild soap and wash your hands
more regularly.
• Soak your nails in a bowl of
warm, soapy water for about three
minutes
Submerge the very tips of your fingers,
not your whole hands, under the
water and let them soften slightly. Make
sure the water isn't too lukewarm or
scalding hot, but a comfortable temperature
somewhere in between. Soaking
nails help to make them softer and more
pliable, making it much less likely that
you'll chip or break a nail during the
cleaning process.
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2019
&Env.
Health and safety requirements in public and
private hospitals: Achimota hosp. in perspective
AN INTERNATIONAL
Labour Organisation
(ILO) global statistical
report says there are
about 270 million occupational
accidents as well
as 160 million occupational diseases
recorded every year, while around two
million deaths occur every year through
occupational accidents and diseases.
It is morally, legally and economically
right for employers to protect their employees,
clients and all other people who
are found in their place of work and/or
are affected by their actions.
It is equally the right and responsibility
of every employee, visitor and all
other people found in any workplace to
co-operate with the employer to enable
them to fulfil their obligations of ensuring
standard workplace practices concerning
health, safety, welfare,
environment and security. This is in accordance
with Article 16 of the ILO
Convention and recommendations,
among other issues of standards.
Hospitals and other minor health institutions
also form part of workplaces,
and so, all persons found in these institutions,
including employees, patients and
their relatives who assist them to these
facilities, visitors and service providers in
these outfits are protected and for that
matter safe in all their dealings.
Health facilities are aimed at providing
total health to all patients who call in
for their services and also protect all persons
found there, since they also form
part of workplaces. However, the story is
different with Ghana health facilities. It
is common practice to count many hazards
and risks in these institutions.
Standard requirements at
workplace
It is good for health institutions to
have trained wellbeing personnel to educate
all health facility staff particularly on
personal safety and security issues since
their services form part of high risk occupations.
Some of their hazards are violence
and assault from patients or dead
persons’ relatives, etc.
They must also receive enough training
on how to protect themselves and
others from abduction since health facilities
always have ” open door” policies. It
is also good practice for permanent
emergency service providers trained on
apparel style, especially regarding foot
wear, to reduce their high exposure to
risks such as slips, trips and injuries due
to the quick actions taken in relation to
the aggressive nature of some emergency
ill-health persons. Better and adequate
patients handling equipment, such
as slid sheets, transfer boards, wheelchairs,
handling belts, and trolleys are
also required for health service delivery.
Emergency, equipment, training, information
and control measures are important
to both staff and other persons.
General health facility conditions
must always be safe enough to protect all
persons and not just its staff. Among
them ill-health persons, their relatives,
visitors and any other persons such as
service providers who come to the outfits.
These persons should be provided
with all the appropriate information required
by them.
•Mr Joshua
Treatments Bortey, KROMA to ill-health
persons MCE (in white) in hospital
Ill-health and others persons should have suitable
ground to walk with ease, access to
hygienic toilets and urinals, the opportunity
to both steps, ramps and escalator, if
need be. They also need to receive every
detailed information about their health
conditions, further implications for their
health, type of treatments required, personal
medicament implications and personal
consent. Since ill-health persons
become vulnerable and fragile irrespective
of one’s stature, it is always appropriate
and obligatory for health facilities
to have reasonably practicable infrastructure
design, as well as easy and safe access
that will meet the requirement of
these clients.
Again ill-health persons in any health
facility have the right to be served with
the food appropriate for their conditions
and not otherwise. They have every right
to ask any questions and must receive
right answers without any intimidation.
Intimidations in our health facilities
nowadays have become common practice,
especially within units such as emergency
centres and maternity and labour
wards. However, without ill-health persons
health workers must stay home or
change their profession, so it is good for
health workers to treat their clients safely.
When one is pregnant, for instance, she
turns to be like a young person, and for
that matter weak; likewise those at the
delivery point who also become traumatized,
so they have to be assisted for safe
delivery without any physical or psychological
injury to them. Also, they have to
be treated well during these stages.
This is very paramount because in
any different workplaces ill-health persons,
pregnant women and nursing
mothers need to receive preferential
treatments, so how much less their own
legal service institutions?
Required treatment of ill-health
persons relatives, visitors and others
It is always safe for anyone who assists
or accompanies any ill-health person
to be given all appropriate information,
instructions and directions about medications
and prescription conditions, and
accept personal private information to
the ill-health person, to help reduce the
risks of post-health service prescriptions
error to save lives.
To help avoid or reduce basic and
complex ill-health infections to ill-health
persons’ relations and visitors via crosscontaminations
of microorganisms, it
will be very prudent for health facilities
to have wellbeing personnel to also educate
and advise these persons during visiting
hours from ward to ward on
potential way of disinfecting their bodies
after providing services to their ill-health
relatives.
Other persons apart from aforementioned
groups
All other persons who visit health facilities
for any other good purposes
should be provided with all necessary
wellbeing control measures to protect
Food, fruits and general provision vendors within the facility’s vehicular
park conduct all their businesses reasonably practicable by average health,
safety and environment standards. Vehicular route to the facility is standard
and the stationed taxi drivers within the facility conduct themselves well.
them from any harm, since it is the duty
of the management to do so.
Assessments
In Ghana, one can attest to the fact
that many of these hazards and risks can
be counted in most of our major and
minor health facilities. However, little has
been done to change or control these
grave situations. However, a sampling
survey conducted in Achimota Hospital
has proven otherwise.
Current health, safety, welfare, environment
and security standards of
Achimota Hosp.
Achimota Hospital has been found
to be providing good services and is
being used as the case study for the discussion
on assessment. A sampling survey
recently conducted in above facility
covered all the business service areas and
findings proved greater improvements
and achievements within workplace
health, safety, welfare, environment and
security matters.
Other good service practices include
better and multiple channels of information
dissemination to patient and their
relations regarding all the needed attention,
consent seeking before any service
provision to a patient, better human relations
by nurses, paramedics, clerical staff,
anesthetists, pharmacists, laboratory
staff, kitchen staff and medical doctors.
The facility has a healthy and attractive
landscaping within its entire area
with reasonable pedestrian walkways well
designed. It also has enough consultation
rooms with serious expert medical doctors
to assist in reducing time spent with
patients. Majority of the staff use safety
belt when driving and the facility can
also boast an emergency assembly point.
General and medical waste management
principles are applied safely in this
facility via waste classification procedure
of segregating hazardous from non-hazardous
waste. Service personnel of Achimota
Hospital mostly adopt the personal
protective equipment donning rules to
protect themselves and others from hazardous
infections. Reasonable noise level
within their proximity is achieved.
Bad practices and challenges
within Achimota Hospital
Among unsafe practices and challenges
in the facility are the absence of
the long-awaited pedestrian footbridge
across the major Achimota-Legon road,
lack of permanent ambulance services to
the hospital, ineffective of pedestrian
gate usage, bad positioning of information
desk to reduce main entrance space
and bad nature of the route to transport
patients on trolleys from the theatre to
the main wards.
Another critical challenge to Achimota
and almost all the health facilities
in Ghana is lack of safety personnel
within these institutions to advise and
guard both clients and employees on
safety matters and also assist the vulnerable
during an emergency.
Conclusions
It is reasonably and practicably good
to always commend any health institution
that promotes good working culture,
especially in the areas mentioned to help
motivate and also encourage others who
fail to work within standards. To this
end, the Medical Director, management,
doctors, nurses and entire employees of
Achimota Hospital need to be commended
for such great achievements.
The writer is a health, safety and environment
expert and consultant