In the Doctor's office:
The keeping of pills away from the reach of children on the low table will significantly reduce the risk of the child ingesting the pills and becoming dangerously ill, possibly with fatal consequences, as they will not be able to come into contact with them as the doctor will have disposed of them in the medicine disposal bins provided.
The samples on the shelf being moved will mean that the chance of people coming into contact with the contents of the sample pots is removed, as the sample pots will be locked away in a different room that the patients are not allowed to enter, and only the doctors and nurses have access too. This will also eradicate the possibility of confidentiality being breached by people looking at which sample pot belongs to who.
The needles in the cupboard will be locked away, as the cupboard will have a lock on it that only the doctor's may access, reducing the risk greatly of any of the patients being injured by the contents of the cupboard and having to have treatment or contracting and diseases from the contents of the unlocked cupboard.
When the coat rack is secured to the wall by a bracket and screws, the likelihood of it toppling over when loaded lop-sided is decreased, as the bracket will hold it to the wall, even when knocked, and it should stay put. Regularly checking the bracket will also ensure that it is not becoming loose, and if it is noticed that it is becoming loose then it can be corrected so that it is not a risk again.
The curtain being replaced with one of appropriate length will mean that the risk of patients tripping over it is greatly reduced, as it will no longer drag along the floor. The doctor's will still keep it tucked away when not in use, which will help reduce the tripping hazard even more.
The lamp being moved nearer to a plug socket will mean that the wire is not draped across the floor of the doctor's office. This means that the likelihood of people tripping over it is greatly reduced, as the wire should be out of the way. Having someone regularly check all of the doctor's offices will also ensure the doctors are keeping to the new control measures by keeping the wire away from danger.
Which of the problems could still have happened with your control measures in place?
In the waiting room: fire, chemicals, stairs, toy box, magazine, chairs
The fire exits being unblocked by moving the table should reduce the risk of people being unable to evacuate quickly and efficiently, and appointed staff members checking the fire exits in the building for obstacles and/or blockages should help too, however in the rush of a fire alarm, things could be dropped or people could trip and block the exits still.
If the cupboard containing the hazardous chemicals is locked then it should reduce the risk of people coming into contact with them, however the people who do have access to the chemicals, for example cleaners, could forget to lock the cupboard after using it, or they could still harm themselves from the chemicals whilst using them.
The installation of hand rails on the stairs in the waiting room should help to stabilise people who are at risk of falling, for example children, the elderly, people with mobility issues, partially sighted people etc., however there is no way to guarantee that no one will ever fall down the stairs.
The toy box that could potentially splinter a child using it being replaced with one made from non-toxic plastic would completely eradicate the risk of a child getting splintered by it, as you cannot get splinters from plastic; however this does not mean that a child will never get hurt from using the toy box.
Finally in the kitchen to stop the spread of germs and bacteria which lead to food poisoning the control measure of training in kitchen hygiene would be put in place, however the staff may not understand the hygiene fully or put it into place effectively, this means that there is still a chance of the problem happening.
The magazine rack being installed means that patients are more likely to tidy up after themselves and replace the magazines back onto the magazine rack once finished using them, and the members of staff regularly checking that the rack is tidy should greatly reduce the risk of magazines being left on the floor and becoming a tripping hazard, however there is no way to guarantee that no magazines will fall/be dropped in between checking, and could therefore pose a tripping risk to people in the waiting room.
The chairs being replaced with easily cleanable ones means that they can regularly be cleaned by members of staff easily, and the risk of contamination from the dirty material is greatly reduced, however this is not to say that contamination can still happen in between cleans, and the staff member cleaning the chairs may also not clean 100% of the chair, meaning that contamination could still occur.
In the Doctor's office:
The placement of disposal bins in the doctor's offices means that the doctors have a place to dispose of all unused/expired medication that they may have in the room, reducing the risk of children ingesting them. This does not mean that the doctors will remember 100% of the time to dispose of the medication immediately, and children could also get their hands on the pills if the doctor had them out on the table, for example if a patient had just handed them over to the doctor saying they had only used half of the packet.
The samples that were previously on the shelf being kept away in another room that is locked reduces the risk of people coming into contact with them and reduces the chance of confidentiality being breached, however this doesn’t guarantee that everyone using the room will remember to lock it after use, meaning someone could enter it and be harmed, or break confidentiality.
The needles in the cupboard being locked away should reduce the risk of people coming into contact with them and injuring themselves, however the doctor them self may injure them self on the needles whilst dealing with them in the cupboard, or they may forget to lock it, meaning another person can come into contact with them and injure themselves.
The coat rack being secured to the wall by brackets and screws reduces the risk of it toppling over onto someone, and the brackets being regularly checked further reduces this risk, however if someone put something very heavy on the rack, for example a heavy bag, this could cause the bracket to break and the coat rack could then topple over onto a patient.
The curtain being replaced with one of a shorter length should reduce the risk of it being tripped over, as it will not be dragging along the floor, however it could come unattached from the curtain rail above it, meaning that it drags along the floor and becomes a tripping hazard again.
The lamp being moved closer to a plug socket means that the wire will not have to be draped across the floor, making it no longer a tripping hazard, however the doctor may need to move the lamp to examine a patient with more light, meaning that the wire becomes a tripping hazard again.
What changes or additions would you make to the control measures to improve their effectiveness?
In the waiting room:
For the blocked fire exit, I would increase the effectiveness of the control measures by putting up signs to raise awareness that the fire exits need to be kept clear, and pointing to where the fire exits are so that they can easily be found in the event of a fire.
For the chemical cupboard I would also put signs up, on the door of the cupboard warning people of the hazardous chemicals inside, and also maybe put child locks on the door so that even if the door is left unlocked, it won’t be able to be opened by children.
For the stairs, I would paint the edges of the stairs yellow, so they stand out to people when they are walking down them, reducing the risk of them not seeing the edges clearly and tripping.
I would remove the lid of the toy box to prevent the risk of any children shutting their fingers in it, making it a lot safer to play with especially for younger children who are not yet aware of the dangers of hinges and trapping their fingers in things.
For the magazine rack I would remove some of the older magazines so that they are not piled up so high, meaning they are less likely to be knocked over, and if they are knocked over there will be less of them on the floor to rip on.
I would lastly provide hand sanitizer dispensers all around the waiting room to further reduce the risk of spreading viruses and/or bacteria, and put up signs encouraging people to wash their hands.
In the Doctor's office:
In the doctor’s office, to further increase the effectiveness of the control measures and reduce the risk of children ingesting any pills from the table or around the room, I would get small play pens to put the children in to keep them occupied and stop them wandering around and putting things in their mouth.
To increase the effectiveness of storing the samples in another room that can be locked, I would get a door that locks itself when it is closed, in case one of the people using the room forgets to lock it with the key after using it.
I would also do the same to the cupboard with the needles in, I would ensure that the door to the cupboard is self-locking and advise the doctors to wear gloves when using the cupboard or handling needles.
I would secure the coat rack to the floor as well as securing it to the wall, meaning if it gets something heavy put on it which breaks the wall bracket, it will still be secured to the floor and reduce the likelihood of it falling on someone.
For the curtain, after changing it to one of a suitable length, I would change the way it is attached to the curtain rail; instead of using hooks, which the curtain could easily become unattached if pulled, I would use loops so the curtain rail threads through the curtain so that it cannot come off.
For the lamp I would secure the wire to the wall around the skirting board, or I would replace the lamp entirely with a wireless one, that runs on batteries, so the risk of tripping on a wire is completely eliminated.
by
ellyharvey98gmailcom (student)
