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A Dozen Ways to Deliver a Safety Talk on Infection Control
This Monday, a 17-year-old Virginia high school student died from staph infection, prompting a statewide closure of schools.
On Tuesday, experts warned that a drug-resistant staph "superbug" could kill 90,000 people a year and ultimately outstrip the fatality toll from AIDS.
These developments add an element of immediacy to this week's annual observation of Infection Control Week. SafetyXChange did its bit by publishing a Safety Talk about infection control by our safety training expert, Barbara Manning Grimm. Now let's discuss delivery. How do you present a safety talk on something so seemingly basic as hand washing without coming off looking boring and silly to your workers? Here are a few suggestions.
Before the Meeting
As with any other safety talk, the first step in delivering training on hand washing and infection control is preparation.
- Tailor the talk to your own workplace. Walk through the workplace and identify the specific infection hazards in each area of your facility. Make a list of the hazards in each area and make sure your meeting specifically addresses these hazards when you talk to the workers who work in the area.
- Be sure everyone knows that the subject of the meeting will be infection control. Providing advance notification of the topic is important because you want to give workers a chance to think about and be prepared to express their concerns at the meeting.
- Post hand washing instructions and infection control posters at wash stations and in lavatories before the meeting to set the tone.
- Make sure you're up-to-date on the topic. I strongly suggest that you go to the websites of the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control for current information.
- Invite a community healthcare nurse or other guest speaker from outside to talk to your workers about infection control.
During the Meeting
Once the meeting begins, there are certain things you can do to bring it to life.
- Involve Trainees. One effective device is to stage a little play. Invite one of your workers to the front and have her pretend to sneeze and cough. Demonstrate the sanitary and unsanitary methods of nose-wiping, hand washing and coughing.
- Ask workers if they are concerned about SARS, tuberculosis, avian influenza, staph and other infectious diseases. Chances are that at least some of your workers are uninformed and/or have received misinformation about such illnesses. The safety talk is the perfect time to set the record straight.
- Demonstrate proper hand washing technique. This is particularly important if your workers handle food, care for patients, work with chemicals or perform other functions that call for the use of specific hand hygiene procedures.
- Talk to your workers about your company's sick time policies. Seeing a doctor and getting enough rest are often important to recovery.
After the Meeting
Let workers know that the topic of proper and frequent hand washing is important to the company, too. For example:
- If your organization has problems with absenteeism related to minor infectious illnesses such as colds, put on a push for better hand washing hygiene and see if you can improve attendance.
- Consider making waterless disinfectants and alcohol wipes available for frequent cleaning of hands, doorknobs and shared keyboards and telephones.
- Ensure that appropriate skin care products are available to your employees. Make sure wash stations and dispensers of moisturizers are conveniently located. Your workplace should stock products intended for use in industry, rather than consumer products which may not be as effective.
Conclusion
The idea that adult workers need to be taught how to wash their hands may seem absurd. But if infection control researchers are right, it's true. So as flu and cold season approaches, make sure your training agenda includes infection control and the importance of proper hand washing in safeguarding against risks.
MEMBER REPLY
Re: Creating Safety Programs that Stick
You Need Guts of Steel
This is a very difficult subject in that a wide range of diverse parties (including upper management) must buy into what is being done, as was noted by many responders. However, what if they don't, or there are other complications? Do you then just accept the status quo? I think not. We are all human beings. We have good days and we have bad days. The best method is to keep putting the importance of Safety in the forefront. When you do this without fail, the employees will eventually buy into your Safety Climate by the weight of the subject matter itself.
We all want to go home safe, and our safety orientation and workplace emphasis is the primary method by which this objective is aided in being reached. Safety Committees properly run are great. But, one person can make a difference by just keeping on with the training and provision of information with feedback and testing that is engineered for your group. Yes, this requires communication on all levels and guts of steel. If Safety is your only job, you are miles ahead of those who must wear many hats!
Derrick Smith
Safety Facilitator for the City of Forest Park, Ohio
Public Works Department
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An Expression of Gratitude
Thank you for posting my question and compiling the responses. Please pass on my thanks to the members who were kind enough to respond. Their insights have given me several ideas for improving safety in our facility.
Devin Singh
MEMBER XCHANGE
This Week in the Forum
We are trying to set up a warm-up shed for on top of our silos for when maintenance has to do any work up there mid-winter. The current idea is to mount a typical plastic regular variety garden shed up there, and install heating in it. Concerns were raised about possibly melting the shed, electrical in the shed, etc. I am not sure where to look to find the answer to these questions. Does anyone know where I could look to find answers to these questions? Thanks in advance...
Can you help out this SafetyXChange member? If so, log in to the forum and offer your suggestions.
JOKE OF THE WEEK
Watt a Joke!
Question: How many Safety Guys does it take to change a fluorescent light bulb?
Answer: Eight. One to change the bulb, and seven to figure out the HAZMAT procedures for disposing of the old one.
Submitted by
Ralph B. White
Safety and Maintenance
Smith Industries, Midland Texas
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