Canada’s climate is changing and extreme weather is becoming less predictable and more intense. Therefore, it’s important for organizations to plan for emergencies, and waste management should be a part of that plan. Healthcare administrators should review their organization’s resources and reporting systems to effectively prepare for emergencies. These range from man-made disasters to severe weather to virus outbreaks. Early problem solving can help alleviate stress among healthcare professionals and ensure the organization is ready to respond.
Healthcare providers work tirelessly every day to protect the well-being of their patients, but an unsafe and inefficient work environment could result in unnecessary stress on healthcare staff. Creating a safe healthcare workplace is important to support the people who care for others. Since hospitals and health systems must remain operational regardless of the disaster, plans should be put in place to address their continuing care, including waste management needs.
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Safety plans are a critical component of any Occupational Health and Safety program, these documents help provide guidance during potentially dangerous situations and help uncover potential safety gaps at your practice.
Fostering a trusting relationship with your employees and confirming you understand applicable regulations before a crisis can help save time and avoid panic when an incident occurs. Stericycle’s Workplace Hazard Management Solution offers customers an Emergency Preparedness Safety Plan with information on preparing, training, and possibly preventing emergencies and dangerous situations.
Partner with Trusted and Reliable Vendors
Compliance management should be considered as part of your emergency preparedness plan. One way to help prepare for an emergency is to consult a trusted and reliable partner that has the ability to handle your regulated medical waste even in an emergency. Working with a service provider, such as Stericycle, which has an extensive footprint, a large truck fleet, responsive team members, and open customer communication can help healthcare organizations with their waste management needs during uncertain times.
How Stericycle Prepares for Emergencies
We actively monitor inclement weather and watch for alerts. Managers from our potentially impacted facilities collaborate with our Environmental Health and Safety team to closely monitor a storm’s progress. Since weather emergencies, such as hurricanes, snow storms, and thunderstorms, can change course and severity literally overnight, it is critical that we have eyes on what’s occurring and be ready to adapt our response accordingly.
Depending on the emergency and predicted effects, the Environmental Health and Safety team will decide whether or not to activate our emergency management plans. These are detailed blueprints that describe how we prepare for, respond to, and recover from a range of emergencies. More specifically, the plans outline how we should secure our buildings and their contents; maintain our clients’ business continuity; and safeguard team members, whether they are working in our facilities or at home.
How Stericycle Can Help Healthcare Facilities During Emergencies
Due to the volatile nature of emergencies, it is critical for our team to be prepared for anything. Those on the front lines are always thinking creatively about how to serve customers that can’t pause their operations. Our response is always evolving because every situation is different. We learn from each event and continue to refine our emergency preparedness program to ensure we provide the safest, most responsive service amid challenging dynamics.
Learn more about how Stericycle can serve as a key partner to healthcare organizations during emergencies.
