A Workplace Improvement Chronicle

1. Alberta Coverage
5S GazetteA Workplace Improvement Chronicle
Friday, October 12, 2012 Issue 3.10
Creating a 5S Ambulance Workspace at the Hospital
Don Sharpe, Paramedic, Calgary,AB.
Hospital Ambulance Bays are busy parking, storage
and resupply areas. Developing a safety oriented 5S
workspace can improve both the safety and efficiency of
the space, and help improve patient care.
As the Paramedics are pulling up to the hospital
ambulance bay with a patient who’s badly injured or
very sick, they’ve got enough to worry about.
Anxious to get the patient in to see a doctor,Paramedics
shouldn’t have to be wondering if there’s a space left
to park their ambulance inside! They shouldn’t be
wondering if there’s enough light to see where they’re
going, if the recycling or garbage bins are in the way, or
if there’s mud & water on the floor that they’ll have to
walk through.
In theAmbulance Bay of a busy HospitalTrauma Center,
we need a system like 5S to ensure our Paramedics are
able to move patients quickly from the back of the
ambulance and directly in to receive further medical
care. There are other hospital departments which
also use the Ambulance Bay, and these groups need
to understand and depend on the 5S system to help
define what appropriate use of the limited space
available is.
Nurses might see it as a good place to store the
Emergency Department Christmas decorations; supply
management could store boxes of suction parts in
there. Housekeeping will often keep floor cleaning
equipment,extra mop heads and bulk cleaning solution
there, and it’s a great place to keep several green
garbage bags filled with pop cans for recycling to raise
money for the Social Club!
So, here we are with a sick patient in our ambulance, now
wondering if,with all the various wonderful uses the Hospital
has found for our Ambulance Bay, we even have room to
park inside at all!
Continued on next page...
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Equipment
Hazards

2. Alberta Coverage
If you have an improvement story you would like to publish please send it to raiello@gienow.com
Friday, October 14, 2012 Issue 3.10
5S Sustain Results
The 5S system gives us a clearly defined starting point
and directions for completing hazard assessments while
defining accountability and the appropriateness of all these
competing interests. Using a 5S System Checklist can help
us define and obtain answers to many important questions
regarding what should and should not be in this workspace.
For instance, does housekeeping have the right equipment
and protocols to clean the ambulance bay properly, or
do they just empty the garbage’s and run a broom down
the middle of the space when they have time? Is there
a shop-vacuum in the bay, or do they use the same one
they use to do the carpet in the administrators office?
Are biohazards and contaminated equipment issues being
properly addressed? Are spill kits, eye wash stations and fire
extinguishers available and accessible?
5S helps determine accountability for the space, and that
accountability will lead to the creation of protocols which
will prevent the area from deteriorating to the level of a
seldom cleaned, carelessly managed parking and storage
space. Involving WHS and Infection Control professionals
who are familiar with the 5S System will ensure that these
new established procedures meet appropriate national
standards and guidelines.
Creating a 5S Ambulance Workspace at the Hospital con’t
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