OSHA Inspection: EXTENDICARE HEALTH SERVICES INC., DBA WILLOWBROOK NURSING AND REHABILITATION

Issued

Oct 17, 2012

Abate by

Nov 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $7,000 · Current $0 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause serious physical harm to employees, in that employees were required to perform tasks resulting in physical stressors that have caused and are likely to cause musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs):   At Willowbrook Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, located at 901 Mulberry St. Lake Mills, Wisconsin, 53551, employees, including Certified Nursing Assistants, lift, transfer, ambulate and reposition non-weight bearing and partial weight bearing residents, exposing them to tasks resulting in injuries.     OSHA has determined that the number of stressors may be reduced by fully implementing a Safe Patient Handling Program, a lifting and transferring policy and related procedures which include guidance on the reduction and/or the elimination of worker MSD injuries, an increased use of appropriate lifting equipment, and improved methods for assessing the needs of each non-weight bearing and partial weight bearing resident and the safest method to lift, transfer, ambulate or reposition each resident.  The employer may adopt any measures that are effective in reducing or eliminating the risk factors for MSDs.  Among others, the following are feasible measures for abating the hazards:  1.  Safe Patient Handling Program. Incorporate the Extendicare Ergonomics Program into a Willowbrook Nursing and Rehabilitation Center specific comprehensive resident handling program to ensure that the lifting, transferring, repositioning and ambulatory needs of all residents are assessed and that all staff responsible for moving residents are trained on the appropriate equipment to use and the correct procedures for lifting, transferring, repositioning and ambulating residents.  Recognize and identify all existing ergonomic stressors related to manual resident handling and identify manual resident handling tasks that are causing or likely to cause injury.  The policy should ensure that the residents are moved safely while encouraging resident mobility and independence and that residents are reassessed if their conditions change.   Ensure that all management and staff are knowledgeable in their roles and responsibilities required in carrying out the resident handling program.  2.  Recordkeeping:  Ensure that musculoskeletal disorder injuries which have occurred are tracked and trended on a regular basis using data from the past three years.  Examine the root causes of the manual lifting, transferring, repositioning and ambulation injuries by year, by team, and by shift.    3.  Equipment.  Ensure that high-risk resident handling tasks are completed safely using mechanical lifting devices or other appropriate equipment or techniques. Provide a sufficient number of lifts to assure that one full dependency lift is available for every eight (8) to ten (10) non-weight bearing residents.  Provide one standup lift for every eight (8) to ten (10) partial weight bearing residents.  Provide lifting equipment with slings in a variety of sizes to allow for the lifting, transferring, ambulation and repositioning of residents.  Provide ambulation aids for residents with balance, strength or endurance limitations.  Provide repositioning devices with friction reducing aids, slide sheets or use full dependency lift slings to assist with repositioning needs in bed.   Ensure that all equipment can easily be used in the constricted facility space.  Ensure that all resident beds can be easily used with all lift assist equipment.   Ensure that the battery charging schedule is followed.  4.   Training.  Ensure that management and all resident handling staff are trained in the recognition of manual lifting, transferring, repositioning and ambulation hazards, facility constraint hazards, and the safe operation during mechanical lifting device use.  Provide initial and annual training to direct care providers and ensure that they are competent to perform the required actions for transferring and moving residents on all of the facility assistive devices.  Training should be done in a manner understood by all employees and should address early recognition of ergonomic injuries and illnesses.  Maintain all training records.   5.  Medical Management Program.  Ensure that all injuries are reported promptly to the unit manager.  Investigate the root cause of each injury so that preventive measures can be implemented.  Modify or accommodate jobs and monitor the light duty activities so that injured staff never performs outside their work restrictions.    6.  Ergonomics Program Evaluation.  Evaluate the effectiveness of the ergonomic efforts and follow up on unresolved problems in order to sustain the effort to reduce injuries, track interventions, identify new problems and determine where improvement is needed.