Hospital Safety Index Guide for Small and Medium Healthcare Facilities
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Ensuring that health care hospitals are safe during emergencies is a collective responsibility and involves the active participation of local authorities, other related sectors and institutions, and the general community. Health personnel have a key role in this endeavor: their work can contribute to increasing or decreasing the risks in their workplace. It is well-known that the first response to a disaster occurs with locally available resources. Hospitals, therefore, must be prepared to provide services without interruption following an adverse event. This guide outlines the risks that most often occur in hospitals of medium and low complexity, and is designed to build the capacity of these hospitals so that they can continue to provide services after an adverse event occurs. It provides information on identifying key areas of vulnerability in the structural, nonstructural, and certain functional aspects of a building in order to guide interventions that may be necessary to increase a hospital’s safety from natural and other hazards. It has been prepared taking into account the realities of Latin America and the Caribbean, and we encourage users to adapt the contents that best apply to their country’s situation. The information in this manual will help health authorities to develop an intervention strategy and to prioritize actions according to their importance and the time and resources available. The process takes into account the importance of directing resources gradually to solve the problems already mentioned and to carry out activities in the short-term. Rather than a large budget, the process requires resourcefulness and the will to carry out the activities. View also the Hospital Safety Index Calculator for Small Health Facilities |