Location, design, construction and practices are all part of the picture
Safety starts with your location and continues to everyday employee practices. Stough can help you protect everyone who enters your center—as well as your product.
1. How your location, design and construction impact safety
It takes intentionality from the beginning to improve safety at your plasma center.
Location
We find the centers we design and build are not only more secure, but also more productive when located in middle-class neighborhoods close to universities and medical facilities.
A free-standing building, attractively landscaped and well-lit, with a well-lit parking lot, sets visitors at ease compared to a center in a run-down strip mall with litter in the parking lot.
Design
Waiting areas that are spacious and welcoming, with comfortable chairs, go a long way toward helping donors feel calm around each other.
A clear path through the donation process is also key. When people understand where to go and what to do, they naturally feel more relaxed.
Stough-designed plasma centers make safety a priority:
- Staff can see what is happening throughout the center at all times
- We suggest and design for a video surveillance system
- Access to sensitive areas is restricted
Finish choices
Our interior design team chooses finishes that are easily cleaned so staff and donors stay protected in terms of hygiene.
2. Product safety to protect your profit margin
Safe employee practices can prevent trip and fire hazards, and keep your product safe.
Preventing hazards
A safe place to smoke with safe butt disposal receptables (not in front of the building) will prevent employees from smoking in storage areas, where improper disposal of butts can create a fire hazard.
Policies that restrict the stacking of more than two boxes reduce the chance of heavy objects falling on employees or donors.
The improper transport of large items like televisions on carts is a recipe for disaster. Set and impose rules for how many things can go on a cart, and where they are placed on the cart (heavier objects should go on the bottom shelf).
Treatment of biohazards
Careful handling of medical waste is key to safety. There should never be an exception to the immediate placement of syringes in biohazard containers, for example. When full, these need to be promptly taken to the restricted-access biohazard room.
3. Maintaining an environment that feels safe
Screening/health checks, sanitation and regular training can make the difference between a center that feels safe and one that causes anxiety.
Donor screening processes should never be compromised. This process can help identify donors with mental or physical health conditions that may pose a risk to themselves or others.
Finding an excellent janitorial service and making sure their staff understand the necessity of maintaining a clean and sterile environment will help everyone entering your center feel well cared for.
Proper hand-washing is key to disease prevention. Check your bathrooms often to make sure the signage, soap, hot water and paper towels/dryers are maximized to encourage the washing of hands after using the toilet.
At other strategic points throughout your facility, hand sanitizers may also be advantageous.
Do you need a security presence?
Depending on a number of factors, you may wish to invest in having a professional security person on-premises at certain times. Seeing a uniformed officer can help visitors feel safer.
Do your employees know what to do if a donor or staff members becomes unruly?
De-escalation should be part of ongoing employee training.
Do you have emergency response plans in place? Are they rehearsed often?
Employees who know what to do in case of a medical emergency, active shooter, bomb, tornado, hurricane or flood, will help prevent panic, which can lead to injuries.
Staff members should know where to take donors in case of a Shelter in Place order, and how to lead an orderly evacuation if needed.
Regular refreshers on these plans will help employees feel prepared.
What are your procedures for reporting incidents, near misses and safety hazards?
A culture of Safety First and transparency encourages employees to take ownership of safety. When an employee knows they will be rewarded for reporting a potential hazard, incident or near-miss, they are more likely to share such situations with colleagues and management.
THE CHANCES OF INCIDENT-FREE OPERATIONS GO UP WITH COMPREHENSIVE SAFETY PLANNING, PREPARATION AND REVIEW. STOUGH CAN GUIDE YOU THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS.