Environmental Services

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that more U.S. workers are injured in the healthcare industry than any other. This sector has one of the highest rates of work-related injuries and illnesses, and in 2010, it reported 653,900 injury and illness cases. Also for that year, the latest year for which data are available, OSHA says the incidence rate for work-related nonfatal injuries and illnesses in healthcare was 139.9; by comparison, the incidence rate for nonfatal injury and illnesses in all private industry was 107.7. That's a lot of injuries and illness despite the fact that the General Duty Clause of the legislation that created OSHA requires employers to provide workers with a safe workplace that does not have any known hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious injury.

A renewed interest in the healthcare environment and to what degree surface contamination contributes to the spread of infectious pathogens is driving a growing body of research in this area. The following article will take a look at what we know about various aspects of environmental hygiene from the scientific literature.

The Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE), of the American Hospital Association (AHA), and Kimberly-Clark announced today the first recipients of the Heart of Healthcare Awards, honoring outstanding frontline environmental services professionals who make a difference for patients and long-term care and assisted living residents. The award is part of the Heart of Healthcare campaign developed by AHE and Kimberly-Clark Professional, which recognizes and elevates the critical role that frontline environmental services technicians play in the healthcare environment.

There has been a lot of chatter about standards of practice for cleaning and surface disinfection or the perceived lack thereof. Evidence- based best practices in environmental services do in fact exist. However, willingness outside of environmental services to accept them has been less than stellar. Environmental services (EVS) professionals are not scientists nor trained researchers, but they can tell you whether your data can be practically implemented. The bottom line is there are so many conflicting views on everything from disinfecting floors to whether or not infection can be traced back to environmental surfaces, that we are just short of turf wars.

Earlier this year, the annual meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) brought together thousands of infection preventionists, nurses, vendors and other professionals seriously interested in learning how to be more effective in their commitment to reduce preventable HAIs and ensure a safe patient environment. People came from many countries to learn about the latest research presented by healthcare leaders and a number of world-renowned experts dedicated to infection prevention.