Our recent STAR Award winner is the Monash Medical Centre (MMC) Specimen Reception, acknowledged for their excellence in occupational health, safety and wellbeing.
The Excellence in Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Award is given to a team developing ways to ensure that employees go home safely and are not injured at work and also that we improve health care and service delivery quality, including:
This may include:
- Identifying and, where possible, eliminating risks in the workplace
- Supporting employees to report issues and then taking action to “fix” the issue
- Discusses workplace safety in an open and transparent way – including discussions around safety dashboards, hazards, incidents, and near misses
- Putting in place employee wellbeing activities and tools that support improved mental health and psychological safety
Our Health, Safety and Wellbeing Team nominated the MMC Specimen Reception team for their excellent and proactive response to an incident where a small amount of formalin (formaldehyde) spilt while a team member was barcode scanning the specimen.
Responding quickly and safely, the team evacuated the immediate area, ensured no one was hurt and used a spill kit to clean the spillage.
The response didn’t end there, with a Pathology team established after the incident to conduct a comprehensive OHS Incident Investigation, take corrective action and implement procedures, equipment and education that were effective and long-lasting.
This response team included:
- Shewanthi Abey, Pre Analytical Manager and responsible for MMC Specimen Reception,
- Ashlee Ryan, MMC Specimen Reception HSR,
- Sean Phefley, Pathology Quality Manager; and
- Rhiannon Bentley, Quality Operations Manager.
Pictured: Shewanthi Abey
Some of those corrective actions taken in response to the incident included:
- Changed the procedure for the arrival of specimens to eliminate the lifting of large specimen bags. Corrections included streamlined delivery locations, adopting a cordless barcode scanner and ordering a scissor lift trolley to receive large specimen bags
- Developed training videos for formalin spills and the revised packaging procedure
- Provided further education/reinforcement of the revised packaging procedure
- Developed posters and a quick guide, with support of Diagnostic Genomics resources
- Distributed an employee memo to reinforce wearing full PPE when handling specimen bags
- Introduced a PPE spot check audit that had been developed by Diagnostic Genomics, which has since been extended to all of Pathology
Their changes were commended by WorkSafe for going above and beyond what was required by also eliminating manual handling issues.
Congratulations to the MMC Specimen Reception team for their response to occupational health, safety and wellbeing!
If you would like to nominate a colleague or team, you can do so at any time by visiting the STAR Awards portal. For more information about the STAR Awards program, Monash Health Employee Recognition Program page.
Approved by Michael Holman (Acting Executive Director People and Culture) and Cath Jeffries (Director Health, Safety and Wellbeing)