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Over the years, standards and requirements for healthcare buildings and hospitals have become more and more complex, and require a deeper level of expertise. This expertise is a necessity not only for the healthcare professionals working in these facilities, but for those involved in designing and constructing them. Infection control within healthcare is a moral and legal responsibility and can be fatal if not followed correctly. A large majority of healthcare construction projects take place in the middle of active hospitals around patients with vulnerable immune systems, who can’t risk any level of exposure to the work being performed around them.

Here are a few things your contractor should be doing between compliance requirements and best practices.

1. Preliminary Inspections

Prior to work beginning in any space, the construction team should conduct a preliminary inspection. This team includes members from the healthcare facility, owner team and contractor and assists in creating multiple risk assessments.

First and foremost, an Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) will be created and will serve to identify the potential risks and the preventative measures to be taken during the construction activities in order to reduce risk exposure.

An Interim Life Safety Measures Assessment (ILSM) must be performed on any system or element that could create a life safety code deficiency. This includes specifics about impairment of access and egress, fire detection and alarm systems, etc.

A Patient Impact Risk Assessment (PIRA) will also be performed to identify risk and ways to mitigate risk to any patients who may become affected due to the construction, whether it be from noise, vibration, dust and more.

Your contractor must ensure compliance with each of these. Both the ICRA standards – and class requirements that it specifies – and Interim Life Safety Measures must be posted throughout the facility, so staff can refer to them as needed. Complying with these standards is one thing, but in this high risk setting, it’s important to choose a contractor who goes above and beyond to ensure the health and safety of everyone.   

2. Training & Education

One thing your contractor should be doing is ensuring its own staff and subcontractors are educated and motivated to take part in infection control maintenance throughout the entirety of the project. Your contractors should assign crew members their own infection control responsibilities, properly train them on how to do so, and hold them accountable for completing their responsibilities correctly.

It is vitally important for your contractor and their subcontractors to know and adhere to the healthcare facility’s policies and procedures, and contractors should be fully prepared to be trained on them and to train subcontractors on them as well. Safety is everyone’s job, which means all parties involved, regardless of job title, should be able to recognize and mitigate hazards.

3. Awareness of Surroundings

Your contractor should go above and beyond to mitigate patient impact. This involves full awareness of the surroundings and coordinating the construction schedule with the patient schedule. It’s important your contractor schedules work around the more vulnerable time periods to eliminate or reduce all potential risks. Questions to consider include:

·        How far are patients, visitors or staff from active construction work?

·        What are the susceptibilities of the patients in the area of construction?

·        Could vibrations affect their recovery or comfort?

·        Could noise do the same?

·        What is the best way to mitigate these hazards?

·        Can you move any work to a different, less busy shift?

Your contractor should be motivated to work closely with and have a constructive relationship with hospital managers regarding all of these things. Communication is key.

4. Zero Tolerance

Zero Tolerance is a no brainer when it comes to healthcare safety and infection control and prevention. Taking shortcuts can risk patients’ lives, so choosing a contractor who will hold every party involved accountable for their part in risk management is vital to the operation. The slightest contamination or safety breach can have life threatening consequences to an innocent patient already fighting for his or her life. Your contractor should have no problem dismissing or fining any crew members or subcontractors for any level of safety violation.

At C.E. Floyd, we emphasize the importance of ensuring the health and safety of all patients, staff, construction crews, and the healthcare community. For us, it goes farther than following standards and guidelines, and it should for your contractors too.

Contact us to see how we can help you with your next construction project.