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Launching a Successful Safety Management Program for your Dentistry Practice

Launching a Successful Safety Management Program for your Dentistry Practice
Dentists are trained and educated to solely care for patients. However, Most dentists, hygienists or administrative personnel will tell you that multitasking is the key to any job. Not only are they responsible for patient care but are also responsible for the safety management. Safety management is absolutely essential for any business, and this includes the dentistry field as well. It doesn’t matter whether your safety management program is handled by an experienced safety coordinator or whether it is an OSHA compliance coordinator, what matters is that your safety management program should never be compromised due to your busy schedule or basic lack of knowledge.

Does your dentist practice come with its fair share of unnerving irregularity, like a bunch of dirty needles lying around? A pile of dusty Material Safety Data Sheets just lying around? The weekly spore testing documentation that is just not available? Yes, all of us experience these inconsistencies, which is why having a successful safety management program is of the utmost importance. Every safety management program should start by training employees and developing safety policies for a better, safer and penalty-free future.

  • Review OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and the CDC infection control guidelines for dental office settings. Not having a safety program can result in many errors and citations. Safety in healthcare is extremely important.

  • Assess and identify what documentation must be regularly updated and kept in place. Go through the OSHA requirements and ensure that all your employees participate in your training program.

  • Examine your office. How can you make it safer and help comply with the OSHA guidelines? Check the sterilization process, the chemical identification labels on containers, the personal protective equipment used while handling instruments, etc. Check whether all your instruments are cleaned well and make logs of cleaning records.

  • Use Instruments and heat sterilization devices that are cleared by FDA.

  • Observe each of your process, instruments and machinery to see where there could be potential hazards and make logs of these while at the same time correct them.

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