Mason Health kicks off SafetyZones campaign

Kirk Boxleitner | Sep 14, 20230

Mason Health and eight other regional hospital systems took steps this summer to meet new statewide goals aimed at creating safer workplaces.

Participating hospitals are working to reduce injuries and create safer work environments by launching safety campaigns for employees.

Those hoping to receive top performer status this year are required to inaugurate and complete

safety campaigns, running from Aug. 1 through Nov. 30, that focus their employees’ attention on how to conduct themselves more safely at work.

Melissa McClaran acts as Mason Health’s program manager of infection prevention, and of employee health and safety. She deemed workplace safety important because hospital systems’ employees deserve to feel cared for as much as they care for patients.

“We want our employees to know we’re looking out for them, as well as for our patients,” McClaran said. “At other hospitals, the emphasis on safety is often with patients, but we want our employees to know this is a safe environment for everybody.”

Members of Mason Health’s Safety Committee hail from various hospital departments and have been meeting regularly to look at employee safety matters.

This year’s campaign encourages employees to report safety concerns through a system called SafetyZones, which provides employees with a phone number and an online form to call or fill out to alert the system to safety matters.

McClaran said the safety committee started this year’s campaign with a Safety Fair on Aug. 2 at Mason General Hospital for employees. The event included games about scenarios that employees might encounter during a workday, asking employees whether they should report each scenario through SafetyZones, or if they should contact IT or maintenance instead.

McClaran said the Safety Committee will remind employees about the importance of SafetyZones each month, while also tracking the numbers and types of safety incidents reported.

SafetyZones is the reason Mason Health has security guards around the clock, throughout the week, and why its stop signs now have flashing lights, McClaran said.

“Those changes happened because employees put in reports through SafetyZones, and they were specific about the issues that were happening,” McClaran said. “We encourage SafetyZones for anything that affects the safety of employees, visitors or patients, including physical or verbal abuse, or even people in our parking lot who may be looking in cars.”

As each month’s SafetyZones data is compiled, McClaran looks forward to tracking the safety-improving effectiveness of Mason Health employees’ reports.

This campaign coincides with Mason Health marking 55 years of serving patients and the community as a licensed and accredited acute care hospital with a Level 4 emergency trauma designation, plus more than 100 physicians on staff working in 19 specialties.

For further details, go to http://www.tinyurl.com/4b65sat2.