Finding a Voice

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

incident reports

Have I mentioned that my new workplace is a different world? It is, indeed, unlike any other place I have worked, and I've worked in everything from sanitation engineering (janitor) to summer camp counselling and directing to teaching overseas and in a college to academic administration. But I had never worked in the "health care" field nor in a unionized setting. Now here I am, an employee with the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region.

So the first 15 minutes of our days are scheduled for stretching (aka TLR = transfer, life, repositioning).* I have had jobs where we started the day with prayer, but not exercise. It's kind of nice.

Three part-time training weeks on the job and I have "accidentally" discovered another fascinating detail -- twice: incident reports.

The first incident report was for a paper cut, when I jokingly exclaimed to the co-worker training me, "Oh no! Call Worker's Comp." She half-smiled and then very seriously said, "Actually, you do have to fill out a form." You have got to be kidding -- a form for a paper cut!?!? Yup. Fill it out, fax it in to the central office, and report it to your supervisor within 24 hours.

The second incident report was for getting a finger caught in a desk drawer. Drama queen that I am, I yelped quite loudly, not expecting anyone to pay attention as I was alone in the office. But my supervisor heard me and leapt from her office to my doorway: "What happened!?" "Oh," I said, "I just caught my finger in this drawer. I don't have to fill out a form, do I?" She kind of chuckled and said, "Yes, you do." Chalk it up to another learning experience. My supervisor and co-workers quipped, "Next time you won't yell so loud." Indeed.

Apparently, in a health care environment, one must take these things seriously. Legend has it that one woman received a paper cut on the job and was hospitalized that weekend with an infection. So I can appreciate the attention to detail -- and I really need to be more careful!


*"The Occupational Health and Safety department provides training on a range of safe practices such as TLR (transfer, lift, repositioning), proper use of equipment and training for managers and supervisors."

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posted by Colleen McCubbin at 11:30 AM

1 Comments:

...accidentally discovered...ha ha ha! You're so clever.

February 20, 2007 11:27 AM  

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