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."
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."
Labels: health and wellness, work
posted by Colleen McCubbin at 11:30 AM
1 Comments:
...accidentally discovered...ha ha ha! You're so clever.
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