Facility Executive
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced the preliminary Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2015. Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, presented the list at the 2015 National Safety Council Congress & Expo.

Zack Budryk, Fierce Healthcare
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have had early signs of success but the care delivery model continues to undergo changes to meet the needs of providers who strive to improve care and lower costs.

HHS Press Office
Health and emergency preparedness professionals now have access to the nation’s first and most comprehensive system of resources designed specifically to help communities better prepare for and manage the health impacts of disasters.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
The Joint Commissions has published Sentinel Event Alert on preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities, particularly among elderly and frail patients.

Ken Bukowski, Healthcare Facilities Today
Health care administrators know the importance of staying current on industry knowledge and regulations. From facility-specific protocols to regulations necessary for hospital accreditation, employee knowledge plays a huge role in maintaining a hospital’s compliance.

Thandi Fletcher, Metro News
Researchers have re-engineered three isolation rooms as part of a pilot study to reduce the risk of infection for bone marrow transplant patients.

CleanLink
When making purchasing decisions, what buyers invariably focus on is the sticker price. But, ultimately, the purchase price of a piece of equipment, such as an automatic scrubber or carpet extractor, may have little to do with how much it costs to own the machine.

Susan Bleasdale, MD, Hospitals & Health Networks
Infectious disease specialists can reduce risks in many hospital functions, such as purchasing equipment, protection during construction, and preparing for disasters.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Increasingly, hospitals are adding ultraviolet robots to their disinfection arsenals. Thomas Kelley, MD, chief of quality and clinical transformation at Orlando Health, described the success the organization has had with the robots in a recent interview with Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
The CDC added six new institutions to its Prevention Epicenters Program that will work to discover new methods to prevent health care-associated infections and protect patients.

Kelly Romano, MPH, CIC, Infection Control Today
Recently a survey purported to demonstrate a causal association between reusable sharps containers and hospital acquired Clostridium difficile infections. It was published in the July 30 edition of Becker’s Hospital Review.

Virginia Tech via Infection Control Today
Antibiotic resistance is a growing global public health threat causing an estimated 23,000 deaths in America alone each year. One historically overlooked avenue by which antibiotic resistance can spread is through contact or consumption of contaminated water.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
While rates of many health care-associated infections continue to decline, the importance of involving patients and health care professionals in the prevention of infections remains paramount.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, Harvard Business Review
Creating goals that you will actually accomplish isn’t just a matter of defining what needs doing—you also have to spell out the specifics of getting it done.

Nicole Fallon Taylor, Business News Daily
Smart employers know that retaining their top talent means making them feel valued and giving them opportunities to advance.

MyAHE is our branded members-only discussion forum. On MyAHE, you can ask your most pressing environmental services related questions or answer questions posed by other professionals.

Event Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2015, at 12 CT/1 p.m. ET
The single overriding mission of every health care provider is to ensure the best possible patient care. The key to achieving that mission is the people who provide the care—an incredibly diverse mix of traditional FTEs and contingent travelers, per diem, hourly and contract staffers. Sourcing, engaging and managing contingent labor in this complex health care workforce requires a continually increasing level of management focus and operational resources.

October 13–15, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm each day
AHE invites you to be a part of the second CHEST Train the Trainer Workshop! If you’re interested in being a certified CHEST instructor, sign up for this upcoming workshop in Baltimore.

AHE via CleanLink
Sealed Air’s Diversey Care division has been presented with The Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) Innovation Award for its TASKI Intellibot SWINGOBOT 1650, a "green," hands-free robotic floor scrubber. Introduced in 2013, the AHE Innovation Award recognizes and increases awareness of products, processes and technology advancements that empower individuals to improve measured outcomes in the health care environment.

If interested in contributing to EXPLORE by authoring a best-practices article, email Heather Williams, EXPLORE editor, for more information. The magazine covers all aspects relevant to health care environmental services professionals.

J. Hudson Garrett Jr., PhD
There are many elements that go into emergency response plans, and here we’ve outlined some of the main considerations of a plan as it relates to infections prevention and control and environmental services.

Rock Jensen
Laundry processing of health care linens has experienced a significant shift. From the management of self-operated onsite laundry operations to the use of outsourced external central laundries, hospitals are evaluating the cost efficiencies of both in-house and outsourced processes.