We are pleased to announce the next phase of the collaboration between Care Providers of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Workplace Safety Consultation. Last year we kicked off our alliance with several educational sessions and three workplace safety on-site consultation experiences. The three facilities (and neighboring guests) that participated were so pleased with their experience that we decided to expand this experience into eight sites this year—corresponding to the eight regions we have at the Association. The events will be one-day experiences (instead of two-day experiences as they were last year); and they will be conducted in locations throughout the state.

How This Will Work:
Representatives from the Workplace Safety Consultation (WSC) division will come to the nursing facility/assisted living establishment to conduct a detailed facility walk-through and review of mandated safety & health programs. Those accompanying the consultants will be provided an opportunity to ask questions and learn first-hand the safety & health issues associated with nursing facilities and assisted living. Designated host facility staff would be able to participate in the on-site training for no fee; there would be a minimal charge for guests from other facilities to cover food costs. On-site training will cover both health and safety issues with a focus on safe patient handling and ergonomics hazards. During the consultative surveys, items deemed in violation of an MNOSHA standard would be identified, and those items deemed ‘Serious’ would require correction by the host site, within a mutually agreed time-frame. The goal of the visit would be to provide a learning experience and promote workplace safety, through direct participation.

Benefits to Host Facility:

• The host site has the benefit of knowing what needs to be fixed without paying any penalties for non-compliance.
• The host site has the ability to include any of its staff in the training experience for no fee.
• The host site staff will learn whether they are properly using their new safe patient handling equipment.

If you are interested in being considered as a host facility, contact Patti Cullen at the Association office at 952-851-2487 or pcullen@careproviders.org. Currently, we have several facilities that volunteered to be host sites when this topic was discussed at our January region meetings. We will collect the list of interested facilities, and if we have more than eight volunteers, we will select based on size and location. Please let me know of your interest by February 18th.

Patti Cullen, CAE
952.851.2487
pcullen@careproviders.org

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