The Study of Risk Management Approaches for Mechanized Equipment in the Hospitals of Iran: A Case ‎Study in the Selected Hospitals of Iran

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to study risk management approaches for machinery in selected hospitals of Tabriz and Tehran. This study also examined the status of risk management among the participating groups in the study, compared them with each other and prioritized preventive measures to improve the safety of machinery. Because of the significance of incidents related to the machinery at different sections, the risk management approaches for machinery safety at industrial sections are somehow known and documented. Yet, there are a few information and knowledge about the significance of the risks related to the machinery and their management approaches at different parts of the hospital. Methods: For the study, which was a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional one, 14 hospitals of Tabriz and Tehran were visited. This study was carried out with 48 supervisors/managers of physical installation and maintenance and repairs, supervisors/managers of laundry services, supervisors/managers of food services and health and safety experts (HSE) in 2018 at 12 selected hospitals of Tabriz and Tehran. The research instrument consisted of a questionnaire, which was designed and performed by Jean-Claude Tremblay and colleagues in 2017, which was translated according to the local conditions and was used under questionnaire of the machinery risk management approaches. This questionnaire consisted of two parts of demographic information and subscales (Q1 dimension [machinery risk management], Q2 [Machinery safety], Q3 [tagout and lockout], Q4 [machinery inspection], Q5 [training]) and included 41 questions. Results: The status of the risk management approach for the machinery of the selected hospitals showed that among the four participated groups, Q4 dimension (machine inspection) had the highest mean score and the lowest mean score belonged to Q5 dimension (training). In the meantime, HSE experts had the highest risk management scores among the other three groups. Conclusion: According to the visit to hospitals and the comments of the participants in this study, it was found that no risk assessment method was carried out on the machinery. It is worth noting that during the visit, some machinery and equipment were unprotected. It was also found that inspection of machinery, instructions, and procedures for the safety of machinery, tagout and lockout and training about machinery (such as risk prevention, risk assessment, etc.) are in critical and very low status‎.

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