Safe Patient Handling In Washington State


	For questions or comments about this site please contact Washington's Safe Patient Handling Steering Committee at: sph@washingtonsafepatienthandling.com

The Safe Patient Handling Steering Committee makes no representations or warranties as to the quality, content, nature, or reliability of the information contained in this website, including but not limited to its currency, accuracy, or completeness. You expressly agree that use of this site, including all content or date distributed by, downloaded, or accessed from or through this site, is at your own risk.

Write your Safe Patient Handling Policy by December 2007

It is important to consider...

• Administrative practices
• Procedures
• Organizational practices

This policy is dependent on the structure of your hospital's safe patient handling committee. Some hospitals will be creating a committee that is not linked to an existing committee while for some hospitals the safe patient handling committee will be a subcommittee of an existing committee.

We recommend that your safe patient handling committee draft a policy together.

Included in the Safe Patient Handling Policy is an employee Right to Refuse Policy. This policy is required by the state legislation. Please refer to RCW 70.41.390(6) for requirements. The Safe Patient Handling Steering Committee has created a Model Right to Refuse Policy that can be used to create your own Right to Refuse Policy for your hospital.

Resources and Tools:

Safe Patient Handling and Movement Policy (VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, James A. Haley Veteran's Hospitial, Tampa, FL)

Memorandum of Understanding (Excerpt) (March 2001. The Association of Unions and The Health Employers Association of B.C.)

Beyond Getting Started: A Resource Guide for Implementing a Safe Patient Handling Program in the Acute Care Setting (see Appendix B for a sample policy, Developed by the AOHP OSHA Alliance Implementation Team)

MultiCare Health System's Safe Patient Handling (No Lift Policy)

Go to Step 4: Assess Risks and Needs

For questions or comments about this site please contact
Washington's Safe Patient Handling Steering Committee at

sph@washingtonsafepatienthandling.com