Chemical Spill Safety Drill in King Abdulaziz Hospital - Al Ahsa
The Safety Department at King Abdulaziz Hospital - Al Ahsa, Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs, and as a part of the employees training program, conducted a chemical spill safety drill for a training hypothesis to rescue two workers who were exposed chemical spills while they were working on cleaning up one of the hospitals sections.
The Regional Executive Director of the Ministry of National Guard -Health Affairs in the Eastern Region, Dr. Ahmad Al Arfaj, pointed out that “This drill comes to determine the extent of the hospital’s preparedness level in case of similar accidents, and within a series of practical training sessions that are held to train workers to deal with such incidents.”
Also, He added that "the hospital conducts such drills periodically, and forms committees to evaluate and record observations to avoid them in the future, and to improve any errors, if any, in order to familiarize the cadres working with doctors, nurses, technicians and administrators to realistically handle such incidents."
Dr. Al-Arfaj said, "We test, through these drills, the hospital's ability to deal with incidents, through the development of scientific and practical strategies and plans, which workers are trained on through workshops and lectures, so that practical application will be based on these strategies."
For his part, the Safety Department supervisor, Mr. Khaled Al-Otaibi, said, "The scenario for the drill is about two cleaning workers who were exposed to spills of chemicals while they were working in the laboratory department, , so that one of them is injured in his foot and the other in his eyes. The designated code will be then activated, to get a response from the concerned departments, including the Safety Department, which arrived in record time."
He further explained that "the two injured workers were transferred to the emergency room, and reports were made for discussion amongst the concerned departments to avoid any errors in the future, which will be then sent to all participating departments."
Moreover, the Acting Director of the Fire Protection Department at the hospital, Mohamed Al-Jafer, said that "dealing with the scenario of the drill is done in a deliberate way. In fact, in order to measure the readiness of the concerned departments to deal with such incidents, including the department in which the incident occurred, Fire Protection Department, Emergency Department, Nursing Department, and everyone involved in dealing with such incidents.
Finally, He explained that "the drill is carried out in complete confidentiality without the knowledge of the concerned departments". Adding, "the injured are transferred to a tent prepared for disinfection of these materials, through a very meticulous process before being transferred to the ambulance, after which they will be transferred to the emergency department, whose staff are well trained to deal with such incidents.”