NY Pub Health L § 2997-K (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 29-D - Health Information and Quality Improvement Title 1-A - Safe Patient Handling 2997-K - Safe Patient Handling Committees; Programs.

§  2997-k. Safe patient handling committees; programs. 1. On or before January first, two thousand sixteen, each  health  care  facility  shall establish a safe patient handling committee (referred to in this section as  a  "committee"  except where the context clearly requires otherwise) either by creating a new committee or assigning the functions of a  safe patient  handling  committee to an existing committee, including but not limited to  a  safety  committee  or  quality  assurance  committee,  or subcommittee  thereof.  The  purpose  of  a  committee  is to design and recommend the process for implementing a safe patient  handling  program for  the  health  care facility. The committee shall include individuals with expertise or experience that is relevant to safe patient  handling, including  risk  management, nursing, purchasing, or occupational safety and health, and in facilities where there are employee  representatives, at  least  one  shall  be appointed on behalf of nurses and at least one shall be appointed on behalf of direct care workers.  One  half  of  the members of the committee shall be frontline non-managerial employees who provide  direct  care to patients. At least one non-managerial nurse and one non-managerial direct care worker  shall  be  on  the  safe  patient handling  committee.  In health care facilities where a resident council is established, and where feasible, at least  one  member  of  the  safe patient  handling  committee shall be a representative from the resident council. The committee shall have two co-chairs with one from management and one frontline non-managerial nurse or direct care worker.   2. On or before January first, two  thousand  seventeen,  each  health care  facility,  in  consultation  with the committee, shall establish a safe patient handling program. As part of this program,  a  health  care facility shall:  (a) implement a safe patient handling policy, considering the elements of  the  sample  safe  patient  handling  policies  and  best  practices disseminated by the commissioner, as well as the type  of  facility  and its  services,  patient populations and care plans, types of caregivers, and physical environment, for all shifts and units of  the  health  care facility.  Implementation  of  the  safe  patient handling policy may be phased-in;  (b) conduct a patient  handling  hazard  assessment.  This  assessment should  consider  such  variables  as  patient-handling  tasks, types of nursing units, patient  populations  and  the  physical  environment  of patient care areas;  (c)  develop  a  process  to  identify the appropriate use of the safe patient handling policy based on  the  patient's  physical  and  medical condition  and  the availability of safe patient handling equipment. The policy shall include a means to address  circumstances  under  which  it would  be  contraindicated  based  on  a  patient's  physical,  medical, weight-bearing, cognitive and/or rehabilitative status to use lifting or transfer aids or assistive devices for particular patients;  (d) provide initial and on-going yearly training and education on safe patient handling for current employees  and  new  hires,  and  establish procedures  to ensure that retraining for those found to be deficient is provided as needed;  (e) set up and  utilize  a  process  for  incident  investigation  and post-investigation  review  which  may  include a plan of correction and implementation of controls;  (f) conduct  an  annual  performance  evaluation  of  the  program  to determine its effectiveness, with the results of the evaluation reported to  the  committee.  The  evaluation shall determine the extent to which implementation of the program has resulted in a reduction in the risk of injury to patients, musculoskeletal disorder claims  and  days  of  lost work  attributable  to  musculoskeletal disorders by employees caused by  patient handling, and include recommendations to increase the  program's effectiveness;  (g) when developing architectural plans for constructing or remodeling a  health  care  facility  or  a unit of a health care facility in which patient handling  and  movement  occurs,  consider  the  feasibility  of incorporating  patient  handling  equipment  or  the  physical space and construction design needed to incorporate  that  equipment  at  a  later date; and  (h)  develop  a process by which employees may refuse to perform or be involved in patient handling or movement that  the  employee  reasonably believes  in  good  faith  will expose a patient or health care facility employee to an unacceptable risk of injury. Such process  shall  require that  the nurse or direct care worker make a good faith effort to ensure patient safety and bring the matter to the attention of the facility  in a  timely  manner. A health care facility employee who reasonably and in good faith follows the process developed by the health care facility  in accordance   with   this   subdivision  shall  not  be  the  subject  of disciplinary action by the health  care  facility  for  the  refusal  to perform or be involved in the patient handling or movement.