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Assistive technologies
Original article
Innovation in tools for safe manual handling in a Hong Kong private hospital
  1. Man Fai Har1,
  2. Kenneth Howard Lam1,
  3. Tak Ting Pang2,
  4. Chung Yee Mak3,
  5. Sze Wah Tam1,
  6. Pok Faan Tsang1,
  7. Hong Ting Lau1,
  8. Ching Leong Wong1,
  9. Wing Yee Wu4
  1. 1Estate Department, Union Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  2. 2Quality Assurance Department, Union Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  3. 3Hospital Management & Administration Department, Union Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  4. 4Department of Emergency Medicine, Union Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  1. Correspondence to Kenneth Howard Lam; kennethlam{at}union.org

Abstract

Staff in the healthcare industry are susceptible to musculoskeletal injuries due to frequent manual handling procedures. The study describes the systematic approach in proactive risk assessment of occupational safety and innovative design of appropriate tools to minimise the risk of injury to staff in a private hospital in Hong Kong. As a result, 4 tools to cater to specific manual handling procedures were developed by an in-house engineering team. The study highlights the benefits of incorporating innovations in tool (re)design to enhance safe manual handling in a hospital setting.

  • Manual Handling Operation
  • Mechanical Aid
  • Assistive Design
  • Innovation

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000088

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors HMF conceived the innovation design, supervised and provided critical comments on the drafts of the manuscript. LKH, TPF, LHT and WCL were responsible for the first draft of manuscripts, tables and figures editing. TSW was responsible coordinating of the study, collecting data for first draft. PTT was responsible for literature search and major editing of manuscripts. MCY was responsible for providing critical comments on the drafts of the manuscript and English editing. WWY was responsible for providing critical comments on the drafts.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.