Construction, demolition, and maintenance projects in the hospital setting and in other health care facilities provide a challenging and rewarding employment opportunity to the construction trades. This type of work is significantly different than in other types of commercial settings in the fact that patient safety through the environment is first and foremost. Working both efficiently and safely maximize process improvement and overall employee satisfaction throughout an organization by understanding the policies and expectations. It also requires a sharing of knowledge through all of the construction trades about complex issues such as infection prevention, containment types, specialty tools, proper dress, and how critical communication is.
In 2017, The Joint Commission, a major hospital accrediting body, addressed several issues that relate to construction, maintenance, and demolition. The need to have an Infection Control Risk assessment for work orders to ensure hospital trades are minimizing the risk of spreading infection through health care facilities is a top priority. The Joint Commission does not set out how hospital workers should do their jobs, but it is looking to see ways in which health care facilities take action to adequately address the issue of infections spreading through construction, maintenance, and demolition. Having a clearly defined process in place to address work orders as they come into the computer maintenance management system (CMMS) will help identify the level of infection control needed, the tools, barriers, and specialty items to minimize the risk of exposing patients to infections. The process will include identifying the critical areas of the hospital, the flow of work identification, (regular power tools are not allowed without HEPA filters in certain regions), barriers, and materials, if any, as well as any associated costs.