Principles of Safety for Healthy Start, Inc. Home Visiting

Background: Healthy Start began providing home visiting services to pregnant women and children to the Pittsburgh area, an urban population, in 1991. The Healthy Start Pittsburgh program began providing services to women and children in Fayette County, a rural project area, in 2000. Objective: Since 2006, HSI has experienced an increase of worker's compensation claims. This abstract will investigate measures HSI has taken in an effort to reduce worker's compensation claims and increase staff safety. Methods: Health and safety of the HSI workforce is vital to the success of the organization. All staff receives four weeks of classroom training and two weeks of peer shadowing. Training topics include home visiting safety, core services, policies and procedures. The last two weeks the training class follows a seasoned veteran who offers guidance and instruction. Healthy Start has developed a comprehensive emergency safety plan. Our outreach staff was issued a cell phone to call the office, their direct supervisor and 911 in case of an emergency. This is extremely important during building emergencies, community violence issues, and home visiting issues. To reduce slip and fall claims Healthy Start issued slip resistant shoes. Results: Since implementation we have reduced our Insurance premium by 15%. Slip and fall injuries have been eliminated. Violence against home visiting staff remains at 0. Conclusions/Implications: Healthy Start, Inc. has drastically reduced the amount of workers compensation claims and increase staff safety due to the installment of effective policies and procedures.