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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The Division of Planning, Evaluation, and Research

Occupation Safety and Health Specialist (Safety Officer)

RRM Category: ADMINISTRATION

 

Overview

The RRM Occupational Safety and Health Specialist (Safety Officer) staffing module estimates the requirements for safety staff to support environment of care accreditation, OSHA regulatory requirements, coordinate and support safety initiatives across professional disciplines and provides feedback for improving performance of the health care system to reduce risk to staff, visitors, and patients. Safety specialists support safety interventions impacting patient care including safe patient handling and mobility and other ergonomic concerns, fall prevention, sharps injury and workers and patient illness/infection prevention, violence prevention and security, hazardous drug exposure, hazard recognition and incident investigation, safe design, and improving safety culture throughout the organization. The workload parameters that are the key variables in the staffing estimation are "occupants at risk" which includes FTEs and Outpatient Visits (OPVs) and Average Daily Census (ADC). Additions staffing is added for complexity of services and additional management responsibilities.

Services Description:

The Occupational Safety and Health Specialist:

  • Assesses risk, develops interventions, and provided oversight to complex accreditation and regulatory occupational safety programs.
  • Provides policy, training, and evaluation on a variety of safety related issues.
  • Provides support for local safety committees and feedback to leadership for improving performance of the health care system.

Staffing Criteria:

Minimum staffing level = 0.5 FTE Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Specialist

A staff of OSH FTE per 600 FTE, plus 1 OSH FTE per 2400 Average Daily Outpatient Visits (ADOPV), plus1 OSH FTE per 200 Average Daily Census (ADC).

Adjustment for Additional Responsibilities:

Plus 0.25 FTE each for a) complex services and b) medical center or hospital.

Plus 0.2 FTE each for a) disaster management responsibility, b) security management responsibility, c) accreditation responsibilities, and d) satellite clinic support.

1 FTEs Clerical Support for each facility having more than 600 occupants at risk (FTE+ADOPV+ADC).

 

Staffing Formulae

Driving Variables:

FTEs
ADC
OPVs

Personnel Categories:

Occupational Safety and Health Specialist
Clerical Support

MINIMUM STAFFING LEVELS (fixed):

Personal Category FTEs per
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 0.5 Per facility

Plus, VARIABLE STAFFING LEVELS:

Personal Category FTEs per Driving Variables Min. Max.
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 1 600 FTE 0 2
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 1 2400 Average Daily Outpatient Visits (ADOPV) 0 1
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 1 200 Average Daily Census 0 1
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 0.25   Complex Services 0 .25
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 0.25   Medical Center or Hospital 0 .25
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 0.2   Disaster Management Responsibility 0 0.2
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 0.2   Security Management Responsibility 0 0.2
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 0.2   Accreditation Responsibilities 0 0.2
Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 0.2   Satellite Clinic Support 0 0.2
Clerical Support 1 >600 Occupants at risk 0 2

ADMINISTRATION & PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Occupational Safety and Health Specialist