Work Study of Bio-Medical Waste Transportation from Point of Generation to Storage in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Method study and work measurement are two principal activities of work study which originated in the work of F. W. Taylor in 1978. But still the importance of work study in any industry including Hospital is quite a lot. It is essential that health care waste is managed properly, by practicing segregation, collection, storage and disposal in a proper and scientific manner. Aim is to study the existing Bio Medical Waste (BMW) Transport process, from point of generation to Storage point, through Method study/Work measurement and find out the best possible process which is cost effective in terms of effective manpower utilization.

]Methods: This study is based on Distance covered and Time consumed for transportation. The study hospital has ten (10) floor and two cellars. Eighty two different BMW generation areas were mainly distributed from Ground floor to till Ninth floor, except two, which were situated at different building. Storage area is situated at Cellar 1. Two Pathways were identified under study as i) Existing Pathway and ii) Proposed Pathway.

Results: It is found that with minimum three times daily transport of BMW, the housekeeping staff has to travel only 2421 feet (78462 feet less than Existing pathway) and saves 15 hours 46 minutes 30 seconds (22 hours 26 minutes 51 seconds in existing pathway) if Proposed Pathway used.

Conclusions: The study concludes that, the transport system within the hospital from generation point to storage point needs immediate attention. And the pathway has to change from existing to proposed pathway to transport BMW from generation point to Storage area. This will save around 15 hours manpower daily, which is a huge loss to the organization.