Did you know: Assisting patients to move or position without proper training and use of equipment has a high risk of injury and that these injuries can be career ending. In October 2014, Cal-OSHA passed regulations that all manual assisting of patients had to be replaced by the use of equipment (except in emergency situation) to help protect staff and patients.
Staff Requirements and Expectations: All UCSF Staff and Vendors are expected to comply with UCSF Safe Patient Handling Policy. This Policy is to help protect staff, vendors, and patients from injuries associated with the high risk activity of assisting patients. You have the right and responsibility to notify your manager of any safety concerns and complete and incident report (even if there was no harm caused from the concern/issue).
- UCSF Health Safety (Injury Prevention) Policy
- UCSF Health Safe Patient Handling Policy
- Patient Care Equipment Cleaning
- Medical Equipment
- Incident Reporting
- Work Incurred Illness and Injury
Unit/Department SPH Plans
Inpatient, ED, Imaging, Procedure Areas
UCSF Health requires that all inpatient care areas providing direct patient care have a department specific SPH plan. As of 2024, all SPH plans will be managed through the Smartsheet platform.
For assistance with updating your Smartsheet SPH Plan, please submit an MCSS ticket to request support.
Ambulatory Departments
Ambulatory departments are no longer required to maintain a department-specific SPH plan; however, it is strongly recommended, particularly for departments at higher risk for patient handling incidents.
Departments that choose not to maintain a specific SPH plan may refer to the UCSF Health Safe Patient Handling Policy as an alternative.
Departments that opt to retain a department-specific SPH plan, these plans are managed through the Smartsheet platform.
For assistance with updating your Smartsheet SPH Plan,
SPH Hazard Assessment
Starting January 2025, all ambulatory and outpatient care areas will be responsible for conducting their own SPH self-assessment. This assessment is highly recommended for all licensed clinics and remains optional for non-licensed clinics.
For licensed clinics, while the SPH policy indicates that the assessment is highly recommended, please note that Cal-OSHA 5120 regulations apply to all locations under our General Acute Care (GAC) license, including all UCSF Health licensed clinics. The UCSF Ambulatory SPH Self-Assessment checklist can be found in the RSS Inspect Toolkit. To access the checklist, please use the link below.
For assistance with completing your SPH self-assessmnent checklist, please submit an MCSS ticket to request support.
Inpatient care areas at ML, MZ, and MB hospitals will continue with their regularly scheduled SPH hazard assessment rounds, which are coordinated by the Safety Office.
Cal-OSHA Safe Patient Handling Regulation
