Facility Management: How You Should Prepare A Hospital for Winter

Winter weather presents a multitude of challenges for businesses, but for hospitals, those challenges are amplified. While offices and stores need to protect their customers from slipping and avoid liability and lawsuits, hospitals need to ensure that those surfaces are accessible for people who have just gone through surgery, who may have mobility issues, and who may be particularly vulnerable.

That’s what makes having a good winter checklist so important for any healthcare and medical facility.

At Earth Development, we assist hospitals and clinics all over the Midwest, providing property management professionals with easy communication and affordable snow removal services that keep their facilities open through the winter.

Healthcare and Medical Facility Winter Checklist

Every year we recommend that hospitals create and stick to a custom checklist. Below you’ll find the most important parts of these checklists.

By using this checklist, a facility manager can rest assured that every necessary step has been taken to protect clients and patients using the hospital facilities. From clearing entryways and keeping walkways clear to maintaining a safe and usable parking lot even during the dark evening hours, this checklist is a valuable tool to keeping your facility running responsibly every day.

Service Your HVAC System and Generators

Make sure your heating system and generator are serviced and operational

With no heating system and without a backup generator, your health facility is at serious risk. This is especially true for medical facilities that have overnight patients or people undergoing surgeries.

A winter storm can easily knock out your power or create extremely cold conditions, making your heating essential for keeping people comfortable and your generator an absolute necessity. Make sure those HVAC systems are services regularly throughout the year and that your generators are checked frequently to ensure that they will kick in if you are unfortunate enough to lose power.

Keep Patient Drop-Off/Pick-Up Areas & Entrance Ways Clear At All Times

When we say at all times, we mean at all times! Badly managed snow removal at your property risks the safety of patients entering or leaving your facility.

From snow that collects outside of your entryways or is blown by the wind, to icy surfaces and ice runoff re-freezing and creating “black ice,” there are so many risks outside of your entryways that you simply cannot ignore. These areas need 24-hour maintenance, and thankfully, Earth Development handles this for you.

With local teams throughout the Midwest and a fleet of machines, vehicles, and tools designed to handle all kinds of entryways, we’ll regularly attend your property to keep these entryways clear and to provide additional friction and grip on that icy ground. We always recommend working with our team for entryway clearing, particularly with hospitals where patients can seriously injure themselves.

Secure Parking Lots Accessibility

Remember that your patients don’t often walk to your medical facilities – they drive. That makes keeping your parking lot safe and secure extremely important.

The cold weather and adverse conditions combined with the short days and low light in the evening mean you need to be extra vigilant about tackling problem areas that may see a larger build-up of ice.

From salting and deicing to keep surfaces free of ice, to sand application to increase friction, there are lots of ways to ensure your parking lot remains usable. However, we always recommend working with our local snow removal professionals to stay on top of the frankly huge amounts of snow that can easily build up in such a wide, open outdoor space.

Hire A Reliable Snow Removal Company

It is absolutely crucial that your patients remain safe throughout the winter. You don’t just owe that to them through a social contract, but it’s also the law. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that entryways are clear and safe to use all year round, ensuring that people with mobility issues can access your building.

That means round-the-clock maintenance of your property, which can be hard to handle without professional help.

At Earth Development, we have teams of trusted local experts throughout the Midwest. We aim to provide as much information and valuable online resources as we can, and this blog post gives you some things to look for in a good contractor and how to know when you have a bad contractor.

A reliable snow removal company is a facility manager’s dream and will help you stay within legal guidelines and keep your patients safe.

Earth Development - Snow Removal Company in Wisconsin That Enhances Safety at Your Healthcare Facility

Your patients’ safety is your priority. Always.

Earth Development believes strongly in making snow removal accessible for businesses, hospitals, and medical centers of all sizes, which is why we have developed several snow removal plans that can be entirely customized. We’ll work with you to determine your facility’s needs and the best approach to deicing and snow removal.

To find out more about how our local teams of snow removers throughout the Midwest can help you protect your patients, why not give us a call?

We offer free quotes and consultations, and we’re ready to get your plan in place to keep your doors open throughout the 2021-2022 winter season.