Medtronic

Medtronic is the global leader in medical technology - alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world. Medtronic develops and manufactures a wide range of products and therapies with emphasis on providing a complete continuum of care to diagnose, prevent and monitor chronic conditions, employing more than 400 people in Australia.

Medtronic is committed to ensuring the health and safety of its employees, contractors, patients and visitors. This commitment stems from the organisation’s Mission and is embodied in the Medtronic Code of Conduct. Together these foundations support a culture that encourages employees to develop a pro-active and cooperative attitude toward health and safety.

This approach and in turn the organisation’s commitment to health and safety has been recognized in a recent staff survey with 92% of employees indicating their satisfaction with safety and health conditions in their work area.

One of Medtronic’s more recent health and safety initiatives has been the establishment of an Equipment Processing Facility. This initiative occurred in response to the need to improve methods for managing the return of product/ equipment for research, service and repair purposes as well as improving associated workplace practices and processes.

This required a detailed analysis of current and anticipated workflows and processes as well as a common and clear understanding of the workplaces from which items may be returned, what the items may have been used on and for, what the items may have been exposed to and how the items needed to be processed to ensure safety when being handled.

Decisions and actions taken throughout the project were guided by the key objective of establishing a fully operational unit that promoted best practice in ensuring the safety of customers and staff. Emphasis was therefore placed upon:-

• Complying with relevant standards/ legislation

• Providing “clean” product/ equipment for safe handling

• Monitoring returned products for regulatory purposes

• Eliminating/ minimising exposure of staff to contaminated product

• Ensuring the safety of staff working in the facility

• Ensuring that business requirements were accommodated

Consequently significant changes have been introduced and a number of outcomes have transpired including the:-

• Existence of central depot that manages product/ equipment decontamination and disposal

• Elimination/ reduction of staff exposure to contaminated items

• Access to product/ equipment that is safe for handling

• Introduction of new/ improved practices that minimise health risks to staff and customers

• Introduction of practices that ensure environmental issues are addressed re: waste management

• Existence of easy and safe access for item delivery

• A purpose built facility that will accommodate future growth

Whilst these internal changes and the associated benefits have been experienced by Medtronic employees, it has also enhanced the safety of those working in the health, transport and medical device industries.

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