Ecological control of hospital engineering operations.
Environmental protection must be accomplishable in a hospital. Thus the goals have to be set in such a way that they are achievable. The track towards a positive environmental balance should be passable, ie environmental protection has to be on the people's mind and not on some single persons'. Environmental protection in the hospital starts in the purchasing department. If hospitals show an environmentally conscious demand, the industry will react with the supply of non-polluting products in order to not lose this market sector. Medical and the remaining hospital services may contribute to the protection of the environment by avoiding, reducing, and recycling waste. The responsibility for environmentally protective measures, such as noise reduction, sewage- and waste treatment, and avoidance of air pollution lies with hospital engineering. Operations (measuring, controlling) and maintenance (inspecting, servicing, overhauling) have to be available, safe, and economical. Thus the ecological demands for operations control are identically satisfied. The only task of the administration remaining is to support environmental consciousness and practice of environmental protection, to distribute attained knowledge and to survey the developments. Good environmental practice has to quantify environmental protection in the hospital.
Dept of Bio- and Hospital Engineering, Medical University of Hannover, Germany.
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Hartung
D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005858:Germany; D008284:Maintenance and Engineering, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009622:Noise / Q000517:prevention & control; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods; D012722:Sewage