Skip To Navigation
Global Health and Safety Initiative

Document Library

Built Environment

Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Policy

  • May 2009  Eco-Health Footprint Guide: Measuring your Organization's Impact on Public Health and the Environment (282 kb pdf)
    By fully understanding our impacts, GHSI health systems, partners, and the broader health care sector can better prioritize and manage environmental improvement efforts, resulting in more efficient, cost effective and less impactful healthcare facilities. This free downloadable hyperlinked Guide was created to assist organizations in getting started with the process of collecting data and measuring their footprint. This Guide is a basic introduction to the Eco-Health Footprint and provides the reader with a business case, step-by-step approach, and key footprinting concepts and resources. It also highlights issues specific to the healthcare industry and cites examples and case studies of footprinting among healthcare institutions.
  • January 2009  Health Care's Renewable Energy and Green Jobs Initiative: Health Care Leadership National Action Plan (377 kb pdf)
    GHSI, with partners Health Care Without Harm and Practice GreenHealth, is leading an effort to create Health Care's Renewable Energy and Green Jobs Initiative — an idea that is in discussion with President-elect Obama's Transition Team. The Initiative proposes stimulus dollars for health care to become more energy efficient and increase use of renewable energy and explains why investing in health care energy improvements can help create jobs, reduce costs and be a wise and healthier investment for society.
  • June 2008  Towards a Healthier and Safer Society (14.2 kb pdf)
    This two page document, written at the request of the Bi-Partisan Policy Center (advisors to President-elect Barack Obama) outlines GHSI's vision, strategy and recommendations for a healthier and safer society.
  • May 2008  Accessing the United Nations Global Compact Database (1.3 mb pdf)
    This fact sheet discusses how to research the over 5,000 free organizational participant profiles, including CSR information for each organization
  • May 2008  Accessing the Corporate Register Database (1.4 mb pdf)
    This fact sheet discusses how to research the over 4,000 free company profiles found in the Corporate Register
  • May 2008  CSR Resources Overview (62 kb pdf)
    This fact sheet discusses the research tools available for CSR investigations and provides links to those tools

Healthy Purchasing

  • May 2009  Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Guidance Document (162 kb pdf)
    This overarching guidance document was designed to transform the healthcare market's purchasing policies and practices by promoting safer and more sustainable products and technologies. It is endorsed by health systems, GPOs and other supporters, including (as of May 2009): Amerinet, Broadlane, Ascension Health, Catholic Healthcare West, Consorta, Inc., Health Care Without Harm, Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIG-PA), Hospital Sisters Health System, Kaiser Permanente, MedAssets, Novation, Practice Greenhealth, Premier Inc, and St. Joseph Health System.

Research and Education

  • October 2009  A Research Agenda for Advancing Patient, Worker and Environmental Health and Safety in the Health Care Sector (1.9 mb pdf)
    The Health Care Without Harm/Global Health and Safety Initiative Research Collaborative, based at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, is pleased to announce publication of the white paper, "A Research Agenda for Advancing Patient, Worker and Environmental Health and Safety in the Health Care Sector," by Susan Kaplan, JD, Peter Orris, MD, MPH, and Rachel Machi. Based on several research overview papers and interviews with executives of key federal agencies and hospital and health care systems, this paper identifies research priorities within the health care sector in the US centering on patient, worker and environmental safety ("the three safeties"). The research priorities focus on the business case for sustainability and the impact of hospital and health care building design, operation, organization, materials and chemical use on patients, workers and the environment. The health care sector is currently embarking on a building boom to replace or renovate hospitals built in the 1950s and 60s, and health care executives realize that sustainable innovations can yield a variety of benefits to one or more of the three safeties. Yet much more research is needed to assist health care systems in making such decisions. With this paper, the Research Collaborative aims to promote discussion and encourage the development of research projects in this area.
  • October 2009  The Accuracy of Alternatives to Mercury Sphygmomanometers (712 kb pdf)
    Due to the move towards removal of mercury from health care settings, alternatives to the mercury sphygmomanometer are in common use in many hospitals and clinics. Concern has been voiced regarding the accuracy of these alternative devices. This paper by Susan Buchanan, MD, MPH, comprises a review of the medical literature that evaluates the accuracy of mercury, aneroid, and oscillometric blood pressure devices.

Sustainable Operations

  • April 2009  Cleaning in Healthcare Facilities: Reducing Human Health Effects and Environmental Impacts (974 kb pdf)
    Developed by the research team at the Sustainable Hospitals Program, a program of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, this paper summarizes the main health and environmental impacts related to conventional surface cleaning, describes a systems approach for designing and implementing healthier and environmentally friendlier cleaning strategies for the healthcare sector, and indicates areas where future research and policy initiatives are needed. This paper is second in a series of papers from the Research Collaborative initiated by Health Care Without Harm and the Global Health and Safety Initiative with support from the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
  • February 2009  Sample Job Description — Healthcare Sustainability Director (111 kb pdf)
    This job description for a healthcare sustainability director was compiled from job descriptions for currently existing roles in leading healthcare organizations. This tool is intended for executive teams who are discussing the potential to create a dedicated position for a sustainability officer.


 


 


 


 

RESOURCES

Quick Links


 
 
Site by Nash Interactive | Contact webmaster