Forensic Medicine & Laboratory

STH will be designed and equipped with different levels of High Standards Autopsy Laboratories from the minimum level such as BSL1 to the maximum required containment of BSL4. Each Laboratory are designed according to the levels of bio-safety international standard requirements.

Functional Planning and Relationships

It is very important that services are co-located in a manner that maximizes primary functional relationships that will offer convenience for effective delivery of care by staff.

Environmental Considerations

Good interior design can contribute to staff morale and the aim should be to create a pleasant, comfortable and safe environment throughout the facility within the constraints of mortuary practice. Interior design should facilitate the function of the accommodation and provide an efficient and safe working environment in the work activity areas.

Natural and artificial lighting

Daylight should be incorporated wherever possible with windows that maximize light but maintain privacy. Glare should be minimized and may be controlled by curtains or blinds. Solar gain can be mitigated by external screens or by the shape of windows and depth of reveals. (See Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 55 – ‘Windows’ and the CIBSE Lighting Guides LG2 and LG3.)

Floors and Drainage

It is important to select a floor covering that contributes towards the creation of an attractive environment, but which does not present a hazard to people or the movement of wheeled equipment. Channel gratings should be designed in short sections, which can be easily lifted and disinfected by submersion in a sink or container.

Body Viewing Suite

This should comprise, at the very least, a separate entrance, a waiting room, an interview/counselling room, access to sanitary facilities, a viewing room and a bier room. In the waiting room, interview/counselling room, viewing room and bier room a serene and reassuring environment is desirable. The choice of suitable colors, textures and lighting is important. It should be possible to dim the lights in the viewing and bier rooms.

Body Storage and Body Handling area

Refrigerated body store will achieve:

  1. Maintains bodies and/or fluids in a condition whereby the maximum scientific information can be obtained from a PM and subsequent analytical investigations;
  2. Limit tissue decomposition while burial or cremation arrangements are being made.
  3. Hold bodies and the occasional specimen for longer periods in conditions of security.

Bodies usually remain in the mortuary for one to four days. Sometimes the period is longer if further investigations have to be carried out by the pathologist, or if the next-of- in are difficult to trace.

Post-Mortem Room

The PM room, which is also known as the autopsy room, serves to carry out several functions. These include the opening of bodies, the weighing and dissection of organs, and demonstration of PMs to clinical staff. Bodies are brought from the body store on a hydraulic body hoist or trolley and transferred on to a PM table. In the case of full body handling systems, the body remains on the body tray during the PM, supported on the PM station. The dissection of organs should take place on a dissecting bench along a length of wall. The observation area should overlook part of the dissecting bench.

Bodies for examination will be drawn directly from a double-ended body storage compartment into the PM room. Space will be needed in the PM room for safely maneuvering trolleys, for loading or transferring bodies onto the PM table or station, and for storing and using a second hoist (where used), without risk of accident or

injury.

Tissues, organs and/or fluids obtained during PM examination are infused in fixative in various sized containers. This work will be carried out at the dissection bench

Post- Mortem Transit area

Entry to the PM room will be via the PM transit area, which leads off the staff changing area and separates clean and dirty activity areas. Staff entering the PM room will need to change into protective clothing. Suitable shelving, racks and hooks should be provided within the PM transit area for the storage of protective clothing and boots.

Observation Area

The PM room may, depending on local procedures and the nature of the work being carried out, require an observation area, which is physically separate from the PM room, for clinical staff to observe a PM examination. The only entrance should therefore be from outside the PM room. This facility may also be required as part of undergraduate or postgraduate education and in the case of coroners’ PMs for use by persons connected with the coroner’s office. A dissecting bench should be provided along the wall of the PM room adjoining the observation area for the demonstration of pathological findings in organs. A glazed divider, either full height or partially open to the PM room, will protect viewers from splashes during the demonstration of findings

Ventilation (Substances Hazardous to Health)

Ventilation will be required where exposure by inhalation of substances hazardous to health cannot be controlled by other means. The Health and Safety executive in their publication EH40,

‘VENTILATION OF POST-MORTEM SUITE

The PM room, observation area and the body handling area, together with the associated dirty utility room PM transit area and staff changing areas, should have a supply and extract ventilation plant dedicated to this suite of accommodation. The supply air into the PM suite should be fitted with a pre-filter, where necessary, and a secondary filter.

Data Center and Network Setup

The Mortuary and Forensic Sciences Center must include a sophisticated Data Center and Network Setup, achieving Automation that would allow the Mortuary Center to achieve and maintain the most advanced international Accreditations, discussed earlier in this draft report.

Infection Control and SPSD

An Infection Control Committee formed by the hospital working in conjunction with the General Authority for Health Services, infection control guidelines, formulates and reviews infection control policies.

All sterilization is undertaken in the Sterile Processing Service Department to ensure a uniform high standard. Sterile goods will be distributed by SPSD staff on an imprest “trolley exchange” basis throughout the facility.

Health and Safety

The Project is constructed, equipped and operated in such a way as to provide a safe working environment. It is recognized that incidents resulting in personal injury, damage to property or equipment represent avoidable waste.

The facility occupational health and safety committee with terms of reference allowing it to review matters should be established. The committee will advise and recommend to management any actions considered necessary to alleviate any security or safety problems. A disaster plan is normally established taking into consideration all the necessary internal and external liaison.

Staff Amenities

Staff Amenities will generally be provided at the work place and not centrally. Staff will be provided with secure lockable facilities for personal items such as handbags, wallets and street shoes etc.

Staff change facilities (including lockers and showers) will only be provided in those areas where staff are required to change their clothing for their hospital duties.

Public Amenities

Facilities for the public shall be provided in accordance with the status of Facility and the responsibility to the community that it serves, appropriate facilities will be provided to ensure a comfortable and welcoming environment for visitors.

Waste Disposal

At ward and departmental level waste is collected by environmental staff, sorted and taken to storage areas adjacent to the loading docks. General waste is to be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of the Dubai Municipality and hazardous waste is to be separated, controlled and disposed of strictly in accordance with established environmental protocols.

Building Environment

Appropriate comfort conditions for staff in terms of temperature, low humidity and noise need to be maintained.

Attention should be given to material selection for their durability, safety, fire retardation and non-allergenic characteristics within the kitchen environment. Similar consideration is to be given to materials for floor, walls, ceiling, door surfaces and construction details to assist with cleaning and maintenance.

Electronic communications shall include telephones and staff paging.

Electric lighting is to be of a high quality and the level and type appropriate for its purpose. Emergency lights must be appropriately located and installed.

Attention must be given to the selection of materials and finishes for their durability, safety, fire retardation and non-allergenic properties within the department. Similarly, attentions should be given to wall, floor, ceiling, door surfaces and construction details to assist with cleaning and programmed maintenance. A high standard of finish and detail is necessary to allow the appropriate cleaning and to maintain a high level of sterility.

Education and Training Center

The Facility will provide facilities for the in-service education and training of staff and students. The Facility is an information source for all staff, visiting clinicians and students.

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Forensic Medicine & Laboratory

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Forensic Medicine & Laboratory

P.O Box 108707 Abu Dhabi,UAE

Tel:+971-02-641 7627

Tel:+971-02-644 95752

Email:admin@sthcons.com