Health and Safety at SLMHC

Infection Prevention and Control

The primary goal of our Infection Prevention and Control department is to protect clients/patients/residents, staff and visitors from hospital-associated infections. The Infection Prevention and Control department actively monitors and promotes best practices in infection prevention and control. One of our core functions is to focus on strategies to protect client/patients/residents, staff and others from exposure to infections. These strategies include audits, policies and procedures development, education, product review, reprocessing and environmental cleaning practice reviews.

Infection Prevention and Control is also responsible for surveillance of best practice measures throughout the hospital. The department actively monitors the patient care unit to ensure these best practice protocols are followed. Information and data collected are shared with the multidisciplinary team, managers, physicians and appropriate committees.

Occupational Health and Safety

We believe that healthy and safe employees mean better services for our patients.   We are also invested in the health and safety of our employees because we care about them and we want to help them do their best work in a clean and safe environment. The protection of employees from injury or occupational disease is a major objective.  Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre will make every effort to provide a safe, healthy work environment for all employees. We support supervisors and workers in the continuing objective of reducing workplace injuries.  

We concentrate on safe work practices, safe work conditions, proper hygiene practices, and the control of infections. The Occupational Health department monitors worker training, workplace inspections, the prevention of occupational disease, maintenance and repairs, housekeeping, personal protective equipment, and an immunization program.

Supervisors will be held accountable for the health and safety of workers under their supervision. Supervisors are responsible to ensure that machinery and equipment are safe, and that workers work in compliance with established safe work practices and procedures. We work to ensure that workers receive adequate training in their specific work tasks to protect their health and safety. Additionally, supervisors are responsible to ensure workers wear any, and all, personal protective equipment required for their job.

At Occupational Health and Safety, we work to educate SLMHC staff on his or her own health and safety responsibilities by working in compliance with the law and with safe work practices established by the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre.


Here at SLMHC, we are dedicated to patient safety. We prioritize our employees and physicians’ hand hygiene to reduce the spread of germs amongst everyone in our facilities and communities we serve. We regularly monitor Hand Hygiene Compliance, as patient and resident health and safety is a high priority.

Emergency Codes at SLMHC

Hospital emergencies can occur at any time without warning, so hospitals must be prepared to respond to all emergencies that may occur within the facility or the larger community. To ensure the safety of our staff, physicians, patients, residents, students, contractors, volunteers and community members, SLMHC has an emergency response plan which is tested and maintained regularly. SLMHC adheres to and uses the standardized colour code system set by the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) to ensure consistency and uniformity among hospitals.

If you hear a code being paged overhead while you’re in the hospital, please remain calm and wait for instruction from staff. If you see an emergency at SLMHC, please inform the nearest staff member to report the concern.

Code Green: Evacuation

Code Green means a possible or imminent evacuation from the hospital. In the event of an evacuation, decisions will be made with the focus on safety for everyone and will include whether it is safest to move to another interior area or to the exterior of the building. All SLMHC employees, physicians, contractors, students and volunteers will assist and follow the Code Green evacuation plan.

Code Yellow: Missing Person (Adult)

SLMHC will activate search procedures upon a person being declared missing. A level of risk assessment is completed and a search plan is determined based upon that level of risk.

Code Amber: Missing Person (Child/Infant)

SLMHC will activate search procedures upon a child/infant declared missing, and/or abducted by a non-authorized person.

Code Orange: Mass Casualty / CBRNE Disaster

SLMHC is committed to responding to mass casualties and CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosives) disasters by providing emergency care to those affected by the disaster. The overall goal of a Code Orange is to:

  • Allow SLMHC to receive and treat a sudden influx of casualties requiring emergent treatment
  • Establish triage and treatment areas to ensure incoming patients and staff are safe
  • Adjust hospital operations to manage the number of casualties arriving at SLMHC
  • Establish an Emergency Operations Centre, as needed, to assist with meeting increased demands on the organization by being the central location to receive essential information and broadcast this information appropriately
  • Set up a Relatives Waiting Area as needed, which will provide support to family members of casualties of the external disaster.

All SLMHC employees, physicians, contractors, students and volunteers are expected to participate and follow the Code Orange procedures.

Code Red: Fire

SLMHC maintains a current Fire Plan and completes regular testing to lower the risk of harm in the case of a fire. If you hear a Code Red, remain calm and follow directions from staff in both actual or test Code Red situations.

Code White: Violent Person

SLMHC will activate a plan to manage violent or potentially violent patients who present a danger to themselves or to others. SLMHC staff are trained on a regular basis to ensure Code White emergencies maintain safety for all involved.

Code Purple: Hostage Situation

Code Purple provides a response procedure for anyone involved in a potential or actual hostage situation. When SLMHC activates a Code Purple, Ontario Provincial Police will be contacted and SLMHC staff, physicians and volunteers will cooperate with their direction.

Code Brown: Hazardous Spill

SLMHC will activate Code Brown procedures for hazardous or potentially hazardous chemical/biological spills. Employees using hazardous chemicals are expected to be trained in safe handling, storage and disposal by their manager in consultation with the Occupational Health and Safety Department.

Code Silver: Person with a Weapon

SLMHC is committed to providing a safe environment for people who are in the hospital when an emergency situation occurs and will activate Code Silver procedures with there is a person with a weapon within the hospital. In a Code Silver emergency, Ontario Provincial Police will be contacted and SLMHC staff, physicians and volunteers will cooperate with their direction.

Code Black: Bomb Threat / Suspicious Object

SLMHC is committed to providing a safe environment for people who are in the hospital when an emergency situation occurs and will activate Code Black when required. Ontario Provincial Police will be contacted and SLMHC staff, physicians and volunteers will cooperate with their direction. In the event of a bomb threat, immediate action will be taken to maintain patient, visitor, staff, physician and volunteer safety by assessing the threat, isolating the risk area, and eliminating the potential danger.

Code Blue: Medical Emergency (Adult)

Code Blue will be called in the event of impending/actual respiratory and/or cardiac arrest in patients 18 years of age and over. 

Code Pink: Medical Emergency (Child/Infant

Code Pink will be called in the event of impending/actual respiratory and/or cardiac arrest in children or infants.  

Find out more about Patient Safety

Visit our Patient Safety page to view our 2022-2024 Patient Safety Plan.
and learn more about Patient Safety here at SLMHC.

Patient Safety