June 23rd, 2020

Building or Refurbishing your Buildings - 
​Advice for Residential Facilities

Keeping your clients and staff safe, keeps your business safe.
 
Planning for a safe, workable environment is cost effective.
 
Getting the design or redesign of your building wrong can cost a lot in:

• fixing the mistakes
• potential Staff injury
• inefficient working spaces
• disruption to your business while the problem is fixed 

 
It is more cost effective to get your building future proofed while under construction. Our Therapists have seen some very expensive mistakes made over the years and recommend you consider the following:

• Have the bedrooms large enough for two people to work on both side of the beds
• Use lino floor coverings for ease of moving people and equipment.  If you have carpet, ensure it’s low pile.
• Have extra wide internal doors so equipment can be moved easily
• Have enough space between chairs, and other furniture in lounges, bedrooms, bathrooms, and the dining room for two people to assist a resident on both sides
• Put overhead hoists in all areas
• Have wet area bathrooms with non slip floor surfaces
• Have direct seamless access into the building (not stairs)
• Have storage spaces for equipment close to where the equipment is needed 
• Have hallways wide enough to manoeuvre equipment into and out of rooms with ease.
• plan for an increasing number of larger residents

 
Architects, project managers and building companies are great at the big picture of a building, however they don’t understand the complexities of the work you do.

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For a small cost an Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist can help refine a design to ensure the environment will work effectively and safely for your staff and residents. This small investment could save you thousands of dollars in remediation and disruption to your business.

Our friendly Physio and Occupational Therapists are available to give you advice, just contact us at Therapy Professionals.

Phone:          (03) 377 5280         Email:       [email protected]
​Website:       http://www.therapyprofessionals.co.nz

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