This thesis aims at investigating the importance of effective implementation of health safety and\ud
hygiene legislations and practices in Health Care delivery systems. A new System Based\ud
Approach for Strategic Implementation of Occupational Health & Safety Practices is proposed in\ud
this thesis. The underlying principle of the approach is based on involvement and inputs from staff\ud
and management rather than by pre-specified requirements and objectives. Furthermore, the\ud
development process is a closed loop process that provides a mechanism for continuously\ud
evaluating system performance and monitoring activities that have considerable impact on health\ud
and safety practices. A case study was conducted in the medical laboratories of five major\ud
hospitals in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Data were collected through questionnaires, staff\ud
interviews, and reviewing laboratory safety reports compiled over a three years period. The main\ud
conclusions from this study are:\ud
1. The proposed approach has proven to be useful in analyzing existing health and safety\ud
systems. The methodology and tools proved to be instrumental in defining inefficiencies and\ud
determining the status of the Health & Safety policies & practices in the selected medical\ud
laboratories.\ud
2. Effective implementation of the proposed approach has shown improvements in\ud
productivity, operational cost, service quality, staff and management satisfaction.\ud
3. The case study has demonstrated that a developing country such the UAE, with no\ud
previously existing Health & Safety legislation and little risk prevention culture, can rapidly and\ud
effectively introduce effective industry specific H&S by adopting an integrated systems based\ud
approach.\ud
4. UAE has highly advanced and economically developing base, there is a general\ud
willingness at senior level within the UAE to achieve high levels of competence and standards in\ud
all industrial sectors.\ud
5. CAP is a system based management tool which has been implemented globally, but only\ud
limited in the gulf region; CAP has been implemented by the author and colleges within Zayed\ud
Military Hospital between 2003-2007