Creating a Culture of Safety with SPHM: Beyond Compliance
- Rick Finch
- Jul 28
- 5 min read
Why Real Commitment Beats Regulatory Obligation
When it comes to Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM), compliance may be the motive, but culture is what sustains it. SPHM should be a foundational part of a facility’s culture; a system-wide commitment to safety, supported by engaged leadership, process integration, and strategic partnerships. Regulatory pressure can get equipment into a building, but only a system-wide commitment, at all levels, can turn SPHM into a daily practice that protects everyone. This is why creating a culture of safety with SPHM is so important.
The Cost of Doing the Minimum
OSHA guidelines and state mandates serve a vital purpose. However, facilities that treat SPHM as a checklist miss a deeper opportunity to address root causes of staff injuries, turnover, and patient harm. As the AIHA/ANA/ASPHP white paper explains, a culture of safety requires more than policy; it demands daily practice. Facilities that approach SPHM only as a compliance exercise often experience persistent staff injuries, inconsistent equipment usage, and poor integration into clinical workflows.[1] Consider this:
72% of nursing homes still operate below pre-pandemic staffing levels, placing even greater physical strain on caregivers.[2]
Injuries from lifting and repositioning patients remain among the top causes of missed work in healthcare.[3]
High turnover erodes institutional knowledge and training consistency, increasing the risk of injury and equipment misuse.
The costs go beyond physical harm. As The Hidden Costs of Hospital-Acquired Immobility highlights, immobility is not a benign condition. It drives longer hospital stays, increases readmissions, and contributes to pressure injuries and delirium.[4]
A compliance-only mindset simply doesn't go far enough.
Culture of Safety: The Next Step Forward
The National Academies of Sciences Report on Nursing Homes (2022) calls for a full transformation in how care is delivered, emphasizing person-centered care, equity, transparency, and empowered, well-supported workforces.[5] SPHM programs are a foundational part of this transformation.
Facilities that have successfully embedded SPHM into their culture exhibit the following characteristics:
Leadership accountability - Executives allocate budget for training, equipment, and program leadership.
Interdisciplinary integration - Nursing, therapy, and facilities collaborate on lift use, rounding, and data collection.
Continuous learning - Competency-based training begins at orientation and occurs routinely.
Frontline engagement - CNA and nursing feedback informs policy and process improvement.
This type of system-wide commitment doesn’t arise from a mandate; it is cultivated and modeled daily.
5 Practical Steps for Building an SPHM Culture
1. Make It Everyone’s Responsibility - Don’t silo SPHM as a safety department task. Involve rehab staff, nurse educators, purchasing, and even maintenance personnel in implementation and feedback.
2. Conduct a Risk and Needs Assessment - Use SPHM audit tools to identify high-risk tasks and populations. Consider bariatric patient care, toileting transfers, and the physical layout of rooms and halls.
3. Train for Muscle Memory, Not Just Awareness - Hands-on training is critical. Offer frequent refreshers, return demos, and peer check-offs. Visual job aids near patient rooms or lift storage areas reinforce skills.
4. Monitor Use and Celebrate Success - Use usage tracking technology or rounding audits to measure implementation. Highlight units with reduced injury rates or consistent lift use during shift handoff.
5. Lead by Example - Does clinical leadership use the lift when demonstrating a reposition? Do charge nurses reinforce safe practice? Culture is visible and replicable.
A Blueprint for Culture Change
Creating a culture of safety starts long before the first lift is used. Healthcare facilities can build
sustainable SPHM programs using a multi-phase framework:
1. Strategic Planning and Stakeholder Engagement
Engage leadership, nursing, therapy, facilities, procurement, and frontline staff.
Set clear goals, timelines, and milestones such as 100% training completion within 90 days or zero manual lifts in targeted units.
Identify risks, resistance points, and barriers through staff focus groups and equipment audits.
2. Customized Process Mapping
Use a Process Mapping and Resolution Program to identify inefficiencies, risks, and best practices, from patient transfers to staff training. Process mapping workshops help teams:
Visualize how equipment is actually used (vs. intended use).
Identify bottlenecks and risks.
Align SOPs with real-world workflows and safety expectations.
3. Hands-On, Competency-Based Training
EZ Way doesn’t just deliver equipment, it delivers culture-aligned training:
Competency-based hands-on instruction across all shifts along with quick reference materials, online modules, and video training to supplement live instruction.
“Train-the-trainer” and super-user development.
On-site support and follow-ups during critical rollout windows.
Refresher training on an annual basis.
Training isn’t a one-time event, it’s woven into continuous improvement. Ensure that staff are well trained in SPHM, not just familiar.
4. Continuous Monitoring, Evaluation, and Improvement
The success of any SPHM culture depends on accountability and adaptation.
Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Staff injuries per 1,000 transfers
Equipment usage rates by unit
Training completion and competency pass rates
Patient satisfaction and adverse event reports
5. Run Continuous Improvement Cycles (CI) like Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) to help:
Pilot solutions in high-risk departments
Adjust policies based on real-time feedback
Share success stories and lessons learned across the organization
These feedback loops are supported by formal audits, staff surveys, and integration into broader quality and risk management programs.
Measurable Results
Facilities with fully implemented SPHM programs report:
SPHM, when embedded into culture, transforms outcomes for both caregivers and patients.
EZ Way’s Role: A True Safety Partner
EZ Way is not just a vendor, we are a partner in cultural change. Facilities working with us benefit from:
Continuous improvement support
Durable, American-made SPHM equipment designed with caregiver and patient safety in mind
EZ Way believes that safety isn't a product, it's a promise. We help you deliver on it every shift. Whether your goal is reducing injury claims, standardizing transfers, or preparing for culture change, EZ Way brings both the tools and the operational strategy to support your team.
Final Thought
You don’t need to wait for a federal mandate to create a safer workplace. The question is simple:
Are we aiming to be compliant...or truly safe?
The difference is a culture that lifts everyone.
[1] AIHA, ANA, ASPHP, Safe Patient Handling and Mobility: A Process to Protect Health Care Workers and Recipients, 2024.
[2] American Health Care Association. State of the Sector 2024, Slide 3.
[3] AIHA, ANA, ASPHP. Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM): A Process to Protect Health Care Workers and Recipients, 2024.
[4] Bobay, Jason. The Hidden Costs of Hospital-Acquired Immobility, 2024.
[5] National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality, 2022, Chapter 5.
[6] AIHA et al., SPHM White Paper, p. 29.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid., p. 30.