Health and safety officers play a critical role in keeping hospitals safe. Tiyese Jeranji spoke to Jan Engelbrecht, a health and safety officer at Groote Schuur Hospital where 69 staff members have tested positive for Covid-19.
Infection control and safety in hospitals is important at the best of times, but during an outbreak such as the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic the stakes are even higher. By May 21, 69 staff members at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town had tested positive for Covid-19.
Jan Engelbrecht is a health and safety officer at Groote Schuur. In more than 40 years in this line of work, he has been exposed to very high health or safety hazards, but he has never seen anything such as Covid-19.