Introduction
Many people visit a hospital: patients, their families, staff, local and national compliance inspectors, hospital accreditation surveyors, and groups from other hospitals come to study. They all gain their first impressions from the general housekeeping observed at the hospital. They clearly equate cleanliness, orderliness, and tidiness with environmental consciousness and a focus on health and safety excellence.
A clean, well-organized workplace is essential for high-performance. Are improvements possible in filthy surroundings? Can we expect people in dismal environments to work at their maximum potential? Can uncluttered minds with fresh ideas function in cluttered work places? The "Five S" tool consists of techniques used to establish and maintain a quality environment in an organization.
The 5S Process, or simply "5S", is a structured program to systematically achieve total organization, cleanliness, and standardization in the workplace. A well-organized workplace results in a safer, more efficient, and more productive operation. It boosts the morale of the workers, promoting a sense of pride in their work and ownership of their responsibilities.
By assigning everything a location, time is not wasted by looking for things and it is quickly obvious when something is missing from its designated location. The benefits come from deciding what should be kept, where it should be kept, and how it should be stored. This decision making process should lead to a dialog which can build a clear understanding between employees, of how work should be done. It also instills ownership of the process in each employee. As a result, it is often executed in tandem with standardization of work processes (SOP, ISO).