Why are paper towel dispensers locked?

[GardenDove]

I'm at work now, and I just don't understand why the paper towel dispensers are locked, so you can't unjam the paper towels. Yet, we have all this expensive equipment lying around, meds, etc. Why are the paper towel dispensers locked? It's a mystery.

[moongirl]

so that when you have a reaaaalllly bad day, you cant take allll the paper towels out in one big line and use it for a rope to escape out of a window

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

Paper towels at my hospital are old school and luckily unlocked. But the mops are locked up!

Had a patient once who had gotten up out of bed in a TCU unit with streaks of feces on his back down his leg etc...ambulating in the hall...the room was a mess with feces all over the bathroom floor. After getting him back to bed and cleanded up called housekeeping repeatedly for help and she did not show up till around 45 minutes later!

Odd thing was that the neighbor in the bed next to this patient kept asking for food to eat even though the room stank...GROSS!

:offtopic: :offtopic: :offtopic:

[storm06]

locked paper towels is nothing,,,,

try locked up loo paper

its a real bugger when u cant get into the secret cleaning cupboard on night shift for loo paper with out calling the nurse manager

The sacred, secret, cleaners only cleaning cupboad, what I wouldnt give to find out what is in there

[GardenDove]

Maybe the whole thing is a territorial power thing by housekeeping. I notice that they guard their turf and often have an attitude. They get upset if we grab a bath blanket to keep warm at night I've heard. I think it's because, status wise, they are sort of low on the totem pole, therefore they are over compensating. That's my psychological analysis of the situation.

[Mimi2RN, ASN, RN]

The paper towel machines can be opened with a paper clip (taller people than me say so!). We now have a key stashed, so we can fix the problems-replacing paper, changing the batteries, without having to call housekeeping. We usually have an extra roll of paper available.

[Gennaver, MSN]

I'm at work now, and I just don't understand why the paper towel dispensers are locked, so you can't unjam the paper towels. Yet, we have all this expensive equipment lying around, meds, etc. Why are the paper towel dispensers locked? It's a mystery.

I suspect that they are locked so that they don't slip open and take someone's eye out or konk someone in the noggin and cause a head injury...a.k.a. lawsuit.

Gen

[Djuna]

the locking of paper towel dispensers doesn't surprise me, but the fact you have access to the internet at work does. here in nsw australia we have no internet access whatsoever, not even for nursing related things