scholarly journals Ergonomics Hazards and Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Workers of Health Care Facilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-258
Author(s):  
Almas Hamid ◽  
Alizae Salaam Ahmad ◽  
Sarah Dar ◽  
Sana Sohail ◽  
Faiza Akram ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Healthcare Facility ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Psychosocial Hazards ◽  
Chemical Spills ◽  
Related Stress

The present study is conducted to determine occupational health and safety hazards with special focus on ergonomic hazards among healthcare facility (HCF) workers. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted among 200 workers in five HCFs of Lahore, Pakistan. Among the reported ergonomic hazards, muscle aches/ sprains (76.5%), elbow/ wrist/ neck pain (56.0%), body posture issues (56.0%), excessive stretching of muscles (67.5%) and bending/ twisting at work (55.5%) were commonly encountered. Biological hazards included incidences of cuts/wounds/ lacerations (69.0%), contact with specimens (56.0%), exposure of airborne diseases (64.0%) and other infections (72.0%) inspite of the fact that majority (90.0%) were aware of procedures where needle stick injuries are most likely to occur and knowledgeable on occupational infections. Physical hazards included slips/trips/falls (65.0%), high noise levels (64.0%) and chemical spills (54.0%). A significant percentage of workers experienced psychosocial hazards including work related stress (77.0%) and some form of psychosocial or physical abuse (68.5%). Despite workers awareness about occupational health hazards and implementation of control measures by HCF to mitigate hazards (especially biological) prevalence of hazards was reported. Hence, there is a need to improve working standards and conditions to reduce the occurrence of ergonomic and psychosocial hazards.

scholarly journals Research on psychosocial risks in the context of intervention and rescue activities in toxic / flammable / explosive environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 342 ◽  
pp. 01007
Author(s):  
Izabella Kovacs ◽  
Andrei Lucian Gireadă ◽  
Alin Irimia ◽  
Laurenţiu Munteanu
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Work Related Stress ◽  
Psychosocial Risks ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
Health And Safety Risks ◽  
Related Stress

Work implies interaction of several components such as equipment, work environment, work load and human factor. Prevention of work accident and occupational diseases is mainly based on knowledge and assessment of occupational risks associated with each workplace. Psychosocial risks are usually caused by stress, thus being greatly influenced by individual perceptions. Identifying psychosocial risks is based on the analysis of individual reactions to external factors and activities. Worldwide, work related stress is seen as a major present-day challenge, faced by occupational health and safety specialists. Considered at organizational level and not as individual issues, psychosocial risks and stress can be managed to the same extent as any other occupational health and safety risk. The growing issue of protecting emergency workers against occupational health and safety risks has been highlighted as a priority by many experts. Demands on intervention and rescue personnel, as well as occupational health and safety risks will increase as they face larger events both in number and magnitude and severity. The current paper will summarize key issues related to work-related stress and will discuss how stress at work can be best managed in the context of intervention and rescue activities in toxic / flammable / explosive environments.

scholarly journals Occupational Health and Safety Measures in Healthcare Settings During COVID-19: Strategies for Protecting Staff, Patients and Visitors

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Isra Asma Ahmad ◽  
Ernest Osei
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Healthcare Facility ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Infection Control Measures ◽  
Environmental Controls

Abstract The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has profoundly impacted almost every aspect of healthcare systems worldwide, placing the health and safety of frontline healthcare workers at risk and still continues to remain an important public health challenge. Several hospitals have put in place strategies to manage space, staff, and supplies in order to continue to deliver optimum care to patients while at the same time protecting the health and safety of staff and patients. However, the emergence of the second and third waves of the virus with the influx of new cases continue to add an additional level of complexity to the already challenging situation of containing the spread and lowering the rate of transmission and thus pushing healthcare systems to the limit. In this narrative review paper we describe various strategies including administrative controls, environmental controls and use of personal protective equipment implemented by occupational health and safety departments for the protection of healthcare workers, patients and visitors from SARS-CoV-2 virus infection. The protection and safeguard of the health and safety of healthcare workers and patients through the implementation of effective infection control measures, adequate management of possible outbreaks and minimization of risk of nosocomial transmission is an important and effective strategy of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic management in any healthcare facility. High quality patient care hinges on ensuring that the care providers are well protected and supported so they can provide the best quality of care to their patients.

scholarly journals THE IMPLEMENTATION OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY FOR PREGNANT WORKERS IN VARIOUS WORKPLACES

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Aditira Dwi Hanani
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Accidents ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Safety Programs ◽  
Special Protection ◽  
Health And Safety Programs

Pregnant workers have more health risks for health problems than other workers. There are different potential hazards in different workplaces. Occupational Health and Safety Programs need to be implemented for pregnant workers in order to avoid work related diseases in various workplaces. This study aims to determine the the implementation of occupational health and safety for pregnant workers in various workplaces. This study uses a qualitative method by conducting FGD (Focus Group Discussion) with pregnant women workers from various workplaces and in-depth interviews with occupational health and safety experts. Occupational health and safety programs have been implemented for pregnant workers such as the right to maternity leave, working hours arrangements, health insurance, and special protection for pregnant workers. However, there are some workplaces that still do not provide special protection for pregnant workers. Every workplace should pay more attention to the health and safety of pregnant workers as an effort to prevent occupational accidents and work related diseases

scholarly journals Attending Weak Signals: The Prevention of Work-related Illnesses

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Liff ◽  
Ann-Charlotte Eriksson ◽  
Ewa Wikström
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health Care ◽  
Weak Signals ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Safety Work ◽  
Informal Information ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The Right

This article examines the characteristics of communication among managers, human resource (HR) experts, and occupational health care specialists, as they deal with such informal information as weak signals in the prevention of work-related illnesses, using a theoretical framework in which the prevention of work-related illness is analogous to theory on crisis management. This is a qualitative study in which individual and focus-group interviews were conducted in a Swedish context with occupational health care specialists, managers, and HR experts. The results suggest that organizational solutions have failed and continue to fail at controlling workers’ health problems, although the main difficulty is not in identifying the ‘right’ individually oriented weak signals. Rather, it is upper management’s reliance on formal information (e.g., statistics and surveys) – because of the difficulty in supplementing it with informal information (e.g., rumors and gossip) – that makes it difficult to improve traditional health and safety work

scholarly journals O7C.2 Developing a measuring strategy for monitoring and evaluation of a national occupational health intervention programme in great britain (GB)

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A64.3-A65
Author(s):  
Yiqun Chen ◽  
Andrew Curran
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
National Level ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Measurement Framework ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Over Time

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the GB regulator for health and safety at work. The HSE Health and Work (H&W) program designs and carries out a wide range of interventions; including inspection, enforcement and other regulatory activities as well as prevention; targeting priority health conditions in high-risk sectors. It is anticipated that long-term, sustainable and coordinated actions developed as part of the program will over time improve awareness, behaviors, control of exposures, and, as a result, prevent work-related ill health in GB workforce.An HSE Measuring Strategy, together with measurement framework and principles, has been developed. The measurement framework draws together data systems, covering Attitudes (A), Behaviors (B), Control of exposures (C), and Disease and work-related ill health reduction (D), based on a simple model to provide evidence required for evaluating the short, medium and long term impacts of the large scale and complex H&W program on the GB health and safety system. The Strategy gives a new focus on measuring behavioral changes and risk reductions; and emphasizes longitudinal measurement designs to assess progress over time.For developing the Strategy, workshops were organized to bring stakeholders across HSE to review existing systems for conducting population surveys, collecting exposure intelligence and occupational health surveillance, which have contributed to forming a long-term vision of fit-for-purpose measurement systems.We will present the development of the Strategy and the plans to implement it with the H&W program, which requires close collaborations between epidemiologists and social researchers, policy makers, and other multidisciplinary regulatory specialists. The lessons learnt will help HSE towards building the right evidence base for monitoring and evaluation of a range of national level intervention programs for work-related ill health prevention.©British Crown copyright (2019)

scholarly journals Proceedings from the CIHLMU occupational safety and health symposium 2019 “Protecting workers’ health: global challenges and opportunities in work-related respiratory diseases”

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (S14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Netsanet Workneh Gidi ◽  
Anna Suraya ◽  
Beatrice Mutayoba ◽  
Bernarda Espinoza ◽  
Bindiya Meggi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Occupational Diseases ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

AbstractThe international CIHLMU Occupational Safety and Health Symposium 2019 was held on 16th March, 2019 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany. About 60 participants from around the world representing occupational health and safety professionals, students, instructors from several institutions in Germany and abroad, attended the symposium.The main objective of the symposium was to create awareness on global challenges and opportunities in work-related respiratory diseases. One keynote lecture and six presentations were made. While the keynote lecture addressed issues on occupational diseases in the twenty-first century, the six presentations were centered on: Prevention and control of work-related respiratory diseases, considerations; Occupational health and safety in Mining: Respiratory diseases; The prevention of TB among health workers is our collective responsibility; Compensation and prevention of occupational diseases and discussion on how artificial intelligence can support them: Overview of international approaches; Work-related Asthma: Evidence from high-income countries; and The role of imaging in the diagnosis of work- related respiratory diseases. A panel discussion was conducted following the presentations on the importance and challenges of data acquisition which is needed to have a realistic picture of the occupational safety and health status of workers at different levels. The current summary is an attempt to share the proceedings of the symposium.

scholarly journals Attending Weak Signals: The Prevention of Work-related Illnesses

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Liff ◽  
Ann-Charlotte Eriksson ◽  
Ewa Wikström
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health Care ◽  
Weak Signals ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Safety Work ◽  
Informal Information ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The Right

This article examines the characteristics of communication among managers, human resource (HR) experts, and occupational health care specialists, as they deal with such informal information as weak signals in the prevention of work-related illnesses, using a theoretical framework in which the prevention of work-related illness is analogous to theory on crisis management. This is a qualitative study in which individual and focus-group interviews were conducted in a Swedish context with occupational health care specialists, managers, and HR experts. The results suggest that organizational solutions have failed and continue to fail at controlling workers’ health problems, although the main difficulty is not in identifying the ‘right’ individually oriented weak signals. Rather, it is upper management’s reliance on formal information (e.g., statistics and surveys) – because of the difficulty in supplementing it with informal information (e.g., rumors and gossip) – that makes it difficult to improve traditional health and safety work.

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