Occupational health risk assessment at healthcare institutions: Developing a semi-quantitative risk method

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Chalak ◽  
Ghasem Bahramiazar ◽  
Javad Rasaee ◽  
Reza Fahimi ◽  
Asghar Noran Anbardan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Quantitative Method ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Risk Levels

BACKGROUND: Environmental hazards in healthcare institutions affect the quality of patient care as well as personnel and patient safety. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and apply a semi-quantitative risk assessment method to calculate occupational health risk levels with regard to the sensitivities of healthcare institutions. METHODS: The present research was conducted in three phases. In phases 1 and 2, the model was developed using a review of different risk assessment methods, extracting expert opinions (N = 10) through semi-structured interviews, and using the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). In phase 3, in order to validate the proposed method, one of the five public hospitals was randomly selected and a case study comprising 6 sections was performed. RESULTS: A total of 43 health risks were identified and evaluated using the present method, 41.86% of which were at very high levels, 16.27% at high levels, 30.23% at substantial ones, 9.3% at medium and 2.32% at low levels. The highest health risks were found in paraclinical and operating room wards. CONCLUSION: To overcome the shortcomings of the proposed health risk assessment methods, a semi-quantitative method was used in the present study to more accurately calculate the risk levels in the healthcare institutions and also calculate the risk level of each hospital unit. The proposed semi-quantitative method can be used as a tool for assessing occupational health risks as a key element of risk management. In addition, by focusing on an appropriate framework for occupational health risk assessment, specialists in the organization will be able to take significant and effective steps to implement an efficient risk management system.

scholarly journals Frequency and Prioritization of Patient Health Risks from a Structured Health Risk Assessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 505-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Phillips ◽  
R. E. Glasgow ◽  
G. Bello ◽  
M. G. Ory ◽  
B. A. Glenn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Patient Health

Bioaerosol in Composting Facilities : Occupational Health Risk Assessment

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (12) ◽  
pp. 3935-3954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Schlosser ◽  
Alain Huyard ◽  
Keith Cartnick ◽  
Adela Yañez ◽  
Vicente Catalan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Composting Facilities

Environmental health risks

2013 ◽  
pp. 178-187
Author(s):  
Roscoe Taylor ◽  
Charles Guest
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Health Protection ◽  
Health Threat ◽  
Environmental Health Risks ◽  
Environmental Health Risk

This chapter will help you to understand the environmental health in the rapidly changing context of health protection, the usefulness of having a framework for environmental health risk assessment, and the process of identifying, evaluating, and planning a response to an environmental health threat.

scholarly journals Developing a Public Health Risk Assessment Toolkit for Mass Gatherings and Trialling for an International Multi-Sport Mass Gathering Event

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s116-s116
Author(s):  
Ellen Bloomer ◽  
Tina Endericks
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Risk ◽  
Mass Gatherings

Introduction:Risk assessment for mass gatherings (MGs) is undertaken to enable public health authorities to systematically identify and assess the generic characteristics of an MG, which introduce or enhance particular threats and develop measures to reduce or mitigate these threats. The World Health Organization Collaborating Centres on Mass Gatherings and Global Health Security (WHO CCs) produced a comprehensive guide to MGs called “Public Health for Mass Gatherings: Key Considerations” (KC2). This is being converted into an eLearning resource. A public health risk assessment toolkit is being developed by the WHO CCs to complement and guide organizers in their planning process for the health risks associated with an MG event. Preparations for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (BCG) are underway and it is important to involve a public health element in the planning for the BCG.Aim:To develop a public health risk assessment toolkit for MGs and pilot it as part of the planning process for the BCG.Methods:Based on KC2 principles, methods included developing and finalizing a public health risk assessment toolkit for MGs. This study also piloted the toolkit for the BCG.Results:A toolkit will be developed. Key learning will be documented on how the toolkit can be improved. The pilot will identify the key public health risks for the BCG, and assess how to mitigate them.Discussion:The development of this toolkit will be an innovative contribution to the resources available for those organizing MGs. It will support organizers to conduct risk assessments and thus maximize the potential for health from the event. Piloting the toolkit for the BCG is an opportunity for validating it, and provides valuable learning for its use in future events. It will support the risk assessment process for the BCG and share learning regarding the key risks for this event.

scholarly journals Simultaneous Health Risk Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements in Soils and Sediments of the Guishui River Basin, Beijing

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (22) ◽  
pp. 4539
Author(s):  
Jiankang Wang ◽  
Bo Gao ◽  
Shuhua Yin ◽  
Dongyu Xu ◽  
Laisheng Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Ecological Risk ◽  
Toxic Elements ◽  
Potentially Toxic Elements ◽  
Soils And Sediments ◽  
Basin Scale

Simultaneous ecological and health risk assessments of potentially toxic elements in soils and sediments can provide substantial information on their environmental influence at the river-basin scale. Herein, soil and sediment samples were collected from the Guishui River basin to evaluate the pollution situation and the ecological and health risk of potentially toxic elements. Various indexes were utilized for quantitatively assessing their health risks. Pollution assessment by geo-accumulation index showed that Cd had “uncontaminated to moderately polluted” status in the soils and sediments. Potential ecological risk index showed that the Guishui River basin was at low risk in general, but Cd was classified as “moderate or considerable ecological risk” both in the soils and sediments. Health risk assessment calculated human exposure from soils and indicated that both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of the selected potentially toxic elements were lower than the acceptable levels. Health risks posed by potentially toxic elements bio-accumulated in fish, stemming from sediment resuspension, were also assessed. Non-carcinogenic hazard index indicated no adverse health effects on humans via exposure to sediments; however, in general, Cr contributed largely to health risks among the selected potentially toxic elements. Therefore, special attention needs to be paid to the Guishui River basin in the future.

scholarly journals Quantitative differences between common occupational health risk assessment models

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuliang Xu ◽  
Fang Yu ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Hua Zhou ◽  
Kang Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Risk Assessment Models
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