Hospital Workplace Safety
Exposures
There are four main categories of hospital specific exposures that can potentially potentially cause injury
Physical Exposures
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Hospital workers lift, reposition and transfer of patients of various sizes in numerous positions, which is compounded by increasing obesity and the aging workforce.
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Exposures such as needles, scalpels and other sharps
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Other hazards: electrical hazards, noise, slipping/tripping/falling hazards, heat, poor lighting, inadequate ventilation, and working with medical equipment such as lasers and x-ray equipment
Chemical Exposures
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Medications and pharmaceuticals exposure
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Disinfectants and solvents
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Hypersensitivity reactions (ex. latex)
Biological Exposures
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Hospital workers are exposed to potentially contagious patients on multiple levels
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Physical contact, requires infection control – contact, airborne, droplet, enteric
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Sharps blood borne pathogen exposure
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Clean up and waste management exposures
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Nosocomial infections from hospitals have a tendency to be more virulent (ex. hospital acquired pneumonia vs community acquired)
Violence
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Working with patients with physical or mental illness can results in complex work situations that may increase the likelihood of violence