THE ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (OSH) IN HAZARD MANAGEMENT IN HEALTH SECTORS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

It is counter-intuitive that the health care industry, whose mission is the care of the sick, is itself a “high-hazard” industry for the workers it employs.

A significant array of hazards is posed by the sector, with biologic agents and infectious diseases the most widely recognized. Indeed, such "health care–acquired" infections in patients, other unintended errors, such as medication overdoses, and the known side effects of hazardous treatments have recently spawned the highly visible "patient safety movement.

Although preventing exposure to infectious agents and musculoskeletal injuries resulting from patient lifting have been the primary focus of employee safety programs, the chemical hazards in health care have been more slowly recognized. These include novel agents, some of which are unique to health care such as sterilants, germicidal agents, and pharmaceuticals including the highly toxic anticancer drugs. Many of these drugs are themselves cancer-causing or toxic to human reproduction and have been the subject of environmental monitoring campaigns in recent years, showing widespread work-area contamination(T.H. Connor et al 2006) In the context of this highly complex and hazardous work environment, particular challenges arise in pursuing protections for health care workers in this unique employment sector. Biases within the health care industry and the safety and health community itself collude to limit both the awareness of hazards that do exist and the successful application of classical approaches used to assure safe jobs.(M.A. McDiarmid 2006) wherefore, Workplace-related health impairments, injuries and illnesses in the health sector cause great human suffering and incur high costs, both for those affected and the industry as a whole. Hence there is need for curtailing and effectively sure the management of such health care hazards through Occupational health and safety measures.

In 1950, the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health stated that “Occupational health should aim at the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities”. In summary: “the adaptation of work to man, and of each man to his job.”

Occupational health and safety measures and health promotion in workplaces are aimed at preventing these. But, in addition to protecting workers from harm. Hence the study will voluminously scrutinize the role of Occupational Health and Safety Measures in Hazard Management in health sectors.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Because health care is a nontraditional employment setting, imagined by the public to be clean and safe, hazard occurrence is often ambiguous. Also, due to its unique mission of caring for the sick, self-preservation behaviors, which normally aid in protecting workers, are suspended in a culture of self-less commitment to patient care. Hence workers in the health care sector (which possesses every hazard class) encounters health threats both common to other workers, such as those related to large facility operations and maintenance, including asbestos, heavy metals, and solvents, and those hazards unique to the provision of care to ill patients. However the protection of these caregivers from the notable health risk have been the major concern of relevant authorities across the globe. To this effect, ILO&WHO emphasized on the need for the adequate implementation of Occupational health and safety measures. Hence this epistle is embarked on to examine the role of OHS measures on hazard management in the health sector.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The intent behind this study is to meticulously examine the role of OHS measures on hazard management in the health sector. However this can be achievable through the following specific objectives;

1. Enquire if occupational safety and health measures plays any significant role in the management of hazards in the health sector.

2. Investigate if the rate to which hazards occurs in  health sector has been reduced through the application of OSH.

3. Investigate if health care workers passably abide by the occupational safety and health measures in their workplaces.

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTION

1. Does occupational safety and health measures play any significant role in the management of hazards in the health sector?

2. Has the rate to which hazards occur in  health sector been reduced through the application of OSH?

3. Does health care workers passably abide by the occupational safety and health measures in their workplaces?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will unveil the benefits of adhering to occupational safety and health measures. It will also educate health care workers on the possible consequences of not executing the right occupational safety and health measures in their workplaces. Researchers, students and the general public shall all find this study relevant as the issue of hazard management is a controversial one and must be taken not of.

1.6  SCOPE OF THE STUDY

4. This study is carried out under the framework of examining the role of occupational safety and health in hazard management in the health sector. More specifically this study will enquire if occupational safety and health measures plays any significant role in the management of hazards in the health sector; Investigate if the rate to which hazards occurs in  health sector has been reduced through the application of OSH, and Investigate if health care workers passably abide by the occupational safety and health measures in their workplaces. In the note of the above, this study is therefore delimited to Federal Medical Center Asaba,  Delta State.

1.7  LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The main limitation of this research, among others, include time constraints, as the writer only had a limited amount of time to complete it. Financial constraints and language barriers, in particular, were significant limiting factors in this research.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Health Sector:  This consists of businesses that provide medical services, manufacture medical equipment or drugs, provide medical insurance, or otherwise facilitate the provision of healthcare to patients

Healthcare Worker: A healthcare worker is one who delivers care and services to the sick and ailing either directly as doctors and nurses or indirectly as aides, helpers, laboratory technicians, or even medical waste handlers.

Hazard: This  is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone.

Hazard Management: This is basically a field that involves identifying, analyzing, and eliminating potential hazards.

OSH: Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at occupation.