Health Care Workers FAQs
What are the most common injuries in the health care industry?
Health care workers, particularly nursing home workers, suffer very high rates of back injuries. According to the Federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, sprains and strains are the leading cause of injuries in nursing homes. Health care workers are also exposed to blood borne pathogens, such as HIV and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) through needlesticks and use of other sharps, as well as other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza. Injuries from workplace violence are common among health care workers who have direct contact with patients, as well as those who have to deal with the public at large.
Why do health care workers suffer such high rates of back injuries?
Nurses, nursing assistants, and home health care aids who provide direct patient care spend a large amount of the day lifting, moving and transferring patients, to and from the toilet, in and out of bed, from a wheel chair to a geri chair. If the proper lifting equipment is not available to do this lifting, the health care worker puts his or her back at great risk of getting injured. Risk of back injury in healthcare workplaces occurs not only during patient/residents handling tasks but while performing other tasks as well in the kitchen, laundry, engineering, and housekeeping areas of facilities, for example during:
transporting of equipment, moving food carts or other heavy carts, pouring liquids out of heavy pots or containers, reaching into deep sinks or containers, using hand tools, and during housekeeping tasks.
What is ergonomics and how can it be used to prevent back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders (MDSs), such as carpal tunnel syndrome and rotator cuff syndrome ?
The most effective way to prevent back injuries in health care facilities is to provide mechanical / electric lifts and other devices to assist workers who take care of patients so that heavy lifting is eliminated or minimized. Because the lift equipment does the lifting for the worker, and eliminates many of the stressful tasks which cause back injuries, the risk of back injury is reduced. Through the use of ergonomics, work tasks and the work environment is redesigned to conform to the capabilities of workers in order to prevent injuries before they occur.
Is there an OSHA standard that regulates ergonomics ?
There is no OSHA standard on ergonomics. In 2001 Congress passed, and President Bush signed, Senate Joint Resolution 6, which rescinded the ergonomics rule that we put into place under President Clinton in 2000.
OSHA has issued guidelines for the nursing home industry on ergonomics. A guideline is a tool to assist employers in recognizing and controlling hazards. However, it is voluntary. Failure to implement a guideline is not itself a violation of the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act. Guidelines developed by OSHA provide information to help employers identify ergonomic hazards in their workplaces and implement feasible measures to control those hazards. The Ergonomics Guideline for Nursing Homes can be accessed at
http://www.osha.gov/ergonomics/guidelines/nursinghome/final_nh_guidelines.html
What OSHA standards protect health care workers from bloodborne pathogens?
OSHA’s "Bloodborne Pathogens" standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030, provide s protection for health care workers from work-related exposure to such infectious diseases as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. Among other requirements, the OSHA standard requires employers to develop, in writing, an exposure control plan which demonstrates how the employer will protect workers from bloodborne infectious diseases; establish safe procedures and put in place equipment for handling needles/sharps, provide training, appropriate protective equipment, provide post-exposure follow-up should an incident, such as a needlestick occur, and make available the hepatitis B Vaccine at no cost to the employee.
What is the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act?
The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (the Act) was signed into law on November 6, 2000. Because occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens from accidental sharps injuries in healthcare and other occupational settings continues to be a serious problem, Congress felt that a modification to OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard was appropriate (29 CFR 1910.1030) to set forth in greater detail OSHA's requirement for employers to identify, evaluate, and implement safer medical devices. The Act also mandated additional requirements for maintaining a sharps injury log and for the involvement of non-managerial healthcare workers in evaluating and choosing devices.
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