Hospital Workers at High Risk for Workplace Injuries

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), hospitals are one of the most dangerous places to work. In 2011, hospitals throughout the United States recorded 253,700 work-related injuries and illness. That means that nearly 7 of every 100 full-time hospital employees were injured or became ill, a rate almost twice that of private industry overall.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the risk of injury or illness resulting in days away from work is higher in a hospital work environment than in the construction or manufacturing industries. Why is it that the place we all go to when we are injured or ill is among the most dangerous places to work?

OSHA set out to explain this phenomenon by taking an in-depth look at the hospital work environment. According to OSHA, hospitals are such a hazardous place to work as a result of a perfect storm of factors, including:

• Lifting and moving patients – hospital employees are routinely required to move patients around, causing back, neck, and spinal injuries.
• Needles – the risk of a needle stick is among the greatest fears of any hospital worker.
• Slips, trips and falls – despite their best efforts to maintain a clean environment, hospital floors are often littered with a variety of liquids and obstacles that can cause a worker to slip, trip or fall.
• Patient illnesses – people go to the hospital because they are sick or injured. Therefore, the risk of catching a patient’s illness is always a risk for a hospital employee.
• Combative patients – patients can be combative because they don’t want to be there or because they are unaware of their actions. Either way, a worker can be on the receiving end of a hostile and physically combative patient, causing injury to the worker.
• Unpredictable environment – unlike other work environments, a hospital has an unpredictable working environment. It is virtually impossible to plan for every possible scenario that could result in injury or illness to a worker, thereby increasing the risk of injury or illness.

According to OSHA, hospital workers are injured at nearly three times the rate of professional and business services’ workers — and that figure may actually be low because many injured hospital workers continue working despite their injuries. Hospital workers, whether they are doctors, nurses, or aids, tend to adhere to the “do no harm” philosophy, which often means they will put a patient’s needs before their own. While admirable, this also leads to increased injuries in a hospital setting.

OSHA has made a number of resources available to hospital employees and administrators in an effort to reduce the rate at which hospital workers are injured and become ill. Dedication to the healthcare industry should not require you to put your own health and safety at increased and unnecessary risk. If you are a Kentucky hospital or healthcare worker and you have been injured on the job, or believe that your job has caused an illness, consult with an experienced Kentucky workers’ compensation attorney to find out what benefits may be available to you.

https://www.osha.gov/dsg/hospitals/index.html