Occupational Hazards and Injuries among Healthcare Workers in Ahafo Ano North Municipal Hospital, Ghana

Abstract

Background: An occupational hazard or injury is described as any personal injury or hazard, disease or death that results from an occupational accident. Globally, occupational hazards have been identified as the leading cause of industrial ailment, accounting for over 11% of disability. Despite enormous strength in improving OHS over the past century, an estimated 317 million non-fatal occupational injuries and 321,000 occupational fatalities occur globally each year; that is, 151 workers sustain a work-related accident every 15 seconds. Failure to address operational injuries results in apathy, fatigue and disincentive to workers, which inhibits the zeal to work. Aim: The study was conducted to assess the occupational hazards and injuries among health workers in the Ahafo Ano Municipal, Tepa. Methods: A cross-sectional and health facility-based study was conducted between June 2020 to December 2020 to realise the objectives of the study. In order to take care of non-response in the recording of information of participants, the study added 10% of the total sample size to arrive at the required sample size of 259. Health workers were selected at the facility level using a convenient sampling technique. The study approach was quantitative, and a questionnaire was used to collect data among the health workers. Data collected was analysed using the SPSS package version 21.0. It involved a descriptive analysis where data was presented in the form of tables and charts. Results and Findings: The findings revealed that health workers were not diagnosed with infections. However, physical injuries (75.7%) such as falls, burns and lifting of patients were major occupational hazards and injuries health workers suffered. The majority of health workers (78.9%) had no PPE to use in their facility, which hindered their work output. Few PPE available were cover/cap (26.5%) and mask (30.5%). However, only 38.6% of the health workers have had training on its usage. The majority of health workers, 235 (90.7%), had never reported any occupational hazards and injuries to the health facilities. Conclusions: Occupational health hazards are common among health workers and are not adequately reported. Training of health workers on measures to mitigate these hazards and injuries may also enhance the reporting behaviour and its management when it occurs. Standard operating guidelines and protocols on occupational health and safety should be available at the occupational health and safety unit to ensure that safety procedures and protocols are followed.