Open AccessOCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS AND SAFETY MEASURES AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN A TERTIARY HEALTH INSTITUTION IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA
Author(s) -
Francis Erah,
Everistus Aniaku Chijioke,
Noel Ebehiremen Uwaibi,
J Akamien,
Martin I. Okhawere
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
innovare journal of medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2321-4406
DOI - 10.22159/ijms.2020.v8i5.36598
Subject(s) - occupational safety and health , hazard , environmental health , tertiary care , medicine , health care , family medicine , chemistry , organic chemistry , pathology , economics , economic growth
Objectives: The objectives of the study was to determine the occupational hazards HWCs face and the safety measure put in place to mitigate these hazards in a tertiary health institution in Edo State, Nigeria.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used to carry out this study among HWCs in a tertiary health institution. Data were analyzed with IBM-SPSS version 23 and statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
Results: Out of the 163 respondents interviewed, 50.92% of them had poor knowledge of occupational hazard while 49.08% had good knowledge. All the doctors interviewed had good knowledge as compared to a larger proportion of other HWCs who had poor knowledge of occupational hazard and this association was statistically significant. Most of respondents (96.93%) had positive attitude toward occupational hazard with few of them having poor safety measures to avoid injury in the work place.
Conclusion: Majority of Health care workers with the exception of medical doctors have poor knowledge of occupational hazards with poor safety measures though they may have positive attitude.