Occupational Health and Safety among Practitioners in Public University Hospitals: A Comparison between University Of Ghana and University of Cape Coast Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: The right to life is very fundamental, yet every year a lot of workers are deprived of that right by occupational accidents and work related diseases. This is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg, as data for estimating nonfatal illness and injury are not available in most developing countries. Therefore, this study examined Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) among practitioners in public University Hospitals, using University of Cape Coast and University of Ghana Hospitals. The study sought to specifically identify regulatory frameworks governing OHS in Public Universities and establish their adequacy and conformity with national and international OHS legislations, Identify OHS concerns in Public Universities of Ghana and determine their effects on productivity and also ascertain the commitment of management of public Universities of Ghana to OHS issues. Methods: This was a cross sectional survey involving practitioners at the University of Ghana Hospital and University of Cape Coast Hospital. Data was collected at a particular point from the respondents using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was in four parts. The first part of the questionnaire addressed the demographics of the respondents and the respondents’ understanding of health and safety. Thus, the first were items that required background check on the respondents. The second part of the questionnaire was made up of hazards that employees face at the hospital. The third part of the questionnaire covered items that measured thus, health and safety policies at the hospitals and whether management provides a safety environment at the hospitals. The last part contained adherence to health and safety at the hospitals. Data was entered into SPSS and analysed. Results: Participants used in the study were aged 20 years and above with majority of them between the ages of 26 to 30 years. In terms of gender, majority of the participants at both hospitals were females. For type of profession, Allied health workers recorded the most percentage of the two hospitals followed by nurses. Leadership safety behaviour received high percentage of positive response from practitioners at the two University Hospitals (64.4% and 77.9%) A combine percentage of participants who comply and participate (often plus very often) in safety activities, showed that there was almost a similar behaviour at UG hospital and UCC hospital (59.4% and 59.0%, respectively). Conclusion: The current study has shown that level of adherence to policy on health and safety at University of Ghana Hospital and the University of Cape Coast Hospital is high, with UCC hospital recording the highest in most areas. Also, it was observed that Occupational health and safety among practitioners was more likely to be because of Leadership Safety Behavior of the hospitals. Moreover, it can be concluded the number of practitioners that are involved in behaviors that are not likely to promote the personal safety directly but contribute to improving safety in workplace as well as are involved in behaviors that are conducted to maintain the safety of workplace is more than half at the two hospitals used in the current study.

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Occupational Health, Safety, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast

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