Occupational Health Hazards And Safety Practices Among Health Workers At The East Akim Municipality Of Ghana

Abstract

Background: Occupational health and safety at the workplace are typical issues confronting workers and employers at the workplace. The International Labour Organization (ILO) announced that approximately 6,400 people die daily from work accidents and over eight hundred thousand are injured on the job. Occupational health is a neglected public health issue among health care workers, particularly in low resource nations. This has exposed healthcare workers in these areas to various forms of hazard that impact negatively on their wellbeing and performance at work. Studies show that about 90% of accidents occur because of unsafe behavior and human errors. Even if workers do not have the right knowledge, attitude, and behavior toward safety measures in a safe workplace, all efforts for an accident-free workplace will be in vain. People's behaviors and intentions about healthy behaviors depend on their beliefs, values, and knowledge about the issue. Various models of health education are used in determining predictors of different healthy behaviors but their efficacy in safety behaviors, such as occupational health and safety is limited. Aim: The purpose of the study is to identify existing gaps in workplace safety and health management among health care workers in the East Akim municipality based on the occupational health and safety policy and guidelines for the health sector, Health Belief Model, and Reasoned Action Theory. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study will be carried out on health workers in Kibi and Tafo government hospitals within the East Akim municipality. A sample size of 243 will be randomly selected. The data collection tool will be a researcher-made questionnaire. The questionnaire’s validity will be gained by content-validity and its reliability will be validated by Cronbach's alpha. The questionnaire will use dichotomous and Likert-scale responses to assess knowledge, attitude, and behavior and will be developed using the Ghana health service occupational health and safety policy and guidelines for the health sector, and the health belief model, which is based on the theory that self-protective behavior is driven by the anticipation of a negative health outcome and the desire to avoid such an outcome or reduce its impact. Within this model, the perceived susceptibility to the event or likelihood of its occurrence further influences the motivation to take protective action. All categories of health workers within the facilities who met the criteria for selection were recruited. The quota sampling and simple random sampling method were used in sampling participants for the study. Data were analyzed using Stata 15 and involved a descriptive test of association and binary logistics regression. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered for statistical significance at a 95% confidence interval. Results: Out of the 270 respondents, 62.2% were adequately knowledgeable, 7.8% of the workers had good behavior towards occupational hazards and safety practices. The majority of respondents (96%) had a good attitude towards occupational hazards and safety practices. Being female (aOR = 1.99; 95% CI = 1.13 – 3.50; p = 0.017) or non-clinicians (aOR = 3.48; 95% CI = 1.39 - 8.67; p = 0.008) increased the odds of adequate knowledge of occupational hazards and safety practices. The odds of a good attitude towards occupational hazards and safety practices were significantly reduced by 98% among Muslims as compared to Christians (aOR = 0.02; 95% CI = 0.002 – 0.19; p = 0.001). 17.4% of the 270 respondents indicated strict compliance with universal precautions with a one year increase in age (aOR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.77 – 0.98; p = 0.028), good behaviour (aOR = 3.59; 95% CI = 1.25 – 10.37; p = 0.018) and a one year increase in work experience (aOR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.01 - 1.34; p = 0.032) of a health worker influenced strict compliance with universal precautions.30.4% of the health workers reported exposure to hazard in the last six months with 29.3%, 25.6%, and 14.6% representing splashes, direct contacts and needle sticks respectively. Only 29.3% of these hazard exposure incidents were reported while action was taken for 36.6% of the hazard exposure incidents. Adequate knowledge (aOR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.14 – 4.36; p = 0.019) of occupational hazards and safety practices increased hazard exposure among health workers in Kibi and Tafo government hospitals within the East Akim municipality. Conclusion: Even though a majority (96%) of the respondents exhibited a good attitude towards occupational hazards and safety practices, only 7.8% of the workers had good behavior with 62.2% exhibiting adequate knowledge. Authorities at the Kibi and Tafo government hospitals should organize regular training for health workers on occupational safety to enable staff to identify and report possible hazards.