Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun;57(6):640-52.
doi: 10.1002/ajim.22305. Epub 2014 Feb 18.

NIOSH health and safety practices survey of healthcare workers: training and awareness of employer safety procedures

Andrea L Steege  1 , James M Boiano, Marie H Sweeney
Affiliations

NIOSH health and safety practices survey of healthcare workers: training and awareness of employer safety procedures

Andrea L Steege et al. Am J Ind Med. 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The Health and Safety Practices Survey of Healthcare Workers describes current practices used to minimize chemical exposures and barriers to using recommended personal protective equipment for the following: antineoplastic drugs, anesthetic gases, high level disinfectants, surgical smoke, aerosolized medications (pentamidine, ribavirin, and antibiotics), and chemical sterilants.

Methods: Twenty-one healthcare professional practice organizations collaborated with NIOSH to develop and implement the web-based survey.

Results: Twelve thousand twenty-eight respondents included professional, technical, and support occupations which routinely come in contact with the targeted hazardous chemicals. Chemical-specific safe handling training was lowest for aerosolized antibiotics (52%, n = 316), and surgical smoke (57%, n = 4,747). Reported employer procedures for minimizing exposure was lowest for surgical smoke (32%, n = 4,746) and anesthetic gases (56%, n = 3,604).

Conclusions: Training and having procedures in place to minimize exposure to these chemicals is one indication of employer and worker safety awareness. Safe handling practices for use of these chemicals will be reported in subsequent papers.

Keywords: cognitive testing; employer safe handling procedures; healthcare worker; professional practice organization; self-report; training; web-based survey.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Survey home page.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Flow diagram showing assignment of hazard modules based on responses to screening questions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) ASHP guidelines on handling hazardous drugs. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2006;63:1172–1193.
    1. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Industry employment. [November 21, 2013];Occup Outlook Q. 2012 55(4):33–39. at http://bls.gov/opub/ooq/2011/winter/industry.htm.
    1. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [November 21, 2013];Table II. Numbers of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses by industry and case types, 2012. 2013a at http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/ostb3583.pdf.
    1. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Labor force statistics from the current population survey. Household data annual averages. Table 18. [November 21, 2013];Employed persons by detailed industry, sex, race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2012. 2013b at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18.htm.
    1. CDC [November 6, 2013];Distinguishing public health research and public health nonresearch. 2010 at http://www.cdc.gov/od/science/integrity/docs/cdc-policy-distinguishing-p....

Publication types

MeSH terms