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
. 2025 Apr 17;25(1):1447.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-22727-y.

Occupational injury severity among healthcare workers: a retrospective study

Ghassan M Khairallah  1 , Samar Al-Hajj  2 , Hani Mowafi  3 , Diana V Rahme #  1 , Carine J Sakr #  4
Affiliations

Occupational injury severity among healthcare workers: a retrospective study

Ghassan M Khairallah et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are exposed to a multitude of hazards in the hospital environment, increasing their risks of sustaining injuries at a higher rate compared to workers in other sectors and resulting in substantial level of modified work and absenteeism. This study aims to examine the burden and determinants of occupational injury severity of HCWs at a tertiary care hospital in Lebanon.

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study examined incident reports completed by HCWs over a period of 5 years (January 2018 to December 2022). Injury severity was assessed by HCWs' need for an Emergency Department (ED) visit after sustaining an injury at work. The association with age, sex, occupation, and type of injury was examined. Results were reported as adjusted OR, with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals and p-values, using logistic regression.

Results: 1,772 injury reports were recorded, of which 790 were included for analysis since the sample was limited to the outpatient clinic opening hours to ensure a more accurate assessment of injury severity. Of these, 27% required an ED visit. Male sex (OR = 1.601, p-value = 0.005) was associated with more severe injuries. Transportation injuries (OR = 5.927, p-value = 0.001) were more severe compared to other injury mechanism, while needle-pricks (OR = 0.008, p-value = 0.000), exposure to blood products (OR = 0.025, p-value = 0.000), and exposure to harmful substances (OR = 0.209, p-value = 0.003) were less severe. Age and occupation only showed significance at the bivariate level.

Conclusion: This study highlighted significant determinants of injury severity among HCWs, emphasizing the critical need for targeted interventions for individuals at risk. Implementing comprehensive safety and wellness programs can enhance the overall health and safety of HCWs in high-stress environments.

Keywords: Blood-borne pathogens; Emergency department; Healthcare workers; Injury severity; Tailored interventions; Transportation incidents.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board at the American University of Beirut (AUB IRB ID: BIO-2023-0052). Because this study uses existing data, and there was no contact with human subjects, Yale IRB Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) considered this as non-human-subject research (Yale IRB ID: 2000035933). No informed consent was required since the study involved a secondary analysis of de-identified incident report forms that are not linked to the medical record of the participants. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection of reported HCWs injuries for analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Cox CL. Healthcare heroes’: problems with media focus on heroism from healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Med Ethics. 2020;46(8):510–3. - PMC - PubMed
    1. OSHA. Healthcare. Available from: https://www.osha.gov/healthcare
    1. Rai R, et al. Exposure to occupational hazards among health care workers in low-and middle-income countries: a scoping review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(5):2603. - PMC - PubMed
    1. BLS. Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities. 2022; Available from: https://www.bls.gov/web/osh/table-1-industry-rates-national.htm
    1. OSHA. Worker Safety in Hospitals Caring for our Caregivers. Available from: https://www.osha.gov/hospitals/understanding-problem

LinkOut - more resources