occupational safety and health risks in educational hospitals using the HOSHRA novel method
Safety risk is the probability of an accident. The higher the probability, the higher the risk [1]. Risk management in health cares refers to a wide range of measures to improve quality of and guarantee safety of services to patients [2]. The health-therapeutic organizations are in charge of providing services to care-seekers and ensure a safe environment for patients and personnel [3]. The care environment is comprised of three factors namely buildings, equipment, and personnel and these factors are effective in creating a sense of peace and relaxation for patients, families, and personnel [4]. Since, hospital environment and the type of works in it are characterized with many risks, risk assessment programs can improve efficiency and efficacy of the services [5-6]. Different studies have emphasized on the necessity of using risk management in clinical programs and diagnosing and imaging services in hospital [7]. Safety in hospital is highly imperative from economic, humanistic, and ethical viewpoints. Risk management in hospital is a measure to decrease incidence and frequency of preventable accidents [8]. The WHO has emphasized on the necessity of implementing risk management programs in hospitals so that such programs are of the factors in the success of hospitals in realizing the motto of “health for all.” Several studies have highlighted he necessity of using risk management in hospitals [10, 11]. In many countries, hospitals represent a major part of health and treatment centers and attract the main part of health and treatment costs. The main health risks in hospitals are rooted in failure to implement health regulation and professional hazardous factors like physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and psychological factors. All patients, visitors, personnel, and the whole society are faced with these risks [12]. There are several methods for identifying and assessing risks. Choosing the right method to conduct risk assessment in an organization or industry depends on a variety of factors like the objective of risk assessment, type of expected results, type of information available, and time and stage of assessment [13, 14]. To detect risks in hospital, risk assessment methods that encompass all potential risks in health centers are recommended.
Hospital occupational safety and health risk assessment (HOSHRA) was introduced by Jahangiri et al. (2015). This index categorized potential risk in health and therapeutic centers in five fields of physical hazards, biological hazards, ergonomic hazards, chemical hazards, and psychological hazards. This method is a good choice for risk assessment given its quantitative nature, novelty, and inclusion of all occupational risk factors. Several studies have been conducted on hospital hazards risk assessment using different methods. Still, there is no such study using the novel HOSHRA method. Thereby, the present study was an attempt to assess occupational safety and health risks in educational hospitals using HOSHRA in 2019.