Fast Facts: Home Healthcare Workers: How to Prevent Exposure in Unsafe Conditions

Details

• Journal Article:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Home healthcare workers may encounter unsanitary homes, temperature extremes, homes without water that is safe to drink, or hostile pets. EMPLOYERS SHOULD Establish criteria for acceptable home environments, including hygiene, temperature, access to water, and pets. Train employees on the concept of acceptable home environments and what they should do if a home they visit is unsanitary. EMPLOYEES SHOULD Follow their employers' guidelines for reporting of unacceptable home environments. UNSANITARY CONDITIONS Hygiene may be an issue of concern for home healthcare workers in some client locations. Unsanitary homes may harbor pests such as rodents, lice, bedbugs, or mites. These unsanitary conditions can cause contamination of medical supplies and equipment, as well as spread disease and infection. This document is also available in Chinese: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2012-121/pdfs/2012-121chi.pdf and Polish: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2012-121/pdfs/2012-121pol.pdf [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Delivery Of Health Care Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Health-care; Medical-care; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Medical-equipment; Health-care-personnel; Safety-education; Safety-measures; Work-environment; Work-practices; Sanitation; Disease-prevention; Employee-exposure; Employee-health
• Source:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2012-121, 2012 Feb; :1-2
• Series:
  NIOSH Numbered Publications
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHPUB2012121
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Fact Sheet
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  EID - Education and Information Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  2 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040330
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9f95f156a2169f9df8caaefc9a6e76a13585000d988e6b4b52ea4250a3cf9bf947cd570601a533a01b13a9fe6933a0bef873a41199d8658fb772fac62b172dee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/11734/cdc_11734_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.08 MB ]