Occupational Safety and Health in Public Health Emergencies: A Manual for Protecting Health Workers and Responders

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  World Health Organization ; International Labour Organization
• Description:
  This manual provides an overview of the main OSH risks faced by emergency responders during disease outbreaks and other emergencies, such as natural disasters, chemical incidents, radiological emergencies and emergencies involving conflicts. The intent is to assist organizations and workplaces to better prepare and respond to these events. The manual, which is particularly focused on needs in low-resource settings, provides technical guidance on good practices and procedures in establishing systems that can: 1) reduce occupational exposures, injury, illness and death among response workers; 2) decrease stress and reduce fears; and 3) promote the health and well-being of health-care and other response workers. The manual has three main parts. Chapters 1 to 3 cover managerial and technical tools and strategies for managing OSH in emergency situations. These tools include an OSH management systems approach for use in emergencies, an incident command system (ICS), OSH controls and standard precautions and their application during emergencies. Chapters 4 to 8 cover OSH hazards in different types of emergencies, such as outbreak situations covering clinical and community response settings, chemical incidents, radiation incidents and natural disasters, as well as conflict situations. The Appendix includes a collection of tools and resources compiled from various resources that are intended to provide practical support to users on different aspects of OSH in emergencies and outbreaks. The manual is intended for experts and officials in emergency response organizations who are responsible for workers' OSH. This information is particularly important in countries with high risk of emergencies - such as those with high transmission of highly infectious agents (e.g. cholera, yellow fever, viral haemorrhagic fevers) and/or natural disasters, and chemical and radiological incidents. The key target audience includes personnel from agencies and organizations responsible for implementing the International Health Regulations (IHR) within a country, government agencies in the health and labour sectors, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), humanitarian and charitable bodies, faith-based organizations, hospitals and health-care facilities, public and private companies, security forces, employers and trade unions. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Emergency Responders Health Personnel Health Promotion Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Disaster Response Emergency Responders Health Care Workers Health Promotion Infectious Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Safety And Health
• ISBN:
  9789220307946
• Publisher:
  World Health Organization and International Labour Organization
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Guidance
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-129
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055665
• Citation:
  Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization and International Labour Organization, 2018 Jun; :1-129
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20140515
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational safety and health in public health emergencies: a manual for protecting health workers and responders
• End Date:
  20170514
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d1327ac86af87e71c8eb90a54cd44115a0241ee7959cd0b11cac70ed6ce9bbfe25ecc844fffbf2dfe95d2241424c1b318ffe8c0e9467d223d957417d82624067
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213458/cdc_213458_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.40 MB ]