Safety Climate and Respirator Practices and Policies in Acute Care Hospitals

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brosseau L ; Cline K ; Conroy L ; Sietsema M
• Description:
  Objective: The goal of this project was to examine the relationship between measures of safety climate and respirator practices and policies among healthcare workers and managers in acute care hospitals. Methods: A total of 183 healthcare workers, 43 hospital managers and 47 unit managers in 15 Minnesota acute care hospitals were interviewed about respiratory protection practices and policies and completed a written survey of 10 safety climate questions about employee and manager attitudes and behaviors toward workplace safety, respirators and infectious disease exposures. Questions were scored on a 3-point scale (agree/neutral/disagree); scores were summed for an overall safety climate score, which was compared to interview responses. Results: Safety climate was not associated with union status, length of employment or education. Overall safety climate scores were significantly worse for healthcare workers in comparison to hospital and unit managers (p<0.0001); unit and hospital manager scores were similar. Unit managers reporting frequency of medical clearance less than required by OSHA had significantly worse safety climate scores (p=0.03); no association was found for other interview categories. Employees and managers with better safety climate scores were more likely to report annual respirator training (p<0.0001). Healthcare workers reporting in-person training had significantly better safety scores (p=0.008) than those trained by other methods (e.g. internet-based, videos). Safety scores were significantly better for healthcare workers reporting that respirators were available at the point of use (p=0.03) and selecting a respirator for exposures to airborne pathogens during aerosol-generating procedures, in comparison to a surgical mask (p=0.02). Conclusions: Better respirator program practices for medical clearance, training and infectious disease protection were associated with higher safety climate scores for employees and managers in acute care hospitals. The cross-sectional nature of these data do not elucidate, however, whether better safety climate leads to better respirator practices, or vice versa. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Health Personnel Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Health Care Workers Infectious Diseases Personal Protective Equipment Policy PPE Respirators Respiratory Protective Equipment Safety Climate Safety Practices
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062509
• Citation:
  AIHce 2013: American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 18-23, 2013, Montreal, Quebec. Falls Church, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2013 May; :105
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  AIHce 2013: American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 18-23, 2013, Montreal, Quebec
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:964a08651551744217aae679e84cb4fe6956b4d6f26bcb5bad70c64faa055edff4933a45b65764cb01530d7084a4592fc3cf268e2175d0d73cf326a28db891f2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225744/cdc_225744_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1006.97 KB ]