Assessment of occupational health and safety practices at government mortuaries in Gauteng Province: a cross-sectional study

hospital mortuaries are responsible for the receipt and storage of deceased people. This exposes mortuary workers to a variety of health and safety hazards, which include physical, chemical, ergonomics, biological and psychosocial hazards/stressors. The aim of this study was to assess occupational h...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Pan African medical journal 2021, Vol.38 (76), p.76
Main Authors: Molewa, Mapula Luckyjane, Mbonane, Thokozani Patrick, Shirinde, Joyce, Masekameni, Daniel Masilu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Checklist
Cross-Sectional Studies
Data analysis
Female
hazards
health
Health facilities
Hepatitis
HIV
Hospital Departments - standards
Hospitals
Hospitals, Public
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Infectious diseases
Injuries
Knowledge
Male
Males
Meningitis
Middle Aged
mortuary
Mortuary Practice - standards
Occupational accidents
Occupational diseases
Occupational Exposure - prevention & control
Occupational health
Occupational Health - standards
Personal health
Personal Protective Equipment - statistics & numerical data
practices
Questionnaires
Risk exposure
risks
safety
South Africa
Surveys and Questionnaires
Working conditions
Young Adult
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:hospital mortuaries are responsible for the receipt and storage of deceased people. This exposes mortuary workers to a variety of health and safety hazards, which include physical, chemical, ergonomics, biological and psychosocial hazards/stressors. The aim of this study was to assess occupational health and safety practices (OHS) among government mortuary workers in Gauteng province. a cross-sectional descriptive study design was conducted between the year 2017 and 2018. A convenient sampling technique was used to sample 11 government hospitals in Gauteng Province. A total of 46 employees participated in the study. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and observational checklists. Ethical clearance and permission to conduct the study were obtained prior to the commencement of the study. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 25 software. thirty-one (67%) of the respondents did not know the concept of hazard. Observations indicated that 5 out of 11 (45%) facilities were well maintained with only 2 (18%) of the facilities had the participants wearing the required PPE on duty. There was no association between working experience and having a knowledge of the existing hazards. However, there was a high correlation (P
ISSN:1937-8688
1937-8688
DOI:10.11604/pamj.2021.38.76.21699