Health care facilities are supposed to be places people go to get healthier. But for some of the workers at these facilities, the act of helping others may be making them feel worse. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. hospitals recorded 57,680 work-related injuries and illnesses in 2013. This case rate—6.4 work-related injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers—comes out to nearly twice the rate of injury and illness suffered by workers in private industry in general.
In an effort to address some of these hazards, OSHA recently released a memorandum that puts employers that run hospitals and residential care facilities on high alert regarding several aspects of employee safety, most notably musculoskeletal injuries and workplace violence.
