3053.0: Monday, November 13, 2000 - 12:30 PM

Abstract #8218

A needs assessment for occupational health and safety programs in British Columbia's healthcare sector: A joint labour-management approach

Aleck Ostry, MA, MSc, PhD1, Annalee Yassi, MD, MSc2, and Robert Tate, PhD2. (1) Department of Healthcare and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, 5804 Fairview Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada, 604-822-5872, ostry@interchange.ubc.ca, (2) Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, S112, 750 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, MB V3E0W3, Canada

In British Columbia, Canada, the cost of injuries for healthcare workers increased 31% last year. The Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Health Care (OHSAH), created in June 1999, was conceived in a joint labour-management accord arising from frustration with rising injury rates of healthcare workers. OHSAH’s research priority was to conduct a needs assessment of healthcare institutions to establish a baseline for future OH&S interventions and to ascertain OH&S needs in the sector. Telephone interviews were conducted with labour and mangement representatives of joint health and safety committees (JHSCs) at 461 healthcare institutions. The survey measured the distribution and quality of occupational health and safety programs. Scores for twelve OH&S programs were calculated by averaging labour and management JHSC member responses. Results indicate that while 93% of institutions have functioning JHSCs, the quality of training was rated as inadequate to basic. While most institutions had patient lift and transfer programs and injury prevention programs, less than 50 percent had return to work programs, and less than 20 percent of institutions monitor their own injury rates. Analysis of labour and management JHSC member responses separately showed that difference in scores across programs, although statistically significant, averaged 4.3% with management respondents scoring programs more positively than labour respondents for 11 of the 12 OH&S programs. The greatest discrepancy in score (10.1%) occurred for violence prevention programs. This labour and management perspective on programs and their quality prove extremely useful as a baseline on which to evaluate future intervention studies.

Learning Objectives: The participants at this session will: Have outlined a unique instrument for measuring the number and quality of occupational health programs in healthcare institutions. Be shown a unique method for obtaining such measures using both labour and management representatives from joint health and safety committees. Learn the results of this needs assessment survey across a province and a representative range of healthcare facility types

Keywords: Occupational Health, Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA