Occupational Health & Safety & Well being Program for Healthcare workers
A health care facility is a workplace as well as a place for receiving and giving care. Health care facilities employ workers who are exposed to a complex variety of health and safety hazards every day.
Health-care workers (HCWs) need protection from these workplace hazards just as much as other workers do. A healthy healthcare workforce is an asset to Sri Lanka. The Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine is in the process of developing a National Programme on occupational health, safety and well being for healthcare workers this year.
Occupational Health & Safety Program for Agricultural Workers
Agriculture is one of the most hazardous of all economic sectors and many agricultural workers suffer occupational accidents and ill health each year. In Sri Lanka a large number of workers are involved in agricultural work. They are exposed to Biological, chemical, physical, psychological, mechanical and ergonomic al hazards. Since most of the agricultural workers work in the informal economy, provision of occupational health has always been a challenge.
However, several measures have been taken already to improve their occupational health. Advocating prophylaxis for Leptospirosis, screening the farmers for CKDu, farmer education on snakebite prevention and first aid are some of them. The Directorate of Environmental and Occupational Health of the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine aims to develop a programme to provide occupational health, safety and well being for them.
Climate change & Workers’ Health
Work is a central element in the lives of most adults and the health of workers can be affected due to climate change significantly. Outdoor workers engaged especially in construction and agriculture are claimed to be at a higher risk of developing ill health due to climate change. This sub programme aims at minimizing the climate related ill health to high risk worker groups.
Chemical Safety & Workers’ Health
Chemicals have become an indispensable part of human life, sustaining activities and development, preventing and controlling many diseases, and increasing agricultural productivity. Despite their benefits, chemicals may, especially when misused, cause adverse effects on human health and environmental integrity. Widespread application of chemicals increases the potential of adverse effects. Growth of chemical industries, both in developing and in developed countries, is predicted to increase. In this context, it is recognized that the assessment and management of risks from exposure to chemicals is among the highest priorities in pursuing the principles of sustainable development.
Certain worker groups are at a higher risk of developing adverse health outcomes due to exposure to chemicals. A number of workers have died to chemical incidents in Sri Lanka in the recent past. Even though several measures have been taken already by the Ministry of Health to address workers health due to chemical issues, there is lot of room for further improvement.
Air Pollution and Workers’ Health
Air pollution is a silent killer. Pollution of air at the workplace, being indoors in the work premises, or during work outdoors is harmful to health and can be prevented. WHO has estimated outdoor air pollution causes 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide every year among the general population, including workers. Outdoor air pollution can cause asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and impaired lung function, lung cancer, heart attacks and stroke.
Outdoor workers are particularly vulnerable to ambient air pollution. These include agricultural workers, street vendors and delivery workers, urban transport, traffic police, and road repair, construction, waste collection etc. In addition to breathing polluted air, such workers are often exposed to other environmental risks, such as heat and cold, heavy rain, wind and other climatic conditions as well solar UV and allergenic pollens. In addition, outdoor workers are exposed to a range of occupational hazards arising from their specific work activities – fumes, particles and fibres, toxic chemicals, noise, vibrations, manual handling of loads, awkward work posture, psychological harassment and accidents.
Air pollution in indoor workplaces is also a major concern. Sources of air pollution in indoor workplaces include technological processes, burning of materials and waste, cleaning, transport vehicles and engines with internal combustion, heating etc. Air pollutants at the workplace include a very wide range of chemical substances and preparations, gases, fumes and aerosols, particles, fibres etc. The levels of exposure to air pollutants at the workplace can be much higher than outdoors.
The health effects can be systemic toxic effects and acute poisonings, allergies, such as asthma, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancer. WHO estimates that health effects of occupational exposure to selected air pollutants at the workplace can cause more than 860 000 deaths a year. The real magnitude of the health impacts on workplace air pollution is likely to be much higher, but it is difficult to quantify the global burden of disease given the wide diversity of air pollutants and occupational exposures in the different workplaces, sectors and activities.
Several activities have been done with regard to this at the national, provincial, district and MOH level in Sri Lanka. The Occupational health unit intends to develop an action plan with other stakeholders to minimize the adverse health outcomes due to air pollution to vulnerable worker groups.