In response to new regulatory and community-based initiatives, many U.S. hospitals will develop plans to change their waste management and materials use practices within the next two years. This rapid introduction of new materials and work practices will have significant implications for the occupational health and safety of hospital workers, particularly if these workplace changes intended to improve the ambient environment are not brought about using sound work environment practices. This project will use the opportunity provided by the environmental incentives for hospitals to develop active pollution prevention plans to work with three hospitals to develop specific, integrated methods for implementing occupational health and safety-pollution prevention (OHS-PP) intervention strategies. The objective of the proposed work is to develop workplace intervention strategies to reduce the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)- and mercury-containing materials in hospitals while improving the occupational health and safety of hospital workers.
Aims of the project include: establishing multidisciplinary, in-hospital OHS-PP intervention teams for each of the three hospitals; identifying the important dimensions of the OHS-PP problems; developing a curriculum and educational materials for in-hospital OHS-PP intervention teams; developing and conducting pre-intervention OHS-PP walkthrough surveys and job analyses; researching specific intervention strategies for hospital materials and work practices that generate PVC- or mercury- containing waste; implementing the interventions; conducting post-intervention OHS-PP walkthrough surveys and job analyses; and analyzing the data collected and comparing the study findings within and among the three hospitals. Products of this study will be a model plan and instructional manual for setting up hospital occupational health and safety-programs, case studies intended for the peer-reviewed literature that evaluates the motivations and barriers to the proposed work in the three hospitals and that will compare the results among them, and a list of alternative work practices, materials, products and vendors identified by the intervention teams and project staff. Information about these alternatives and the model OHS-PP plan and manual will be made available to hospitals nationwide through the recently created Sustainable Hospitals Clearinghouse and Web site at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
| Bello, Anila; Quinn, Margaret M; Perry, Melissa J et al. (2009) Characterization of occupational exposures to cleaning products used for common cleaning tasks--a pilot study of hospital cleaners. Environ Health 8:11 |
