Safety and Health Issues in the Hospital Laboratory - Essay Example

This is what occupational health and safety is all about; protecting the workers from the possible health and security hazards in the work place. Basically, occupational health and safety is an interdisciplinary field which is concerned with the protection of the safety, welfare and the health of the people in work or employment environment. Primarily, the workers are the one who are protected but as a secondary effect, the co-workers, family members, customers, suppliers, surrounding community and the general public that may be affected by the work environment have also to be protected.

This paper seeks to highlight health and safety at the work place by considering a case study of a hospital laboratory. It will consider the possible health and safety hazards in the hospital laboratory and how they can easily be managed. Occupational health and safety is not a new idea because since 1950, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) jointly sought to define the concept. The paraphrased joint definition requires that occupational health aims at maintenance of the physical, social and mental wellbeing of all the workers in their workplace (Ladou, 2006).

It should also prevent all the safety and health hazards caused by the working conditions thereby protecting the health and physical safety of the workers in a particular working environment. Finally, the practice of occupational safety health and safety also ensures the assignment and maintenance of workers in environment which is in tandem with both their psychological and physiological capacities and thereby adapting the worker to his job and vice versa.Having seen the three major concerns of the practice of occupational health and safety, we shall basically focus on the role of prevention of the safety and health hazards that are caused by the working conditions (Roughton, 2002).

In this case, the work environment being considered is the hospital laboratory. 3.0 The Case Study The hospital laboratory is a very important part in the hospital system that helps in the diagnostic function of the system. The laboratory either confirms diagnosis or provides information that helps in the diagnostic process. In the laboratory, the tests that are carried out are aimed at establishing the cause of the observed disease symptoms. The test is often carried out on body fluids and/or wastes such as urine, faeces, blood, sputum, saliva, etc.

All these fluids are very potent media for pathogens and other micro organisms that cause diseases in the human body. The test in the