Assessment of the occupational exposures within homes for home healthcare workers in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Many of the tasks being conducted by home healthcare workers are associated with significant complex demands. Each home is a unique work environment with potentially different exposures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the plethora of exposures for home healthcare workers in the United Kingdom. The study was a cross-sectional study that utilized a trained supervisor to complete the direct observation of the healthcare worker (nursing aide and nurse). Environmental hazards that were captured included mold/mildew (8.7%) and dogs (14.5%), and secondhand smoking (15.9% with smell in home and 8.7% with active smoking). Verbal abuse was prominent for nurse aides (31% experiencing it). Ergonomic hazards were observed through various tasks such as repositioning in bed (34.8%), transfer from bed to chair (30.4%), transfer from bed to chair (26.1%), and transfer from chair to chair (26.1%) and particularly for nursing aides. The results of the current observations indicated that home healthcare workers faced a multitude of exposures that could lead to injuries. This provides a rigid platform for occupational safety and ergonomics specialists to appreciate the occupational exposures and challenges that home health care workers face in the unique home care environment and proactively identify mitigation measures of the respective occupational hazards.