Abstract
Abstract Understanding hazards within the veterinary profession is critical for developing strategies to ensure the health and safety of personnel in the work environment. This study was conducted to systematically review and synthesize data on reported risks within veterinary workplaces. A systematic review of published data on occupational hazards and associated risk factors were searched within three database platforms namely PubMed, Ebscohost, and Google scholar. To determine the proportion estimates of hazards and pooled odds ratio, two random-effects meta-analysis were performed. For the biological, chemical and physical hazards, the pooled proportion estimates were 17% (95% CI: 15.0-19.0, p < 0.001), 7.0% (95% CI: 6.0-9.0%, p < 0.001) and 65.0% (95% CI: 39.0-91.0%, p < 0.001) respectively. A pooled odds ratio indicated the risk of exposures to physical (OR=1.012, 95% CI: 1.008-1.017, p < 0.001) and biological hazards (OR=2.07, 95% CI: 1.70-2.52, p <0.001) increased when working or in contact with animals. The review has provided a better understanding of occupational health and safety status of veterinarians and gaps within the developing countries. This evidence calls for policy formulation and implementation to reduce the risks of exposures to all forms of occupational-related hazards in veterinary workplaces.
Highlights
Occupational hazards are injuries or ailments resulting from the work one does or from the environment in which one works [1]
The veterinary profession is comprised of a diverse group of individuals who interact with a wide variability of animal species under a working environment that creates exposure to injuries [4]
This work has shown that veterinarians and students are at high risk of diverse physical, chemical and biological hazards based on their work profiles contact with animals
Summary
Occupational hazards are injuries or ailments resulting from the work one does or from the environment in which one works [1]. The veterinary profession is comprised of a diverse group of individuals who interact with a wide variability of animal species under a working environment that creates exposure to injuries [4]. In the United States (US), the veterinary profession has been ranked as the fifth-highest industry for the incidence of non-fatal work related injuries. This is not far behind police and fire protection services, while the human health professionals were not in the top 20 [5]. Some reports showed exposure to work-related hazards are more common in the developed than developing countries [6], whether this is a true assessment is doubtful and indeterminate because most African countries may lack occupational health and safety standards, implementations, risks assessment, and adequate reporting protocols
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