Question

As a community nurse How would you go about assessing the workplace for potential hazards?

Answer 1

Ans) A nurse is assessing potential environmental health risks in the community:

- Conducting a windshield survey is a useful first step to understanding potential environmental health risks. This provides first-hand information about the community and areas of concern that must be investigated.

Assessment of workplace for potential hazards:

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was passed to ensure worker and workplace safety in all employment settings, including restaurants. Others may contribute to safety but do not have the full oversight of OSHA.

Nursing Care of Working Population: Worker assessment

• Exposure to occupational hazards
• Individual characteristics that predispose patient of increased risk of certain jobs
• Occupational health history/assessment
• Focuses on work environment

• List of current and past jobs the client has held

• Exposure to specific agents and relationships b/w the symptoms and activities at work, job titles, or histroy exposure
• Factors that might increase the workers susceptibility to agents in the work environment (lifestyle history such as smoking, underlying illness, previous injury, or disabling condition)
o Ex. If they are doing construction around the work place, and asbestos is found, employees that are smokers have a higher risk of health issues related to that working situation.

• Also asses for other underlying conditions or illnesses
• Ability to do the job
• Reason these are done:
• Ensure a good fit between the worker and his/her job and
• Identify any agent and host factors that might put that employee at risk

Workplace assessment:

--> Worksite walk-through or survey

• To become knowledgeable about the work processes and the materials, the requiremets of various jobs, the presence of actual or potential hazards, and the work practices of employees
• Nurses get to see first hand where they work
• Put on hard hat, goggles, hearing protection, and get down and dirty

Looking at-->

• Process and materials
• Demands and requirements
o Lift a lot?
o Use proper body mechanics?
• Actual and potential hazards
• Work practices of the employees
o Wearing hardhat when needed?
• Best primary prevention method to use when assessing for workplace hazards

Primary prevention:

• Education on use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), worksite walk-through

Secondary prevention:

• Screening for hearing loss, respiratory function

Tertiary prevention:

• Nurse works with people who have chronic diabetes to help with medication and blood glucose screening in order to prevent lost work days
• Check blood pressures throughout the day for those with HTN
• Education about medications