Frequency of occupational health hazards and factors responsible among the waste handlers at the tertiary care hospitals of Karachi

  • Eshwar Das National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, Pakistan.
  • Shiraz Shaikh Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.
  • Umm-e-Rabab Liaquat National Hospital & Medical College
  • Dileep Kumar College of Nursing Sukkar, Pakistan
Keywords: Hospital Waste Handlers (HWHs), Occupational Health Hazards, Needle Stick Injury (NSI), Hospital Waste Management (HWM)

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Hospital waste handlers (HWHs) are in contact with contaminated waste that put them at risk for occupational health hazards. The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of occupational health hazards and identify factors contributing to them among the HWHs at tertiary care hospitals of Karachi.

Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted from January 2021 till June 2022 on 417 conveniently selected HWHs of the public and private tertiary care hospitals of the Karachi including three Public sector hospitals (Civil Hospital Karachi, National Institute of Child Health, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center) and five private sector hospitals (Sohail University Hospital, Darulsehat Hospital, Kharadar General Hospital, Patel Hospital and Hamdard University Hospital) using a structured questionnaire. Chi Square test was applied to determine the differences in occurrence of different hazardous outcomes (Needle stick injury, Sharp Injury, Eye Symptoms, Skin symptoms, Cough) between different groups of age, gender, type of hospitals and status of being trained in Hospital Waste Management (HWM).

Results: Around half of the HWHs (52.6%) labeled the bins of the waste according to their level of hazard. Only 17.9% disinfected the infected waste. The proportion of participants who experienced needle stick and sharp injury in the last six months was 16.3% and 15.8% respectively. Majority of them used disposable gloves (95.7%) and face masks (94.3%). One thirds had access to aprons while only 10.5% had access to protective shoes at their work place. HWHs of private sector were significantly less likely to experience Needle stick injuries, skin symptoms, cough, breathing difficulty and throat burning.

Conclusion: The HWM practices in tertiary care hospitals of Karachi is far from being satisfactory. HWHs must be trained and monitored for safe disposal of waste.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.7.9113

How to cite this: Das E, Shaikh S, Umm-e-Rabab, Kumar D. Frequency of occupational health hazards and factors responsible among the waste handlers at the tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(7):1539-1544. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.7.9113

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Author Biographies

Eshwar Das, National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, Pakistan.

College of Nursing, Lecturer

Shiraz Shaikh, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.

APPNA Institute of Public Health, Associate Professor

Dileep Kumar, College of Nursing Sukkar, Pakistan

Lecturer, College of Nursing

Published
2024-06-28
How to Cite
Eshwar Das, Shaikh, S., Umm-e-Rabab, & Dileep Kumar. (2024). Frequency of occupational health hazards and factors responsible among the waste handlers at the tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 40(7). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.7.9113
Section
Original Articles