Occupational Health and Safety among Health Care Workers in Tanzania. More need to be done

Introduction
Very scarce documentation exists on occupational health and safety (OHS) among health care workers in Tanzania.

Methods
We conducted a self administered questionnaire study among 30 health care workers. The questionnaire included 5 questions on OHS services offered at their institutions, 3 on hours of work and work organization, 4 on awareness of any health risks/hazards prevailing at their workplaces and appropriate control and preventive measures. Participating were asked if they are aware of the current national OHS regulations, if their institutions had an OHS policy, if they had received OHS training and their opinion on how OHS improvement in health sector can be achieved.

Results
27of 30 (90%) workshop participants responded. The 20 women and 7 men included 17 Nurses 6 doctors and 1 each a dentist, laboratory technician, health secretary and a medical technician. Their age range 29 – 57 years and worked on average of 9.8 (range: 1-30) years. All affirmed the importance of medical examinations, 85% (N=26) examined before employment but only 26% (N=9) examined periodically. 48% (N=13) were vaccinated. 63% (N=17) worked, more than 40 hours per week and prevalence of shift work was 37% (N=10). 74% were informed of the workplace hazards and appropriate prevention. Only 4 had received some OHS training. The highest reported hazard were exposure to biological infectious agents 19, needle pricks 14, exposure to chemicals 11 and long working hours 8, responders respectively. Only 3 responders were aware of the current OHS regulation. Two thirds of all respondents did not know if their health institution had OHS policy. On-the job training and IEC materials on OHS were most recommended by respondents.

Discussion
In Tanzania OHS services in health sector is weak, biased towards HIV Infection Prevention and Control and less on other OHS aspects. More need to be done.