A governmental agency is encouraging health care employers and related industries to help make 2022 safer for workers, considering a report that nursing assistants had the highest number of missed workdays due to workplace injuries and illnesses.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants health care employers to take immediate actions for safer workplaces given the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Nov. 3, 2021 report on “Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, 2020,” a news release said.
“Ten occupations accounted for 38.3% of all private industry cases involving days away from work (DAFW) in 2020. Of these, nursing assistants had the highest number of DAFW cases with 96,480, an increase of 68,890 cases (249.7%) from 2019,” a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics news release said. “In 2020, DAFW cases for registered nurses increased by 58,590 cases (290.8%) to 78,740 cases.”
Workplace injury and illness can be combated “most effectively” if employers would create and use a proactive safety and health program, OSHA said in the news release. That program would address hazards, training and preventive measures for safety.
OSHA made its recommendation for a safer workplace ahead of National Caregivers Day, which was on Feb. 18. Observed on the third Friday in February, National Caregivers Day honors people “who selflessly provide personal care and physical- and emotional support to those who need it most,” National Today said.
“We recognize our caregivers for the extraordinary sacrifices they continue to make working on the frontline throughout the pandemic to keep us healthy and safe – and we owe it to them to ensure their employers are doing all they can to protect them,” Douglas Parker, assistant secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, said in the news release.
