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Abstract

Background: Psychiatric hospitals need safe working environments to promote productivity at the workplace. Even though occupational health and safety is not completely new to the corporate society, its scope is largely limited to the manufacturing industries which are perceived to pose greater dangers to workers. Purpose: This paper sought to ascertain the occupational health and safety conditions in two psychiatric hospitals in Ghana.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study among 350 nurses and nurse-assistants in Accra and Pantang psychiatric hospitals using the proportional stratified random sampling technique. Multivariate Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) logistic regression was conducted to ascertain the determinants of staff exposure to occupational health hazards.
Results: Knowledge levels on occupational health hazards were high in the two psychiatric hospitals. Physical health hazards were reported most than psychosocial hazards which are perceived as minor. Frequency of exposure to occupational health hazards was positively associated with work schedules of staff particularly, staff on routine day schedule (Coef=4.49, p=0.011) and those who alternated between day and night schedules (Coef=4.48, p=0.010). Staff age, sex and number of years of work experience were significant correlates of exposure to workplace health hazards (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Occupational health and safety conditions of the two hospitals were found to be generally poor. Reporting of work related health hazards by health staff was low due to low awareness and poor compensations. The Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Mental Health Authority should intensify efforts towards effective enforcement of existing policies on safety in healthcare institutions, particularly psychiatric hospitals.

Keywords: Occupational health; Safety; Psychiatric hospitals; Nurses; Nurse-assistants; Accra; Pantang; Ghana