Emerging Occupational Risks in Healthcare Workers

Dear Colleagues,

Two years of a pandemic have shown how vulnerable healthcare workers (HCWs) can be and how healthcare working settings can be dangerous for workers’ health. In a post-pandemic scenario, there is a need to guarantee to these workers high-level occupational safety and health (OSH) services due to the fundamental role they play and the risks they face on a daily basis. HCWs are indeed exposed to several occupational risks. The pandemic highlighted that healthcare settings, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics, are places of contagion. HCWs are exposed to biological risks, which include, in addition to SARS-CoV-2 infection, old but still present transmissible diseases, such as tuberculosis, scabies, measles, smallpox, and others. HCWs are exposed to biomechanical overload during manual patient handling, especially in nursing homes hosting patients who are not self-sufficient. They are thus at risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, which are becoming increasingly relevant due to the aging work force. Long and nocturnal shifts, which are common in healthcare schedules, can stress the biological clock, and they are recognized to contribute to the development of cancer. Moreover, heavy workloads, emotionally challenging situations, workplace violence and harassment, and struggling in work–life balance can impact HCWs’ mental health and determine work-related stress, depression, anxiety, and other psychological issues, as we have learned during the pandemic. The overall occupational health of HCWs also impacts the quality of care they care they provide and therefore patients’ safety.

Original and review papers are welcome in this Special Issue to contribute to depicting the current OSH scenario for healthcare workers and to provide insights into the possible interventions that can be placed to support workers’ health in such a challenging working environment. 

Dr. Giulio Arcangeli
Guest Editor

Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli
Guest Editor Assistant

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• healthcare workers
• occupational health and safety
• COVID-19
• biological risk
• night shifts
• mental health
• patient safety
• aging workforce
• biomechanical overload
• risk management