Mechanical wheelchair helps patients from a sitting position to a standing position

Safe Patient Handling

Hazards and Solutions
(Transfer, Repositioning, and Lifting Devices)

Acute Care and Long Term Healthcare Workers

• Beyond Getting Started: A resource guide for Implementing a Safe Patient Handling Program in the Acute Care Setting [641 KB PDF, 34 pages]. OSHA and the Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare (AOHP) Alliance, (Revised 2011). This resource guide addresses patient handling with the goal of providing the necessary tools for occupational health professionals to implement a safe patient handling program.

The OSHA Hospital e-Tool specific modules that address safe patient handling include:

• A Patient Handling Program module
  
  
• An Ergonomics module
  
  
• A Patient Handling Controls module
  
  
• An Awkward Postures module
  
  
• Nursing Home eTool. OSHA, (2000). Assists employers and employees in identifying and controlling the hazards associated with nursing homes and residential care facilities.
  
  
• Guidelines for Nursing Homes: Ergonomics for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders. OSHA, (Revised 2009). Also available as a 761 KB PDF. These guidelines provide recommendations for nursing home employers to help reduce the number and severity of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in their facilities.
  
  
• Safe Lifting and Movement of Nursing Home Residents. US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication, No. 2006-117, (2006, November). This guide is intended for nursing home owners, administrators, nurse managers, safety and health professionals, and workers who are interested in establishing a safe resident lifting program. This guide also presents a business case to show that the investment in lifting equipment and training can be recovered through reduced workers' compensation expenses and costs associated with lost and restricted work days.

Home Healthcare Workers

• Home Healthcare Workers: How to Prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders [801 KB PDF, 2 pages]. US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication No. 2012-120, (2012, February). This is one in a series of six fast fact cards developed to provide practical advice for home healthcare workers and is based on NIOSH Hazard Review: Occupational Hazards in Home Healthcare, NIOSH Pub No. 2010–125. Lifting and moving clients create a high risk for back injury and other musculoskeletal disorders for home healthcare workers.
  
  
• NIOSH Hazard Review; Occupational Hazards in Home Healthcare; Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention [790 KB PDF, 68 pages]. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The document aims to raise awareness and increase understanding of the safety and health risks involved in home healthcare and suggests prevention strategies to reduce the number of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities that too frequently occur among workers in this industry.

Physical Therapists

• The Ergonomics Module of the OSHA Hospital e-Tool is relevant to safe patient handling concepts in the field of physical therapy.

Radiologists

• The Radiology Module of the OSHA Hospital e-Tool is relevant to patient handling concepts in the field of radiology.

Sonographers

• The Sonography module of the OSHA Hospital e-Tool is relevant to safe patient handling concepts in the field of sonography.

• Preventing Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Sonography [659 KB PDF, 4 pages]. US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication, No. 2006-148, (2006, November). NIOSH recommends appropriate engineering controls, work practices, hazard communication, and training to prevent these work-related musculoskeletal disorders in healthcare workers giving sonograms.

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