Evaluation of working conditions at a central sterile services department in northern Brazil

INTRODUCTION: Environmental conditions and the work process in the Central Sterile Services Department expose workers to many hazards. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the working conditions that have an influence on the overall health of workers at a Central Sterile Services Department of a hospital in northern Brazil. METHODS: This study used employed the ergonomic analysis of work. Three data collection tools were applied to characterize sociodemographic and occupational profiles. Furthermore, physical environmental hazards were analyzed using specific equipment. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed in Stata(®)13 software. RESULTS: Thirty-five workers participated in the study, most of whom were women, aged above 40 years, and worked as nursing technicians. It became evident that workers were exposed to inappropriate lighting and to noises coming from autoclaves, from the central air conditioning, and from the use of medicinal gas. The risks for musculoskeletal injuries on spine, shoulders, and lower limbos were specifically related to overload resulting from the posture maintained for long periods. Female sex was associated with severe or excruciating pain” (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Sound, mechanical, and visual hazards were found. Most participants complained of musculoskeletal pain, and the cervical spine was the site with the most frequent reports of excruciating pain. These results point out to the need of a policy to improve the quality of work in the health care unit studied; however, these findings may also bring light to the problem in other institutions that have a physical structure similar to that found in this research.