The World Health Organisation's Take on Health and Safety Training Standards under the Pandemic

September of last year, during the height of the still ongoing pandemic, global leaders and governments were issued a statement regarding the health and safety of health workers by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This article aims to summarise the important aspects of this statement which was released to the public on World Patient Safety Day, 2020.

WHO has urged countries to adopt the guidelines of their Health Worker Safety Charter and to implement them into their health and safety training programmes. As a strong voice in the global fight against COVID-19, their goal is to encourage greater degrees of concern and effort put towards the protection of health workers worldwide.

As WHO's Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, puts it, nations simply cannot expect their hospitals and clinics to ensure the safety of their patients during the course of this pandemic if too little is done to first guarantee the wellbeing of their health workers.

The Health Worker Safety Charter calls for institution of safer working environments, hazard pay, thorough training, and respect from governments and communities. If the pandemic has taught us anything about health and safety workers, it would be that they are integral to the effectiveness of our healthcare systems and the wellbeing of our societies.

Being that the primary interest of the Charter has to do with taking care of heath and safety workers during a period where they are needed most badly, its concerns lie in convincing governments and localised healthcare institutions to adhere to five principles, all of which will be discussed in greater detail later on.

Essentially, the Charter demands that we protect our healthcare workers by any reasonable means necessary. It is unfair of us to depend so heavily on them without any degree of reciprocation, especially under current global health conditions. Proper health and safety training, amongst other aspects of medicare, are crucial now.

For those unconvinced of the importance of this Charter, WHO has released a tonne of contemporary analytical data supporting their argument. Should world leaders choose not to head the Charter's call to action, they will inevitably be putting the functionality of their healthcare systems at risk of collapse.

Across the board, there has been a substantial spike in reports of health workers being subject to COVID-19 infections, linked illnesses, and even attacks during their struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. The amount of danger that health workers are facing is at unprecedented levels. More so, the same goes for the families of health and safety workers who, by proxy, are also at a greater risk of serious illness and financial distress.

Using data collected from a myriad of different countries, WHO claims that the COVID-19 infection rate amongst health and safety workers far surpasses that of the general population. Despite health and safety workers comprising between 2 - 3% of the average country's population, health workers typically account for approximately 14% of those infected with the COVID-19 virus.

According to the latest statistics available to us, the number of health workers making up the COVID-19 positive percentage of the population is as high as 35% in some countries. WHO does, however, disclaim that the quality of their data is somewhat limited given the unsatisfactory amount of information available to them.

Even though the information we have currently is not enough grounds to decisively determine whether they are primarily being infected in the line of duty or in the larger community, what we do know is that thousands upon thousands of health and safety workers are losing their lives in the fight against COVID-19. This is merely a technicality being that the truth is as plain as day.

Healthcare systems all around the world have been put under an enormous amount of pressure since the beginning of last year. More than enough time has gone by to show evidence of the staggering impact that the pandemic has had on our healthcare workers.

The findings of WHO have also explicitly given credence to many mental health specialists who predicted a steep spike in severe cases of psychological stress among health workers under pandemic conditions.

According to WHO, these are some of the key issues that health and safety workers are faced with right now:

• First and foremost, no amount of health and safety training can prevent personnel in this field from being at a much higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Assisting patients infected with COVID-19 is inevitable. Workers therefore live in fear of contracting the virus as they expose themselves to it willingly day by day.
• Health and safety workers are crucial to the global community right now and, as such, do not have the fortune of being able to spend much time away from work as their work hours increase dramatically. Health workers are burned out from exertion and, to make matters worse, are unable to spend as much time with their families.
• Most health and safety workers would agree that they feel the development of a stigma towards their line of work in light of the pandemic. Despite being such a vital pillar of support for the communities they serve, especially now during the pandemic, health workers now face social stigmatisation as well.

In light of COVID-19, nearly a fourth of all healthcare workers claim to have experienced anxiety or depression. Studies also suggest that one-third of health workers suffer from insomnia. WHO wishes to remind global leaders that medical professionals ranked high when it comes to global suicide rates well before this pandemic came in to increase the difficulty of their jobs tenfold.

Keep in mind that our health and safety workers are also experiencing more harassment from the general public than before the pandemic. Many have even reported being the subject of physical violence.

The Proposed 5-Step Health and Safety Training Process

World leaders are obligated to protect the wellbeing of their health workers considering how much we are all depending on them right now. Here are the five steps proposed to governments worldwide by WHO, who believes it would provide health workers with some much needed support:

Synergy:

The strategies implemented to protect patient safety and the safety of health workers should be synergised. Achieving this entails doing smart things such as establishing firm links between patient safety measures and OCP as well as other programmes.

WHO also keenly suggests to governments, hospitals, and clinics that metrics of healthcare staff safety and patient safety be integrated with their health information systems. Combining these data points can provide insights into statistical trends that health professionals may not be aware of. Using this information, decisions regarding healthcare worker safety can be more well informed.

Furthermore, information from incident reports for both healthcare workers and patients should be integrated as well. WHO also insists that health and safety training be incorporated into education programmes for all healthcare staff no matter what position they hold.

National Programmes:

World leaders are advised to start nationwide health worker programmes that focus on the reinforcement of their country's health and safety policies. At the same time, however, countries are urged to update and improve national health and safety laws and regulations so that they may better encompass the health and safety concerns of healthcare workers.

Every single healthcare facility nationwide needs to be assigned a qualified and dependable team of officers that, on a macro scale, can all work together to negate the risks faced by healthcare workers during the ongoing pandemic. This may include the institution of further health and safety training.

When taking stock of patient and worker safety, officials must consider intersectional aspects of health and safety such ethnicity, gender, and occupational grouping. Firm nationwide standards and guidelines should also be instated regarding occupational health and safety training.

Stop the Violence

The statistical likelihood of a health worker being the victim of workplace violence has increased astronomically over the last year. WHO recommends several effective methods through which we can ensure the safety of our healthcare workers when in the line of their duties.

Governments should promote intolerance amongst their communities towards violence targeted at health workers. Obviously, national laws should accommodate policies and practices that provide a barrier of defence against violence against healthcare workers. Healthcare workers should also be made to feel comfortable and safe when coming forward about violence they experience.

Policies that are put in place with the purpose of ensuring healthcare worker safety should be adhered to. Measures should be taken to make sure that that these policies are being carried out effectively across the board.

Curb Growing Mental Health Issues

Psychological un-wellness is becoming more and more common among health and safety workers. Fortunately, WHO believes that this is a surmountable issue that can be addressed through the implementation of several key actions.

First and foremost, healthcare workers need to work fair hours. They should also have ample time to rest between and during shifts. Administrative responsibilities should also be fairly distributed amongst healthcare workers to ensure that no single worker is stuck with workloads beyond their output capability.

Healthcare workers should be provided insurance that covers the risks they are exposed to in their line of work. Healthcare facilities should also be properly staffed at all times. No amount of health and safety training can prepare someone to complete the tasks of 10 people. Proper staffing is a key matter when it comes to mental health in healthcare workspaces.

Once again, administrators should foster a workplace culture that promotes transparent and safe channels of communication through which workers can report safety issues. Services through which mental health support can be sought should also be made available to healthcare workers.

Mitigate Physical and Biological Risks

This concerns the safety standards of medical institutions. Effective prevention controls for the spread of infections and pathogens such as COVID-19 should be implemented and respected in order to keep our healthcare workers safe.

Administrators must make certain that workers have had effective health and safety training and that enough personal protective equipment (PPE) is always available and at their disposal. The quality and dependability of PPE should also be checked regularly.

Healthcare workers should be fully vaccinated. It is essential that they have all their jabs given that they interact with sick patients on a regular basis. The environment in which healthcare workers conduct their tasks must also be sanitised regularly. High hygiene standards must be followed.

EMCARE Provides Accredited Health and Safety Training

Many of the brave individuals at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 here in South Africa received their education from EMCARE. If your goal is to become a competent and dependable health and safety officer, consider getting in touch with us. We provide quality education to the nation's future healthcare heroes.