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Why a Culture of Safety is Important						Print
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										Nurse standing in patient room with patient in the background.Photo by Getty Images
Healthcare facilities need to foster and promote a strong culture of safety that includes a commitment to worker safety, provision of and adequate access to safety and personal protective equipment, and extensive training efforts that utilize protocols requiring specific safety actions. A culture of safety describes a commitment to core values and principles by organizational leadership and healthcare workers to recognize the inseparable integration of worker safety and patient safety (The Joint Commission 2012). This includes recognizing and reporting high-risk exposures and activities, developing and implementing prevention and control standards, policies, and strategies with worker input to mitigate and eliminate hazards, and providing sustained resources to address safety concerns. Management and healthcare workers must work together to achieve this continuous effort which contributes to a culture of safety. Focusing efforts on a sound and sustained safety culture will lead to and support better outcomes in patient healthcare and safer working conditions for healthcare workers.
**Better patient outcomes**
Decreased adverse events such as patient falls, medication errors, hospital readmissions.
Improved quality of care and increased patient satisfaction.**Better healthcare worker and organizational outcomes**
Fewer healthcare worker injuries, including sharps-related and other injuries, better job satisfaction, improved staff retention, reporting of safety events, and reduced burnout (Hessels & Wurmser, 2020; McHugh et al., 2011).
Reduced costs associated with decreased adverse events (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019).
Essential for High Reliability Organizations (e.g., safety and quality-centered, patient and worker centric) (Vaismoradi, 2020; Weaver et al., 2020) including sustained accreditation.PreviousNext
							
					
							Last Reviewed:  April 28, 2022						Source: 	National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
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        Syndicate homeSafety Culture in Healthcare Settings
Training Informationplus icon
Introduction
Module 1: Safety Cultureplus icon
Why a Culture of Safety is Important
The Sociotechnical Model
Definition Examples of Safety Culture and Overlap with Safety Climate
Key Attributes and Joint Benefits of Safety Culture
Common Features of Positive Healthcare Worker Safety Culture
General Measurable Elements of a Safety Culture
Tools to Measure Safety Culture and Climate
A Snapshot of Safety Culture in U.S. Hospitals
References
Quiz 1Module 2: Work-Related Risks and Hazardsplus icon
Biological Hazardsplus icon
Chain of Infection Components
Risk Factors of Biological Agents and Unsafe Practices
Chemical Hazards
Enviromechanical Hazards
Physical Hazards
Psychosocial Hazards
Hazard Assessment/Determination
Case Study
References
Quiz 2Module 3: Prevention and Control of Work-Related Injury and Illnessplus icon
Hierarchy of Controls
Elimination: Physically Remove the Hazard
Substitution and Engineering Controls
Administrative Controls: Change the Way People Work
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Protect the Worker with PPE
Donning and Doffing PPE: Proper Wearing, Removal, and Disposal
References
Quiz 3Module 4: Leadership and Safe Work Environmentsplus icon
Commitment to Workplace Safety as High Priority and Through Role Modeling
Policies and Procedures and Safe Patient Handling
Hazard Analysis and Safe Staffing Workloads
State-of-the-Art Training and Handling Patients
Engage Healthcare Worker Champions and Observe Work
Transparency, Training, and Staff Safety Rounds
References
Quiz 4Module 5: Legal-Ethical Considerations to Promote Safe Working Conditionsplus icon
The Occupational Safety and Health Act and OSHA Standards
OSHA Healthcare Standards
OSHA Hazard Communication Standard and OSHA Guidelines
What Workers Can Do
Ethics and Healthcare Worker Exposure Considerations
Ethical Principles
References
Quiz 5Safety Culture in Healthcare Settings: Resources Follow NIOSH Facebook
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