Occupational health hazards of hospital staff nurses. Part II: Physical, chemical, and biological stressors.

Physical and environmental hazards commonly found in hospitals include slippery floors, electrical hazards, noise, poor lighting, and inadequate ventilation. Describing the extent of musculoskeletal injury in nurses, one survey showed that nurses lost 750,000 working days a year as a result of back pain, which is twice the national average. Most workplace exposures do not result in disease, because either the biohazard is not transmitted by the airborne route or because the agent is present in too low of a dose. The more nurses know about potential occupational health and safety hazards, the more successful they will be in reducing risks, avoiding accidents, and minimizing occupational stressor outcomes.