Why Worker Protections Lag in Healthcare
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Historically, the health care industry has been slower to focus on occupational hazards for its workers compared with other industries whose workers face similar levels of risk. Reasons include:
- The focus on patient health and satisfaction over worker health;
- The false perception that the health care industry is self-regulated;
- The idea that an industry that employs mainly females is a safe industry;
- The focus in the hospital environment on curative rather than preventive medicine, which includes occupational health and safety;
- A low unionization rate within the health care sector;
- A focus within occupational health on traditionally male occupations and hazards rather than female workers (Lipscomb & Borwegen, 2000).