Why Worker Protections Lag in Healthcare

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).