Isis Carolina Núñez Grullón

#11

6th A

Dominican Republic and its response to occupational hazards

Occupational hazards are a frequent and serious topic in the course of nursing

implementation. Starting from the fact that we can define occupational risks as those

occupational hazards, say also, situations that threaten the full health of a worker in the

same job, these can cover many types of hazards, including chemical hazards, biological

hazards, psychosocial hazards and physical hazards.

Focusing on the nursing professional, we as health professionals are supposed to go

through a large number of dangers, the ones that we can highlight are: biological,

physical, psychological and social risks. To develop and clearly demonstrate how these

risks can be for health personnel. Some examples of each risk mentioned above will be

described below.

 Biological risks, this refers to any type of infection that can be contracted

in the hospital. An example of this could be a patient pricking himself

with an infected needle or the fact that a patient is without a mask in the

hospital and has a viral disease.

 Physical risk, among which we find musculoskeletal injuries, wounds,

fires, exposure to radiation, etc. A clear and very frequent example here

are musculoskeletal injuries, many of the nurses may suffer from back
 problems or even hernias due to a misuse of body mechanics when

moving a patient.

 Mental and social risks, these risks are derived from the work and social

environment. Nurses are very susceptible to stress, anxiety or physical and

mental overload, either due to overwork, personal problems that are

reflected in their work performance or also, due to dealing with the

patient.

In the Dominican Republic, in recent years there has been a strong development

in terms of the regulation of the rights and obligations attributable to employers

and workers in terms of safety and health at work. Until 2006, the protection of

workers against the risks arising from their work was mainly governed by the

Industrial Safety and Hygiene Regulations, a rule that was enacted on December

30, 1966.

In order to better speak of the measures that have been taken on occupational

risks, we must take a leap towards Resolution No. 04/2007, of January 30, 2007,

which establishes the General and Specific Conditions of Safety and Health at

Work, since it is the national standard that most provisions established in matters

of SST. Among other aspects, it regulates the requirements applicable to:

 Safety and health conditions in the workplace.

 Safety conditions for the use of machinery and work tools.

 Physical, chemical and biological risks in the workplace.

  Personal Protection Equipment in the workplace.

After observing the risks that nurses face in their work field and the progress that

the country has had on security measures against said risks, although it should be

noted that these measures are not explicitly in the area of health. In the same

way, they help a lot with risk prevention. We can conclude that, although there

are risks for the health professional, in the same way, our country tries to respond

and improve the field of work to reduce these risks with laws that are in charge of

the well-being of the nurse.