Assessment of occupational health and safety practices at government mortuaries in Gauteng Province: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Hospital mortuaries are responsible for the receipt and storage of deceased people. This exposes mortuary workers to a variety of health and safety hazards, which include physical, chemical, ergonomics, biological and psychosocial hazards/stressors. The aim of this study was to assess occupational health and safety practices (OHS) among government mortuary workers in Gauteng province. METHODS: a cross-sectional descriptive study design was conducted between the year 2017 and 2018. A convenient sampling technique was used to sample 11 government hospitals in Gauteng Province. A total of 46 employees participated in the study. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and observational checklists. Ethical clearance and permission to conduct the study were obtained prior to the commencement of the study. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 25 software. RESULTS: thirty-one (67%) of the respondents did not know the concept of hazard. Observations indicated that 5 out of 11 (45%) facilities were well maintained with only 2 (18%) of the facilities had the participants wearing the required PPE on duty. There was no association between working experience and having a knowledge of the existing hazards. However, there was a high correlation (P=0.05) between training and adherence to safe practices. CONCLUSION: the OHS practices were poor amongst operational employees. The study highlights the significance of developing and implementing Occupational Health and Safety programmes. We recommend that these programmes should focus on occupational health and safety education, training, supervision, medical surveillance and monitoring strategies must be developed and implemented.