Preventive Implication of Ergonomic Hazard Exposures and Associated Factors Among Hospitals Cleaners in Ethiopia

Cleaning industry is the place where the labor intensive, and high prevalence of ergonomic hazard exposures (EHE) were reported among hospital cleaners particularly in low-middle income countries. However, only few studies were conducted in eastern Ethiopia on preventive implication of EHE and its associated factors among hospital cleaners, which was the aim of this study. A hospital based cross section study design was conducted on 741 hospital cleaners from May to August 2023 in Ethiopia. Face-to-face interview was conducted. The study outcome, EHE was assessed by Nordic Questionaries. Data was coded, double-entered, checked, and cleaned using Epi-Data 3.1. After that, Stata 17MP was used to analysis data. Binary and multivariable logistic regression were applied to explore the relationship between EHE and predictors. The cut-point for multivariable analysis was p-value of .20 at a binary analysis. The crude odds ratio (COR) and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was statistically declared. The current study found that self-reported EHE among hospitals cleaners was 40.35% (95% CI: 36.64-44.15). The main 5 leading causes of EHE among cleaners were pushing cleaning materials (55.79%), pulling cleaning materials (65.40%), lifting cleaning materials (58.50%), pushing waste materials (65.90%) and standing more than 4 h (57.60%). The model found that those have poor knowledge about EHE (AOR: 6.68; 95% CI: 2.83-15.76), those having greater than 6 years working services (AOR: 1.90; 95% CI: 1.12-3.21) and having workload (AOR: 2.98; 95% CI: 1.58-5.60) were more likely to exposed with ergonomic hazards. The concludes that nearly 4 out of 10 (roughly 40%) hospital cleaners in government hospitals in eastern Ethiopia experience EHE has significant, multifaceted implications for worker health, operational efficiency, and the healthcare system. It was found that poor knowledge about EHE, increasing in working service, working more than 8 h/day and workload were significantly associated with it.