Authors (including presenting author) :
Wong KCM(1), So MFT(1), Tsang DSW(1), LAM DYT(2), Law JSK(2), Fok JPC(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Medicine Care Service (OMCS), New Territories East Cluster (2) Procurement & Material Management Division (P&MM), New Territories East Cluster
Introduction :
Cluster store is crucial in providing continuous supply of medical consumables and personal protective equipment items to PWH. Operation assistants (OPA) are required to keep stock in order and provide auto-refill service to clinical units which involves high demand of Manual Handling Operation (MHO). There were two Injury on Duty (IOD) cases reported in September 2023, both cases were admitted due to back pain. It brought to OMCS attention that further investigation on top of routine IOD case management is needed.
Objectives :
1)To provide quality care to injured staff and facilitate timely Return-to-Work (RTW) 2)Identify workplace safety hazards and work on improvement measures through WSE program. 3)Foster occupational health of OPA
Methodology :
P&MM team worked closely with OMCS to support injured workers timely RTW with reasonable work accommodation under DM program. Occupational Medicine doctor, care manager, P&MM manager, supervisors and frontline staff joined the onsite inspection and went through all daily work tasks during worksite meeting. Workplace safety hazards were identified, frontline staff were encouraged to voice out their concern and corresponding control measures were formulated with staff engagement. Consensus on improvement measures include: 1) Tailor-made MHO training by OMCS (focusing on proper MHO techniques e.g. trolley maneuver skills, proper body mechanics during stock packing and specific stretching exercise. 2) Inventing a mobile ramp platform that minimize MHO demands in stock keeping. 3) Utilization of trolley casters with better maneuverability. 4) Prescription of hot pads for OPA shared use which aimed at relieving muscle tension at work. 5) Proactively identify OPA with health-related work difficulty and support them with appropriate work accommodation.
Result & Outcome :
After timely implementation of the program, injured OPAs had resumed normal duty within 6 weeks and no further IOD was reported in 1-year prospective evaluation. The success was postulated by WSE measures and DM program for staff in need. Staff feedbacks towards the program were encouraging, 95% respondents rated satisfactory or above in the evaluation survey. Supervisors’ feedbacks were also very positive that our conjoint effort can facilitate their work arrangement for injured staff and enhance safe work practice. Paradigm shift in the workplace was noted to emphasize on occupational health of workers.
