title: Comparison of different methods for work accidents investigation in hospitals: A Portuguese case study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The hospital environment has many occupational health risks that predispose healthcare workers to various kinds of work accidents.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to compare different methods for work accidents investigation and to verify their suitability in hospital environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this purpose, we selected three types of accidents that were related with needle stick, worker fall and inadequate effort/movement during the mobilization of patients. A total of thirty accidents were analysed with six different work accidents investigation methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that organizational factors were the group of causes which had the greatest impact in the three types of work accidents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The methods selected to be compared in this paper are applicable and appropriate for the work accidents investigation in hospitals. However, the Registration, Research and Analysis of Work Accidents method (RIAAT) showed to be an optimal technique to use in this context.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre on Health and Environment (CISA), School of Allied Health Sciences of Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ESTSP-IPP), Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: Cláudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Research Centre on Health and Environment (CISA), School of Allied Health Sciences of Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ESTSP-IPP), Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Research Centre on Health and Environment (CISA), School of Allied Health Sciences of Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ESTSP-IPP), Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: Manuela Vieira
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Hospital de São João, EPE, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lourenço
authors.affiliation: Research Centre on Health and Environment (CISA), School of Allied Health Sciences of Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ESTSP-IPP), Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carvalhais
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000062:Accidents, Occupational; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D055805:Moving and Lifting Patients / Q000009:adverse effects; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D011174:Portugal; D060891:Root Cause Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods
keywords: Hospital; occupational accidents analysis; risk assessment