ABSTRACT
Healthcare and social assistance workers are 1.26 times as likely to be injured compared to workers across all industries. Common injuries include strains from lifting, overexertion, falls, and assaults from patients. Injuries have immediate and long-term adverse outcomes for employees, patients, and organizations. For example, injuries can impact an employee’s quality of life and willingness to perform specific tasks with a patient, which might impact the patient’s care. They can also be costly for both the employee and the organization. Behavioral safety offers numerous strategies for preventing workplace injuries that can be employed in healthcare and human service organizations. These strategies include training, prompts, goal-setting, environmental changes, feedback, and recognition. This chapter reviews the research on workplace safety interventions and provides practical recommendations for implementing these approaches in healthcare and human service organizations.
