**3. Hand hygiene**

*Safety and Health for Workers - Research and Practical Perspective*

health at work.

customers to join the discussion.

compensation from the company.

**2. What is ergonomics?**

workplaces.

humans are constantly exposed to. Furthermore, to complicate issues, human typically operates under different constraints including inability to survive without interaction with one another, environments, materials, and equipment on daily basis to function as human. Given these constraints, human beings are forced to maintain good health while performing their daily tasks by using good judgment during decision-making. Exposure to hazardous materials is inevitable but human errors, time of exposure, concentration, and the dose of the hazardous materials determine the effect on safety and health of the workers. To reduce the likelihood of making errors, human beings must first understand the theory behind each operating process of any activity before engaging in it. Therefore, identification and recognition of hazards relating to the theory and the applications of the principles of handling the hazards are the significant ways for protecting human safety and

In a cafeteria in the northwest region of United State (US), a teenager rushed out from a restroom and everyone seated immediately perceived unpleasant odor. At once, everyone choruses what is this? The sister of the teenager boy asked her brother "did you wash your hands? The boy responded oh NO, I forgot." Immediately, debate on why and how started in the room that inspired other

Likewise, Wickens et al. [4] document a situation in the Midwestern factory in US on an assembly-line worker. In the scenario, the assembly-line worker had to reach to an awkward location and position a heavy component for assembly. Toward the end of a shift, after grabbing the component, he felt a twinge of pain in his lower back. A trip to the doctor revealed that the worker had suffered a ruptured disc, and he missed several days of work. He filed a lawsuit against the company

A young lady who graduated with GPA of 4.0 from one of the ivy league Universities in US, pick up a supervisory role position in a multi-million construction company and having worked for 5 years in this position, she realized that her health has been deteriorated. She visited the doctor and discovered she suffered from cardiovascular damage, gastrointestinal problems that has led as ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome, and decreased fertility. She requested for damage

This book is designed to address the theory of safety and health for workers and the practical applications to solving issues associated with hand hygiene, social support, ergonomics-spine deformity, workplace conditions, health equality, etc. at

Many workers and employers constantly face one or more of the episodes described in the introduction. The episodes illustrate the role of ergonomics and human factors, industrial hygienist and safety specialist in workplace design. The umbrella for human safety and health at workplaces is known as the ergonomics and human factors. Various definitions exist for ergonomics and human factors from different sources such as scientific literature, professional organizations, governmental agencies, scholars etc. Ergonomics as defined by scientists is the science and practice of designing jobs and workplaces to match the capabilities and limitations of the human body. In 2018, it was precisely defined as fitting the job, workplaces, products to users' capability to enhance safety and good health of the users [5]. CETENA (The Italian Ship Research Company) defined ergonomics as the study of human performance and its application to the design of technological

requiring physical action that endangered the lower back.

**2**

Hand hygiene is the act of cleaning hands for removing soil, dirt, and microorganisms. Proper hand hygiene had saved thousands of humans from death, chronic diseases, and incurable sickness. In the mid of eighteen century, Dr. Ignazz Philip Semmelwies proposed hand washing to reduce child mortality in the nation, before the discovery of microbial in the late eighteen century. At the time Dr. Semmlwies proposed the method, baby mortality was at 15–20%, and after implementing the proposed procedure, mortality rate reduced significantly to 0.85% in the hospitals where he worked while in other hospitals it remained at 10–15% of mortality rate [8]. Hand hygiene has been taken as the practice mostly needed for the medical practitioners. However, it should be considered necessary and important for everyone, as no one is exempted from sickness or diseases. Absolutely, people have forgotten that cleanliness is next to godliness as the saying goes. Therefore, complete hand hygiene is what is required in our workplaces today, even as many diseases spring up every day. Not long ago, Ebola disease took over the entire world, SARS also, and now it is Corona virus; so, who can tell what the disease will be tomorrow. Nearly, all the new outbreaks are traced to poor hygiene. Nevertheless, the importance of hand hygiene in the workplaces cannot be underemphasized therefore, the earlier the intervention, the better to preventing the spreading of any disease outbreak. In 2017, the findings of the study conducted by Prasad et al. [9] concluded that most patients and nurses interviewed reported hand hygiene as an important aspect of everyday life in preventing infection in the hospital setting. Many researchers have also suggested that hand hygiene is one of the main strategies to preventing infections that affect hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide and are constantly leading to chronic diseases, illnesses, and prolonged hospital stays, which sometime added burden to patients' financial stand and later cause instability within families [10–12]. There are many chemicals, substances, and materials human beings interact with on a regular basis at workplaces and homes, which have high potential of contaminating hands. Sometimes, people forget that their hands are dirty and pick food straight into their mouth without washing their hands, while many scratch their eyes 100 times daily and are found constantly touching their nose and seeping fingers in their mouth. Thus, educating people on the importance of hand hygiene is a crucial aspect of life to preventing unplanned sickness, diseases, and transfer of similar dangerous germs.

#### **4. Workplace condition**

Workplace conditions have been proved to have both positive and negative effects on employees' health status likewise on their productivity. The more the employee is satisfied with workplace conditions the faster the organization success, which makes workplace condition a major concern for organizations today. In 2019, Sorensen et al.'s study revealed that workplace condition significantly affects workers' health as well as their well-being [13]. Additionally, it is a proven fact that safe working conditions influence the habits of workers, which in turn impacts on

efficiency [14]. Accidents at workplaces are mainly attributed to workplace condition or workers' acts. Workplace conditions refers to the working environment and all existing circumstances affecting labor in the workplace, including working time (hours of work, rest periods, and work schedules) to remuneration, legal rights and leaders' responsibilities as well as the physical conditions and mental demands that exist in the workplace. In other words, workplace condition deals with the organization leadership structure and floor layout or equipment setting. International Labor Organization (ILO) has consistently demanded for workers' work-life balance. Therefore, critical attention is required for worker schedule, leadership skills of the authority, and good workplace layout for proper flow to ensure workers' well-being and better productivity. Research findings on job redesign at call centers significantly improved employee well-being, psychological contract fulfillment, and supervisor-rated job performance [15], mental health [16]. Likewise, research has revealed that work systems design may have effects on physical health, mental health, and longevity of life [17]; therefore, continuous attention to health and safety of the employees is important because ill-health and injuries caused by the systems of work or working conditions cause suffering and loss to individuals and their dependents [18]. As simple as workplace condition might sounds, the fear created through improper workplace conditions such as violent, abuse, segmental judgment, gender biases, etc. are factors, which could prevent employee from taking goal-directed action toward safety. Although, the psychologically, flexible people are less emotionally disturbed in such environments as argued in Hayes et al.'s [19] findings. Nevertheless, adequate consideration should be given to workplace condition to ensure workers' well-being and safety at workplace.
