Examining the relationship between hospital working environment and work limitation level with occupational health and safety culture

It is aimed to examine the relationship between the hospital working environment and the level of work limitation for the employees in the tertiary research and practice hospital and the occupational health and safety culture (OHSC). The study is cross-sectional and was conducted in 2022 among employees of a university hospital. 254 people voluntarily participated in the study. The data were collected by applying the socio-demographic data form, the Occupational Safety and Occupational Health Culture Scale (OSOHCS), the Work Limitation Scale (WLS), and the Work Environment Scale (WES). Institutional permission and ethical approval were obtained for the study. In the analysis of the data, t test, Anova and linear regression were used. Among the hospital staff, 51.2% of the participants were women, 59.4% were married, 30.3% were between the ages of 25-29, 41.3% were undergraduates, 47.2% were nurses/midwives. In the /ATT occupational group, it was found that 27.6% of them worked in the profession for 5-9 years. It was determined that there was a moderate negative correlation between the WES (r=-0.470) and WLS (r=-0.491) and the OHSC scores. A positive and moderately significant correlation was found between WLS and WES (r=0.505). It was found that the OSHC level of hospital staff increased primarily by the decrease in WLS (β= -0.324) and WES (β= -0.221), being an administrative staff (β= 0.215), being a woman (β= -0.174) and being an assistant staff (p). <0.05). It was determined that 35.7% (Adj.R2=0.357) of the change in the OHSCscore was related to these factors. The relationship between the age of the employees, education level, years of work in the profession, income level, perception of health status, knowledge about OHS, receiving OHS training, having a work accident in the institution where they work, having a health problem related to their work and taking leave due to these problems and OHSC no statistically significant relationship was found. The positive working environment and the reduction of work limitations affect the occupational health and safety culture positively. Determining the factors affecting the mental and physical health of the employees and increasing the efforts to eliminate the negativities are very important in terms of raising awareness in the institutions.