Research Article Occupational Health Hazards among Healthcare Workers in Kampala, Uganda Rawlance Ndejjo, 1 Geofrey Musinguzi, 1 Xiaozhong Yu, 2 Esther Buregyeya, 1 David Musoke, 1 Jia-Sheng Wang, 2 Abdullah Ali Halage, 1 Christopher Whalen, 3 William Bazeyo, 1 Phillip Williams, 2 and John Ssempebwa 1 1 Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda 2 Department of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA 3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Geofrey Musinguzi; mgeof@musph.ac.ug Received 8 September 2014; Revised 6 January 2015; Accepted 6 January 2015 Academic Editor: Habibul Ahsan Copyright © 2015 Rawlance Ndejjo et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. To assess the occupational health hazards faced by healthcare workers and the mitigation measures. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study utilizing quantitative data collection methods among 200 respondents who worked in 8 major health facilities in Kampala. Results. Overall, 50.0% of respondents reported experiencing an occupational health hazard. Among these, 39.5% experienced biological hazards while 31.5% experienced nonbiological hazards. Predictors for experiencing hazards included not wearing the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), working overtime, job related pressures, and working in multiple health facilities. Control measures to mitigate hazards were availing separate areas and containers to store medical waste and provision of safety tools and equipment. Conclusion. Healthcare workers in this setting experience several hazards in their workplaces. Associated factors include not wearing all necessary protective equipment, working overtime, experiencing work related pressures, and working in multiple facilities. Interventions should be instituted to mitigate the hazards. Speciically PPE supply gaps, job related pressures, and complacence in adhering to mitigation measures should be addressed. 1. Background Worldwide, the healthcare workforce represents 12% of the working population [1]. Healthcare workers operate in an environment that is considered to be one of the most haz- ardous occupational settings [2–4]. In addition to the usual workplace related exposures, healthcare workers encounter diverse hazards due to their work related activities [5, 6]. In spite of this knowledge, the healthcare work environment continues to be neglected by governments and organizations [7]. A higher annual prevalence of back pain (77%) among healthcare workers compared to other occupational groups has been reported [8–11]. Back injuries are associated with a direct cost of $37,000 and an indirect cost ranging from $147,000 to $300,000 [8]. In fact, ergonomic related injuries pose a signiicant health risk to workers and yet it is the most prevalent occupational injury in healthcare industry [12]. Healthcare workers are exposed to blood-borne infections which usually expose them to diseases such as HIV, TB, and hepatitis B and hepatitis C [1]. Substantial morbidity and mortality among these workers inevitably lead to loss of skilled personnel and adversely impact healthcare services which are already strained in many low and middle income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, the scarcity of human resource for health is described as a humanitarian resource crisis due to signiicant emigration of trained professionals, diicult working conditions, poor salaries, low motivation, and high burden of infectious diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS [13– 15]. Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa indicates that health- care workers are frequently exposed to chemical, biological, physical, and psychosocial occupational hazards [6, 16]. hey Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Environmental and Public Health Volume 2015, Article ID 913741, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/913741