Evaluation and Control of Professional Risks in Intensive Care Units

We know that certain areas of work pose a greater risk to the health and safety of the worker, and for this reason the present study focused on the intensive care units (ICU), where risks are a constant, allowing a more individualized intervention professional risk assessment and control. It was proposed, as objective of this study, to evaluate the occupational risks to which the workers of the intensive care units are exposed. This was a descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional, observational, where the working conditions of workers in the intensive care units of the Coimbra county hospitals were evaluated. The risk assessments identified multiple risk factors in the intensive care units under study and showed the most incidental risks are those of biological and ergonomic origin. The analytical studies showed unsatisfactory results in some parameters when compared with the legislated values. It is concluded that the work in intensive care units presents multiple and constant risk factors, in which it is evident that the most prevalent are biological and ergonomic risks, however, in order to explain the probability of the damage it is necessary to point out that the exposure is related to the time spent on the tasks.