Occupational hazard is any condition of a job that can produce a negative effect on peoples’ health, either immediately or over time (1). Blood and body fluid exposures and needle stick injuries have been recognized as one of the occupational hazards among health-care workers (HCWs) (2, 3). Needle stick injury (NSI) is occupational exposure to patients’ body fluids when a needle or other sharp object penetrates the skin and it is interchangeable with sharps injury (4). Occupational hazard places HCWs at risk for numerous blood-borne infections, most importantly human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C viruses (5, 6).

Despite advances in understanding and control of infections, occupational blood and body fluids exposure and NSIs continue to be the major worldwide public health problems (7) and serious concern for around 35 million HCWs globally (8). Biological, chemical, and mechanical hazards are affecting over 20 million HCW annually. Three million health professionals are estimated to be exposed to blood and body fluids due to needle stick or sharps injuries daily (9) and over 90% of the cases occur in resource constrained countries according to World Health Organization (8). Utilization of safe needle devices can avoid three-fourth of these hazards (9).

Nurses are the major health-care providers in the hospital with more exposure to blood and body fluids (7), as most of their NSIs, the most prevalent occupational hazard, incidents involve devices like hollow-bore needles that are very efficient at transmitting pathogens (10, 11). Around two-thirds of disease sero-conversions following NSIs occur among nursing staff (12). The problem is expected to be more devastating in developing countries like Ethiopia where health setup is poor (13).

Information about the prevalence of occupational hazards and its determinants is crucial for occupational health planning. But, little is known about the prevalence of occupational hazards in the study area. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the prevalence of blood/body fluid exposure and needle stick/sharp injury and associated factors among nurses working in Jimma zone public hospitals, southwest Ethiopia.

Despite advances in understanding and control of infections, occupational hazards continued to be the major worldwide public health problem (7). It is the most important problem for HCWs as it increases the risk of infection by exposing them to more than 20 different blood-borne pathogens (18). The problem is more devastating in developing countries like Ethiopia, where health setup is poor (13). Nurses emerge as the staff group reporting the highest proportion of such hazards. Thus, this study was aimed to assess the prevalence of occupational hazards and associated factors among nurses working in Jimma zone public hospitals.

The overall prevalence of occupational hazards in the study area was 78.3%. Blood/body fluid exposure during the last 6 months was 62.6% while needle stick/sharp injuries during the same period was found to be 58.8%; implying that, blood/body fluid exposures and NSIs are common occupational hazards to the participants. This finding is in line with a study from Turkey where the prevalence was 57% (19). Majority of NSIs among nurses occurred by syringe needle as most procedures in a clinical setting involve administering intravenous/intramuscular injections or the drawing of blood which is almost comparable with study done in Saudi Arabia (63%) (20).

Risks of sharp injuries varied between different working units. In this study, 21% of exposures occurred in the surgical ward. This result is consistent with the study finding from tropical Australian hospital (23.9%) (12). Prevalence of sharp injuries in intensive care unit (3.1%) was also comparable with the finding of study conducted in British Columbia (3.0%) (21).

The proportion of nurses experienced blood exposure in this study is similar to that of southern Iran in which blood was the most frequent contaminant (87%). The exposure most commonly occurs during inserting or removing intravenous lines and the high prevalence might be due to insufficient number of nurses, lack of adherence to standard precautions, and improper disposal of medical wastes (22).

Sex of respondents was also significantly associated with occupational hazards; the odds of exposure were two times higher among male nurses than females. This is consistent with the report from the duke health and safety surveillance system (5). The possible explanations might be men are less likely to use universal precautions but further studies are warranted to identify exposure differences, especially in nursing staff who perform similar tasks.

Marital status was found to have significant association with occupational hazards. Single participants had increased risk of encountering occupational hazards compared to ever married ones. The possible explanation might be married nurses feel more responsible than the single ones which increase their chance of adhering to universal precautions but further studies are required to produce solid evidences.

Training on infection prevention was the other predictor of occupational hazards. Nurses who had no training on infection prevention were six times more exposed to risk of occupational hazards than those who had. This result is in line with the study finding from sub-Saharan Africa (23). In this study 73% of the respondents had never been trained on infection prevention and safety precautions; which shows poor culture of the health facilities in practicing safety first principle. This might be the reason behind the high prevalence of blood/body fluid exposure and needle stick/sharp injury; as training activities in nursing increases the chance of the trainees to get up-to-date information about infection prevention mechanisms (24), promote job satisfaction, increase retention of nurses, and even enable continued provision of quality care (25).

Nurses working in chronic illnesses follow-up clinic were less likely to have occupational hazards than those nurses working in surgical ward. similar finding was obtained in tropical Australian hospital (12) and China (26) where nurses working in maternity/neonatal units were less likely to have occupational hazards compared to nurses working in medical or surgical wards.

The prevalence of occupational hazard among nurses was found to be high. Blood/body fluid exposure accounts greater number than needle stick/sharp injuries. Being male and single was positively associated with occupational hazards; while having training on infection prevention and working in chronic illness follow-up clinic showed negative association. Working unit specific safety precautions and basic infection prevention in-service training may help the nurses to practice safety first principle and there by decrease blood/body fluid exposure and needle stick/sharp injuries as the safety of nurses themselves and subsequently, that of their patients, depend directly on the degree to which nurses can identify and control the varied occupational hazards specific to jobs.

Written consent was obtained from the respondents to publish the interview.

Data supporting this finding are available.

Ethical clearance was obtained from Jimma University, College of public health and Medical sciences, institutional review board. A formal letter of cooperation was written to the hospitals. Written consent was obtained from each study participant.

YBB wrote the proposal, participated in data collection, analyzed the data, and drafted the paper. BTL and GNG approved the proposal with some revisions, participated in data analysis. YMA participated in proposal development, data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.