歯科診療における労働安全衛生

 Industrial safety and health management in Japanese national universities was regulated by the National Personnel Authority's Rules until turn national universities into independent administrative entities in April 2004, after which the Industrial Safety and Health Act applies to national universities corporation as well as ordinary companies. Appropriate regulations were also put in place at Tokushima University subsequently and the National University Corporation Tokushima University Industrial Safety and Health Regulations were established. The first article states the following: “The purpose of the regulations is to protect the security of staff, to promote and maintain their health, and to foster a comfortable work environment.” <br> The contents of industrial safety and health are multifaceted. First, the activities related to preventive measures against nosocomial infection, executed by the Nosocomial Infection Control Committee, were introduced. Prevention of nosocomial infections is extremely important to patients and all medical workers. Next, the Hospital Safety and Health Advisory Committee's activities in health management were described. <br> There are three basic components of industrial safety and health, which are the following: First, “working environment management” consists of eliminating various hazards from the working environment and maintaining a comfortable working environment. For example, working environment measurements of organic solvents and specified chemical substances used in dental laboratories and other areas are taken to prevent health hazards. Second, “occupational management” consists of managing working methods from the perspective of preventing health hazards. Third, “health management” consists of promoting and maintaining the health of workers. <br> Building a comfortable work environment is a requirement for providing safe medical care which promotes sense of security to its users. Health of the medical workers themselves is a condition to realizing this. Particularly in a university hospital, in which various professions are working together under different work relationships, it is also important to take appropriate steps to deal with mental health, overwork, and other issues latent in the work environment. These were not discussed in detail this time.