Occupational Safety & Health · Health workers

Health workers' safety and health in Georgia

Biological, physical, psychosocial and ergonomic risks faced by doctors, nurses and other health workers — the international framework and what Georgia has and lacks.

Last updated: 3 October 2026

Framework Data Hazards Sectors People Health workers Hub

Why health workers

Health workers face a concentration of occupational risks: infection, needle-stick injuries, violence from patients and relatives, long and night shifts, psychosocial stress and manual handling. WHO and the ILO state that protecting health workers should be part of the core business of the health sector, and that comprehensive programmes at national, subnational and facility level prevent work-related disease and injury while improving the quality and safety of care (WHO and ILO, 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in that protection worldwide (WHO and ILO, 2020).

The international framework

Instruments
Instrument	Content
WHO and ILO (2022), Caring for those who care	Guide for national, subnational and facility programmes on occupational health and safety for health workers; model national policy; facility focal points; immunisation of health workers
WHO and ILO (2020), policy brief	National programmes for occupational health for health workers
Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149)	Conditions of work and life of nursing personnel — not ratified by Georgia
Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190)	Elimination of violence and harassment at work, including third-party violence — not ratified by Georgia
Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155)	General framework — not ratified by Georgia
WHO ICD-11	Burn-out defined as an occupational phenomenon (QD85)

Main hazards and what is known for Georgia

Hazard groups
Hazard	International evidence	Georgia
Biological: needle-stick and sharps injuries, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis, COVID-19	WHO and ILO guidance makes immunisation and post-exposure protocols core programme elements	No published national data on sharps injuries or infections among health workers found; a GILS data gap
Violence and harassment from patients and relatives	Addressed by Convention No. 190; a recognised risk in emergency care	No published national reporting system found
Psychosocial: workload, shift and night work, burn-out	Night work rules exist in the Labour Code; no specific psychosocial-risk regulation (ETF–Eurofound, 2024)	No national survey found
Ergonomic: patient handling	EU Directive 90/269/EEC on manual handling, transposed by Georgia in 2022–2023	Applies to hospitals; compliance not measured

GILS has not found published Georgian data on any of these hazards; this is the subject of the GILS 2027 survey on health workers' working conditions.

Health-facility programmes

WHO and ILO recommend that every health facility has an occupational health and safety policy, a designated focal point, risk assessment, immunisation of staff, incident reporting and worker participation (WHO and ILO, 2022). Hospital and clinic accreditation standards operationalise the same elements; GILS works with Accréditation Sans Frontières on how staff safety requirements are assessed in Georgian facilities.

GILS research programme for health workers

2027: first Georgian survey of health workers' occupational safety and health, with the David Tvildiani Medical University School of Public Health — sharps injuries, violence, burn-out, night work.
Detailed pages: Infection and sharps injuries · Violence against health workers · Psychosocial risk, shift work and burn-out.
A Georgian-language version of this page for hospitals and the Labour Inspection Service.

What employers must do

The duties below summarise what Georgian law requires and what the EU and ILO benchmarks add; "benchmark" marks instruments Georgia has not yet adopted. For a full self-assessment with an action plan, use the GILS Risk Assessment Checklist.

Designate an accredited safety specialist and an occupational health focal point; assess biological, psychosocial and ergonomic risks in every department
Basis: Organic Law on Occupational Safety (2019); WHO and ILO (2022)
Offer hepatitis B vaccination to all exposed staff, use safety-engineered sharps, never recap, and keep a post-exposure protocol with prophylaxis available within hours
Basis: WHO and ILO (2022); EU Directive 2010/32/EU (benchmark)
Adopt a violence and harassment policy, secure emergency and reception areas, train staff in de-escalation and record every incident
Basis: Labour Code, Article 4; WHO–ILO–ICN–PSI guidelines (2002); ILO Convention No. 190 (benchmark)
Provide patient-handling aids and training; set workstations to ergonomic requirements
Basis: EU Directives 90/269/EEC and 90/270/EEC, transposed
Prepare cytotoxic drugs in closed systems; ventilate sterilisation and theatres; monitor radiation doses
Basis: EU Directive 2004/37/EC (benchmark); Georgian radiation safety legislation
Keep rosters within the Labour Code; limit consecutive night shifts; provide confidential support for stress and after serious incidents
Basis: Labour Code of Georgia; WHO guidelines on mental health at work (2022)

This summary is general information, not legal advice; the written risk assessment and the accredited safety specialist remain the legal requirements under the Organic Law on Occupational Safety.

Public health perspective (WHO)

The health-worker strand of this site is built on WHO instruments: the Global Plan of Action singles out health workers for national occupational health programmes; the WHO–ILO Global Framework (2010) and Caring for those who care (2022) describe their content; WHO's violence prevention work and ICD-11 burn-out definition cover the two most common harms. For WHO, protecting health workers is also patient safety: unsafe conditions reduce quality of care and the resilience of the health system (WHO and ILO, 2022). Workers' health: the public health perspective.

Related across the PHIG network

Health-worker safety is where GILS's evidence meets the accreditation standards, training and resources produced elsewhere in the PHIG network.

ASF Hospital Standard — Human Resources and staff safety chapters (Accréditation Sans Frontières): the accreditation requirements for staff immunisation, sharps safety, violence prevention and occupational health in facilities.
ASF free resources: hand-hygiene and transmission posters, patient-safety tools — print-ready A4 materials for wards.
GMJ Academy — ASF Accreditation and Patient Safety courses — free until the end of 2026.
PHIG — Health and Migration Observatory — for migrant health workers and health-system capacity.
GMJ News · Work & Health — GILS analyses as published by the newsroom.

GILS is a programme of the Public Health Institute of Georgia; see the PHIG network.

Sources

WHO and ILO (2022). Caring for those who care: guide for the development and implementation of occupational health and safety programmes for health workers. ISBN 9789240040779. www.who.int
WHO and ILO (2020). Caring for those who care: national programmes for occupational health for health workers — policy brief. www.who.int
ILO NORMLEX. Ratifications for Georgia. normlex.ilo.org
ETF–Eurofound (2024). Working life in Georgia. www.etf.europa.eu
ILO (2023). Nearly 3 million people die of work-related accidents and diseases. www.ilo.org

Figures are from the GILS Evidence Register and the official sources shown. GILS is independent of government, trade unions, employers' organisations and the ILO.