OSHA today launched a website aimed at protecting hospital workers from the dangers that lurk within their hazardous workplaces — back strains from patient handling and moving, slips and falls, needlesticks and exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

The website's materials include fact books, self-assessments and best practice guides that showcase the lessons from high-performing hospitals. The portal on safe patient handling is designed to address musculoskeletal injuries, the most common type of injuries hospital workers face, says OSHA.

How hazardous are hospitals? In 2012, U.S. hospitals recorded 225,000 work-related injuries and illnesses. Almost 60,000 of these caused employees to miss work, a rate higher than construction and factory workers, says OSHA. Nationwide, workers' compensation losses result in a total annual expense of $2 billion for hospitals.

Dan O'Connor