Application of Computational Simulation for Occupational Safety Assessment in a Psychiatric Hospital

Psychiatric hospitals present occupational hazards, with patients’ unexpected behaviors constituting a unique factor that makes the safety climate crucial for preventing injuries and ensuring a healthy work environment. In this context, this study analyzed occupational injuries and safety conditions in a psychiatric hospital in southern Brazil, employing system dynamics (SD)-based computational simulation as a decision-support tool. The study was carried out in five stages: definition of the case study; collection and descriptive analysis of injury data; development of safety indicators; SD modeling and simulation; and model validation through sensitivity analysis. The simulation results indicated that: (i) a 10% increase in personal protective equipment (PPE) usage reduced perceived risk to 76.48%; (ii) a 25% increase in patients’ unexpected behaviors resulted in six additional injuries; and (iii) standardizing 50% of activities could prevent seven injuries per year. The findings suggest that computational simulation enhances analytical capacity and demonstrate that the safety climate is directly influenced by mitigating occupational risks, implementing standardized internal procedures, training personnel, and establishing effective safety indicators.