Health care services provided in the home will be one of the fastest-growing employment sectors of our economy over the next ten years. Few occupational safety standards apply to the many hazards in the home, and no employee safety regulatory agency in the country has the authority to access private homes to inspect workplace safety hazards. Added to this lack of system controls, the employers and regulatory agencies have limited resources available to provide employee safety equipment or training that works well in a home environment or directly relates to safety issues in a home working environment. Home health care service employees have more than double the national accident rate for all industries, ranking them among the ten highest reported for "over exertion" by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 1998–2008).
Personal and Home Care Aides and Home Health Aides will be the second and third fastest growing occupations in the country between 2006 and 2016, increasing by 51 percent and 49 percent, respectively.
