Table 4.

Summary of main areas, categories and sub-categories regarding health care workers’ (HCWs) experiences of workplace incidents that led to injury or posed risk for patient and worker injury

Main area	Category	Sub-category
Emotions evoked by an incident	Anxiety during the incident	To feel safe within the team
		Feelings of insecurity
	Persistent distress after the incident	Shame and self-regret when a patient had been exposed to risk of injury
		Sadness over being injured at work
		Anger and resignation when managers had not taken necessary action
Actions by the team and managers when handling an incident	Team interplay for safety actions	Act adequately and supportively
		Take responsibility and team leadership
	Support and ratification from managers and colleagues	Informal debriefings with colleagues to release emotions
		A validating approach and follow-ups by the manager