Occupational Health Indicators Research Articles

A review of the application of continuous real-time monitoring in noise risk management

Background: In the year 2020, the Mineral's Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zero Harm Forum (CEOZHF) reviewed the slow progress towards achieving the 2024 Occupational Health Milestones and agreed that there was a need to improve the current measures in place to reduce occupational diseases. Following discussions with Group Environmental Engineers, it was proposed to adopt key occupational health indicators for tracking progress through Continuous Real-Time Monitoring (CRTM) to reduce workplace exposures. Methods: A systematic review methodology was employed to gather data from reputable academic databases. Results: CRTM in Noise Risk Management enables an encompassing practical and intuitive analysis of building noise pollution with prompt alerts for poor acoustic comfort. Real-time graphical display of noise measurements, utilizing a warning signal framework, facilitated area-specific alerts and responses. Additionally, CRTM enabled the visualization of noise levels and sources through frequency analysis, contributing to noise pollution analysis for zoning and strategic planning in smart cities. Conclusions: While CRTM has been extensively applied in noise monitoring globally, its utilization in the mining industry, especially in South Africa, remains limited. This study underscores the feasibility of implementing CRTM in Noise Risk Management, emphasizing the need for further research within the mining industry.

Evaluation of School Occupational Health and Safety Practices Performance Indicators by School Administrators

Evaluation of School Occupational Health and Safety Practices Performance Indicators by School Administrators

Using online wellness assessment to screen for risk of lowered work ability, burnout, depression and anxiety in occupational health: A cross-sectional study.

An increasing prevalence of disability and sickness absences related to mental health highlights the need to find scalable measures to identify common occupational health challenges early on. This study (1) investigates how well current work ability measures capture psychosocial occupational health challenges, (2) examines how online wellness questionnaire data are linked to these challenges and (3) suggests a limited set of questions for screening employees. A total 709 employees filled out a wellness survey, the Work Ability Index, the Bergen Burnout Indicator and screening questions for generalized anxiety disorder and depression. The survey question clusters and previously identified domains of wellness were used to examine the correlations between the domains and occupational health indicators. Linear models and stepwise Akaike information criterion model reduction were used to identify questions that most explained variation in each challenge. The strongest questions were combined into a set, and recursive partitioning was used to form a screening tool for occupational health. Despite over 80% of participants having good perceived work ability, we found a simultaneous anxiety risk in 22%, depression risk in 30%, some burnout symptoms in 7% and presenteeism in 36% of the participants. Correlations between several wellness domains and occupational health indicators were found. We identified eight questions that could be used to screen for a combined risk of lowered work ability, burnout, anxiety or depression. Our results demonstrate current measures not being sufficient to capture employees' mental health and suggest a brief set of questions to identify employees at risk.

Impacts of climate change on occupational health indicators in the three climatic regions of Iran

ABSTRACT Climate change has increased the exposure risk of workers to occupational health risk factors and diseases. This study aims to investigate the impacts of climate change on the occupational health indicators at the workplaces in Iran. This study was conducted during 2021 in three climatic regions of Iran. Required data was collected from Health Deputies of Medical Universities and Iran Meteorological Organization. Stepwise linear regression model used for data analysis and predictions were done based on three scenarios of SSP1–2.6, SSP3–7.0, and SSP5–8.5 during the period of 2021–2100. This indicated 2.6 and 2.9 times higher percentage of workers who were exposed to heat stress and Ultra Violet (UV) radiation, respectively, in the provinces understudy. This study suggests a holistic approach to address potential impacts of climate change on workers’ health and safety that would benefit in making decisions on climate-related planning and developing the adaptation strategies at workplaces.

Occupational Safety and Health, Job Satisfaction, Employee Performance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Companies are currently facing challenges to face the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental situation that directly has a major influence on changes in company policies and strategies, in order to survive in difficult and uncertain times. Companies that are unable to adapt to changing environmental conditions will face quite tough challenges, including companies engaged in manufacturing. Employee performance is an important element in which quality is maintained at this time in order to continue producing products to meet market needs. This study will analyze how much influence the variables of occupational safety and health and job satisfaction will affect the quality of employee performance. The method used is a survey method with a causal approach. The results of filling out the questionnaire in the form of items of research instruments in the form of statements distributed to employees will be processed using Smart PLS. By using this program, it can be seen the effect of each indicator of occupational safety and health and job satisfaction on performance. The data analysis technique used is descriptive multivariate, non-parametric statistical data analysis, inferential statistical data analysis, and the scale used is the Likert scale. The results of research show that the exogenous latent variable occupational safety and health, and job satisfaction have a significant direct effect on the endogenous variable performance of 15.4%.

The Impact of Shift Work on Occupational Health Indicators among Professionally Active Adults: A Comparative Study.

The analysis of the impact of shift work on occupational health still needs further contributions. Therefore, we developed this research with the purpose of assessing the impact of shift work on occupational health indicators, namely burnout, work-engagement, occupational self-efficacy, and mental health functioning (symptoms of depression and anxiety), by comparing workers who did shift work (44.2% of participants) with workers who did not (55.8% of participants). A total of 695 Portuguese professionally active adults between 18 and 73 years of age (Mage = 37.71; SD = 12.64) participated in this study and completed a survey containing a sociodemographic questionnaire and four occupational health measures: The Burnout Assessment Tool, The Work-Engagement questionnaire (UWES), The Occupational Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and the BSI-18 for mental health symptoms. Results showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) for all indicators, demonstrating that participants who worked shifts presented lower scores of work-engagement and occupational self-efficacy, and higher scores of burnout, depression, and anxiety when compared to participants who did not work shifts. Linear regressions showed that shift work explained significant but low percentages of anxiety symptoms, low work-engagement, depression symptoms, low occupational self-efficacy, and burnout. We concluded that non-standard working hours (by shifts) are detrimental to employee occupational health, by increasing the risk of anxiety and depression levels, and burnout, and by reducing work-engagement (as a well-being indicator) and occupational self-efficacy perceptions.

Applying the Social Vulnerability Index as a Leading Indicator to Protect Fire-Based Emergency Medical Service Responders' Health.

During emergencies, areas with higher social vulnerability experience an increased risk for negative health outcomes. However, research has not extrapolated this concept to understand how the workers who respond to these areas may be affected. Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) merged approximately 160,000 emergency response calls received from three fire departments during the COVID-19 pandemic with the CDC’s publicly available Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to examine the utility of SVI as a leading indicator of occupational health and safety risks. Multiple regressions, binomial logit models, and relative weights analyses were used to answer the research questions. Researchers found that higher social vulnerability on household composition, minority/language, and housing/transportation increase the risk of first responders’ exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Higher socioeconomic, household, and minority vulnerability were significantly associated with response calls that required emergency treatment and transport in comparison to fire-related or other calls that are also managed by fire departments. These results have implications for more strategic emergency response planning during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as improving Total Worker Health® and future of work initiatives at the worker and workplace levels within the fire service industry.

Ranking and comparing occupational health and safety system performance indicators in hospitals by the analytic hierarchy process

The main goal of this study was to identify whether changes and new applications were positively or negatively influencing safety performance among health-sector workers. The research is based on the opinion of 16 selected occupational health and safety (OHS) experts who evaluated five main groups of questions by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results were compared to the same questionnaire’s results applied previously at three main hospitals in Bingöl, Turkey. The results presented are predictable, such as that of private hospitals having better control and pressure on applying the OHS system; experts gave higher priority to OHS training; and staff considered that working according to OHS criteria was the most important problem. Caring about others’ safety and protecting one’s own life, being knowledgeable about risks, having practical OHS training and cooperation are other important criteria according to the experts.

Resilience and occupational health of health care workers: a moderator analysis of organizational resilience and sociodemographic attributes.

ObjectivesAlthough previous studies have proposed a positive influence of resilience on the mental and physical health of health care workers, empirical evidence on its relationship with occupational health remains scarce. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between individual resilience and several occupational health indicators, as well as exploring the moderating role of organizational resilience and sociodemographic attributes on this relationship.MethodsA cross-sectional design was used with a questionnaire applied to a sample of 325 workers from the Spanish health care sector.ResultsIndividual resilience was significantly associated with the indicators of occupational health. A direct effect of individual resilience on job satisfaction was found. The influence of resilience on the perception of fatigue and suffering from an illness was reverse. Age moderated the impact of resilience on the perception of stress and medical leave. Besides, organizational resilience proved to be an important adjustment variable in job satisfaction and perception of stress.ConclusionsThe findings show the relevance to take both individual and organizational resilience into account when applying intervention programs to improve the occupational health of health care workers.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00420-021-01725-8.

Salaried Workers' Self-Perceived Health and Psychosocial Risk in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Self-perceived health is an important indicator of occupational health. This research explored the relationship between poor self-perceived health and exposure to psychosocial risk factors, taking into account potential socio-demographic, occupational, and employment determinants. Using data from the First Survey of Occupational Safety and Health Conditions, covering 1049 salaried workers in Guayaquil, Ecuador, descriptive and stratified binary logistic regression analyses (odds ratios with corresponding 95% confidence intervals) were carried out. A significant relationship was found between exposure to psychosocial risk factors and the probability of presenting poor self-perceived health by socio-demographic, occupational, and employment characteristics. Occupational exposure factors to psychosocial risks were predictors of self-perceived ill health and were related to the variables analyzed; the most frequently expressed factors among the respondents were cognitive demands (DCOG) and job insecurity (IL). The results have implications in terms of designing effective workplace interventions pursuant to ensuring the health and well-being of employees.

Anthropometric measures for better cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health

AbstractArtists spend their working time in the workplace so a design is needed to address their needs. The workplaces need to be economic, ergonomic, energy‐efficient, and environmentally friendly based on the current trends. This study focused on all of these aspects while choosing the subjects for conducting the experiment. A total of 10 test subjects were involved in this study. Data related to environmental conditions were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney test and those related to workloads and musculoskeletal disorders were tested by two‐paired sample t test. The cardiovascular load and cardiovascular strain (CVS) data were tested by the Wilcoxon signed‐rank test for a 5% significance level. The results showed that using a natural posture while working can improve health quality. Occupational health indicators, such as workloads, cardiovascular load, and CVSs, musculoskeletal disorders, visual complaints, and concentration showed an improvement characterized by decreased workloads, cardiovascular load and CVS, musculoskeletal disorders, visual complaints, and increased concentration.

Analysis of occupational accidents in Spain using shrinkage regression methods

This paper analyses the relationship between the evolution of occupational health indicators, i.e. frequency rate (FR), severity rate (SR) and days lost per accident (DLA), and the performance of relevant influencing factors related to the labour market, the productivity structure and the economy using regression shrinkage methods: the Lasso, Elastic Net and AdaLasso regression methods. The advantage of applying these methods is that they overcome two common problems faced in this type of analysis: the number of input factors greatly exceeds the number of observations (data set) and the multicollinearity of the input factors.A case study is included focused on occupational accidents in Spain in the time period 1995–2017. The analysis covers an unstable period in the Spanish labour market consisting of stages of economic growth and deep recession as well as changes in the structure of the production system. The shrinkage methods identified and selected the most important factors that significantly affected the occupational health indicators. The AdaLasso method provided the best results for FR y DLA, based on the bayesian information criterion (BIC) and performed slightly worse than Elastic Net for SR. It can be concluded that AdaLasso seems to be the most consistent and robust method and also explains the different relationships with the least number of factors (variables).Based on the results of the AdaLasso regression method, Factor Hours Worked showed a strong positive relationship with all three indicators, while the Total Females Employed and Agriculture Sector factors showed a strong negative relationship with FR and SR. However, several factors affecting either FR or DLA seemed to have no affect on SR, while others affected each other in the same way but with weaker or stronger relationships. The results found were not only consistent with the results of the health indicators analysed in previous work, but also provided additional insights into occupational indicators that have not been covered up to now.

Vision zero: Developing proactive leading indicators for safety, health and wellbeing at work

The importance of leading occupational safety and health (OSH) indicators in complementing lagging indicators is an emerging topic for the promotion of a prevention culture in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development process of a set of proactive leading indicators for safety, health and wellbeing (SHW) at work, which was carried out as part of the International Social Security Association’s (ISSA) Vision Zero strategy. Principles of integrated knowledge transfer and exchange between research, policy and practice were followed in both the conception and development phases, and a mixed methods approach was applied across four stages consisting of: a literature review and input from industry; a quantitative evaluation through an online survey; a qualitative evaluation through feedback from organizational representatives and key stakeholders; and a consensus building workshop with the ISSA Steering Committee. A set of fourteen indicators was developed to complement the ISSA Vision Zero strategy, two in relation to each of its seven golden rules for promoting SHW at work. The indicators deal with integrating each aspect of SHW in e.g. visible and competent leadership, procurement, pre-work briefings, evaluating risk management and targeted programmes, learning from unplanned events, innovation and change, work organization, onboarding and refresher training. Results can be presented qualitatively and quantitatively as e.g. ‘yes’ or ‘no’ responses, on a Likert or continuum (five–point) scale, or with frequencies and percentages. The indicators are designed for use by both small and large organizations across all sectors, and can be used for benchmarking and as key performance indicators. They are not only intended to better direct and control SHW processes, but also to support the development of a prevention culture. Recommendations are provided on how the indicators can be refined and improved through future research.

Evaluating Oregon's occupational public health surveillance system based on the CDC updated guidelines

BackgroundThe Oregon Occupational Public Health Program (OOPHP) monitors occupational health indicators (OHIs) to inform occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance. In 2018, OOPHP evaluated the performance of the OSH surveillance system and identified areas for future improvement.MethodsFollowing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems, the OOPHP evaluation team engaged internal and external stakeholders using a mixed‐methods approach. Operational measures for ten surveillance attributes were developed. Multiple data collection methods resulted in credible evidence for evaluation conclusions. Analyses included summary statistics and qualitative analysis of interviews, a focus group, and online surveys.ResultsTwenty stakeholders took part in this evaluation, with an average participation rate of 55%. Results showed the Oregon OSH surveillance system was simple, flexible, and highly accepted by its stakeholders. Funding security presents challenges for stability. A lack of timeliness of OHIs, low relevance of OHIs to local OSH issues, and the system's ineffectual data dissemination all limit the usefulness of the OSH surveillance system. A review of key data sources for the system showed good data quality and predictive value positive, but relatively poor sensitivity and representativeness.ConclusionsThe evaluation team successfully adapted attributes and examples in the CDC guidelines to this Oregon OSH surveillance evaluation. The evaluation findings have informed the development of recommendations for improvements to OOPHP's OSH surveillance. Future research is needed to develop guidance specific to OSH surveillance evaluation.

Prioritization of occupational health and safety indicators using the Fuzzy-AHP method

Paper aims This paper aims to assist and facilitate decision-making in health management and work safety by the identification and prioritization of occupational health and safety indicators. Originality This research contributes to the literature by demonstrating the applicability of multicriteria tools to solve health and safety-related issues on organizations and also some implications related to this method. Research method The methodological approach is the application of the Fuzzy AHP method for prioritization of categories of occupational health and safety indicators. Main findings The results show that the category of indicators called “Occupational Health and Safety Management” was considered the most relevant, followed by the categories “Accidents and Diseases” and “Risk Assessment”. Implications for theory and practice For the application of the Fuzzy AHP method it is necessary to compare the level of importance between objects. Collecting these assessments can be difficult. In this paper, more than forty companies were reached but only six responded and only two responses were valid.

Occupational health profile of Canadian Maritimes truck drivers.

There are over 12,000 professional truck drivers in the Canadian Maritime provinces, with the majority being in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Previous studies have focused on the health of Canadian and American truck drivers but the occupational health status of truck drivers in the Maritime Provinces remains undocumented. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to provide a general, occupational health and demographic characteristics description of professional truck drivers in the Maritimes. One-hundred and four male truck drivers from the Canadian Maritime Provinces volunteered for this study. Nine occupational health indicators were measured (seven were self-reported via questionnaire and two were physical measurements). Participants self-reported their age, years of truck driving experience and education. Only one-quarter of the current sample had no health conditions. In contrast, more than half were obese, one third had back problems, and one-sixth had a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). The group comparison analysis showed that the group without health condition was younger and more educated than the group with multiple health conditions. For this study, age and low rate of education were associated with an increased number of health conditions. Similar to health profiles of other populations of North American truck drivers, this study suggests that the majority of truck drivers in the Canadian Maritime Provinces have at least one poor indicator of occupational health.

ANÁLISIS DE CAMBIOS DE TENDENCIAS DE INDICADORES DE SALUD OCUPACIONAL EN ESPAÑA, EN EL PERIODO 1995 A 2017

Occupational accidents pose considerable burdens to people, businesses and society in general. The analysis of trends in the evolution of time series related to occupational health indicators is an important tool to help determining the extent to which economic or structural changes in the sectors of industry, agriculture, construction and services have influenced the behavior of these indicators. Trend analysis is defined as a process of estimating gradual changes in a series of observations over time, while breakpoint analysis allows to detect abrupt changes in time series. In the literature, different nonparametric and parametric techniques are used to estimate breakpoints and trends. The presented study focuses on the analysis of occupational accidents in Spain in the period 1995-2017. The analysis covers a period of exceptional instability in the Spanish labor market, including a period of economic growth and deep recession. These economic changes brought changes in the composition of the labor market. In the paper, the main indicators used in the statistics of work accidents (Fatal Accident Rate, Incidence Index, Gravity Index, etc.) are analyzed in order to detect trends and changes in them, emphasizing its relationship with risk metrics. The results obtained in the case of application show that the economic and structural changes have affected in a different way the trends of the indicators analyzed. Key Words: Work accidents; Risks evaluation; risk factor's; prevention of occupational hazards; occupational health; labor statistics

Health indicators as moderators of occupational commitment and nurses' intention to leave

This study examined the hypothesis that health indicators moderate the relationship between occupational commitment and intention to leave among nurses, using a large sample in Japan. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all registered nurses (N = 11,171) working in group hospitals in western Japan in 2014. The questionnaire evaluated intention to leave, occupational commitment, psychological distress, cumulative fatigue, and demographic variables. After a preliminary analysis of the bivariate and multivariate associations between variables and intention to leave, we tested the interactions between occupational commitment and health indicators on intention to leave. Of the 5,768 returned questionnaires, data from 5,505 (49.3%) participants were analyzed. Participants' mean age was 36.27 years (SD = 10.37). Most (95.14%) were women. According to a generalized estimating equation, the interaction of continuance occupational commitment and cumulative fatigue was significantly related to intention to leave (b = -0.0055). Additionally, the interaction of affective occupational commitment and psychological distress was significantly related to intention to leave (b = 0.0079). This study clarified that the relationship between occupational commitment and intention to leave was robust for nurses in good health. Interventions aimed at reducing fatigue and improving psychological distress should be implemented to prevent the protective effects of occupational commitment on nurses' intention to leave from being compromised.

Reporting within the Corridor of Conformance: Managerial Perspectives on Work Environment Disclosures in Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

This paper examines managerial perspectives on work environment (WE) disclosures in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. WE encompasses all aspects of the design and management of the work system that affect the employees’ interactions with the workplace. The data are drawn from interviews with 20 CSR managers in large companies that are recognized as high performers in CSR. Managers reported that WE disclosures were an important part of CSR reporting and had several benefits—for example, it helped to maintain companies’ reputations as good places to work, which were of interest to both investors and potential employees. However, WE reporting was at a low level, focusing predominantly on occupational health and safety performance indicators, such as the number of employee injuries per year. We suggest that organizations derive legitimacy by reporting WE disclosures within a corridor of conformance that permits a low level of reporting and a great deal of latitude regarding what topics and how topics are disclosed, provided organizations meet institutional expectations. The corridor is maintained by an institutional environment in which, from participants’ perspectives, few external stakeholders were interested in WE disclosures representing employee well-being (e.g., psychological health) and the prevailing CSR reporting standards and guidelines provide scant information about employee health.

Utilisation of the Safety Index (Elmeri Index) as the OSH Indicator at Coal Mines

Abstract The article describes the main performances of the global coal industry, as well as key occupational safety and health indicators (OSH indicators) of the coal mining industry of the Russian Federation. The main goal of the article is to present the results of research of potential utilisation of the Elmeri observation method in order to evaluate safety levels at underground coal mines. The investigation performed taking into consideration two root causes of the occupational traumatism (methane and/or dust explosions, as well as rock falls) has demonstrated good correlation between the calculated values of the safety index and results of the risk assessments at the same underground coal mine under consideration. In addition, the article includes a brief discussion of advantages and restrictions in respect of utilisation of the safety index as the OSH monitoring tool at coal mines.