Large Workplaces Research Articles

Distribution of radon in large workplaces: an analysis performed on radon levels measured in UK schools

Radon is a radioactive, carcinogenic gas formed by the radioactive decay of uranium and radium that occur naturally in small amounts in all rocks and soils. It is the largest single source of radiation exposure to the UK population, contributing to more than 1 100 lung cancer deaths each year according to an analysis conducted in 2005. Regulations exist to protect employees (and other persons) where radon concentrations exceed the reference level of 300 Bq m-3. Once the reference level is exceeded, annual doses of more than the public dose limit of 1 mSv a-1are considered to be excessive. A radon measurement campaign for schools, which started in 2009, generated a large dataset, including those with high numbers of simultaneous radon measurements. Radon data between buildings (e.g. homes) have been shown to correspond broadly to the lognormal distribution, after the additive contribution of outside air has been removed. However, there are fewer studies of the distribution of radon levels within a single, large property. Radon data collected from 533 UK schools with at least 20 valid, simultaneous results were analysed against several statistical models. In approximately 50% of schools the radon levels could be represented by the lognormal distribution and in 60% by the loglogistic lognormal distribution, the latter being a better fit probably owing to its lower sensitivity to the tails of the distribution. Qualitatively, the lognormal and the loglogistic probability plots appeared to be indistinguishable. These findings indicate that the lognormal and loglogistic might be appropriate models to characterise the distribution of radon in most large workplaces. For each statistical model, the two distribution parameters can be used to provide a better estimate of the average dose to the occupants. However, caution is required when assessing doses, since the average estimator of the radon concentration does not predict the highest value and may significantly underestimate or overestimate the dose in specific areas.

Network spillover effects associated with the ChooseWell 365 workplace randomized controlled trial to promote healthy food choices

Food choices are closely linked to culture, social relationships, and health. Because many adults spend up to half their time at work, the workplace provides a venue for changing population health-related behaviors and norms. It is unknown whether the effects of a workplace intervention to improve health behaviors might spread beyond participating employees due to social influence. ChooseWell 365 was a randomized controlled trial testing a 12-month healthy eating intervention grounded in principles of behavioral economics. This intervention leveraged an existing cafeteria traffic-light labeling system (green = healthy; red = unhealthy) in a large hospital workplace and demonstrated significant improvements in healthy food choices by employees in the intervention vs. control group. The current study used data from over 29 million dyadic purchasing events during the trial to test whether social ties to a trial participant co-worker (n = 299 intervention, n = 302 control) influenced the workplace food choices of non-participants (n = 7900). There was robust evidence that non-participants who were socially tied to more intervention group participants made healthier workplace food purchases overall, and purchased a greater proportion of healthy (i.e., green) food and beverages, and fewer unhealthy (i.e., red) beverages and modest evidence that the benefit of being tied to intervention participants was greater than being tied to control participants. Although individual-level effect sizes were small, a range of consistent findings indicated that this light-touch intervention yielded spillover effects of healthy eating behaviors on non-participants. Results suggest that workplace healthy eating interventions could have population benefits extending beyond participants.

Urban Public Libraries in the 1980s: Evolving Library Services for an Information Society

ABSTRACT This qualitative interview study with retired staff from urban public libraries collects data about employees’ perceptions of how these institutions changed during the 1980s. Participants’ memories of their communities, budgets, staffing, new technology, security measures, services, programming, outreach, and work with job-seekers and the unhoused are compared with library literature and newspaper coverage from the decade. As the U.S. shifted from an industrial society of large workplaces linking whole communities toward an “information society” with a more heterogenous workforce divided by educational attainment, urban public library workforces, target audiences, collections, and programming both adapted to and mirrored these changes.

Organizational demography and gender authority gaps in Dutch workplaces

Social stratification research increasingly draws attention to the role of workplaces for the (re)production of categorical inequalities. This article studies the relationship between differences between men’s and women’s chances of having a position of workplace authority – the gender authority gap – and the demographic characteristics of the organization they work in. Using unique linked employer-employee data representative of large workplaces in the Netherlands and individuals working in these organizations, I document larger gender authority gaps in organizations with larger shares of men and organizations where men have higher status than women in terms of other categorical distinctions, for example where their percentage of non-migrants is higher relative to women’s. Crucially, these findings are net of women’s and men’s individual status characteristics and human capital and related organizational characteristics. This article contributes to the literature on the gender authority gap by showing that women may be unable to reach desired jobs partially because of working in an organization with a particular demographic composition or intersection of status distinctions even when they have the qualifications to do so. In addition, the study contributes to the emerging relational inequalities literature that has thus far focused on earnings inequality by showing that predictions from this literature are consistent with the unequal distribution of desirable jobs.

A SARS-CoV-2 outbreak investigation at a storage and distribution centre in England: an assessment of worker- and workplace-related risk factors

An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (1 March to 10 May 2021) with an attack rate of 26.5% among approximately 1150 workers at a storage and distribution centre in England prompted a multidisciplinary outbreak investigation (5 May to 6 August 2021), with the aim of better understanding worker- and workplace-related risk factors for viral transmission in the warehousing sector. Overall, environmental factors (e.g., ventilation, humidity and temperature) were assessed to be appropriate at the facility. Nevertheless, 39 (51.3%) surface samples from across the site tested positive for low/ very low levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (Ct value ≥ 32.0 for all). Among the study participants, of whom 35.6% were confirmed or suspected cases, 95.5% reported having received COVID-19 prevention training, 100.0% reported handwashing, and 80.0% reported use of face coverings at work. Notably, 43.9% and 19.0% reported working with a symptomatic and a positive contact respectively. Furthermore, 80.5% and 46.3% had concerns regarding reduction in their income and future unemployment, respectively, due to self-isolation. The findings of this study suggest that, in addition to targeted workplace infection control measures and tailored work area specific risk assessments, an enhanced and equitable sick leave policy may help limit presenteeism and viral transmission in large workplaces.

The rapid construction method of the digital twin polymorphic model for discrete manufacturing workshop

The modeling process is resource-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive due to the large number and variety of production and auxiliary equipment in discrete manufacturing plants. The popular twin-model construction method based on a single type of equipment cannot meet the demand for rapid construction and high-quality model mapping in large discrete manufacturing plants. This paper proposes a strategy for developing a digital twin polymorphic model (DTPM) for discrete manufacturing workshops to meet complex manufacturing business scenarios, improve the richness of digital twin model varieties, construction efficiency and intelligence, and form an efficient equipment model construction method. The complete element information and real-time dynamic data of the minimal component unit (Functional Components, FC) of DTPM are clustered and analyzed. In addition, properties of the functional component information model are characterized from several dimensions, such as geometry, physics, and behavior. Furthermore, the FC with highly concentrated primary components is established based on the object-oriented derivation inheritance and attribute reuse hybrid drive technique. FC drastically reduces the duration of the digital twin model development process through encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, and other technologies. On this premise, the DTPM construction method that deeply decouples the physical structure and functional methods is proposed. DTPM integrates adaptive information interaction technology to accomplish intelligent data connection, dynamic data updating, and digitally accurate mapping of static-dynamic-virtual multidimensional models in discrete production workshops. Lastly, the method's validity is confirmed by creating a large discrete production workplace. The results indicate that the proposed technique may significantly enhance the model variety and building efficiency of large-scale digital twin workshop systems.

Mobility constraints and accessibility to work: Application to Stockholm

This paper investigates workplace accessibility in Stockholm through a workplace choice model within a space–time prism concept. We develop a workplace accessibility measure that incorporates individuals’ constraints in time, space, and resources. The accessibility measure is derived from an activity-based demand model formulated as a Markov decision process in a dynamic discrete choice framework, where space–time constraints affect the possibilities of individuals to engage in activities during spare time. Indeed, the results show that spare time accessibility is significantly linked to workplace accessibility. Applications of the results show how space–time constraints, such as access to a car or having children, affect benefits in terms of consumer surplus for relocating a large workplace (a hospital in our case), car dependency, and segregation.

Validating saliva as a biological sample for cost-effective, rapid and routine screening for SARS-CoV-2

PurposeCompared to nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs (N/OPS-VTM), non-invasive saliva samples have enormous potential for scalability and routine population screening of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we investigate the efficacy of saliva samples relative to N/OPS-VTM for use as a direct source for RT-PCR based SARS-CoV-2 detection. MethodsWe collected paired nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs and saliva samples from suspected positive SARS-CoV-2 patients and tested using RT-PCR. We used generalized linear models to investigate factors that explain result agreement. Further, we used simulations to evaluate the effectiveness of saliva-based screening in restricting the spread of infection in a large campus such as an educational institution. ResultsWe observed a 75.4% agreement between saliva and N/OPS-VTM, that increased drastically to 83% in samples stored for less than three days. Such samples processed within two days of collection showed 74.5% test sensitivity. Our simulations suggest that a test with 75% sensitivity, but high daily capacity can be very effective in limiting the size of infection clusters in a workspace. Guided by these results, we successfully implemented a saliva-based screening in the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster (BLiSC) campus. ConclusionThese results suggest that saliva may be a viable alternate source for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance if samples are processed immediately. Although saliva shows slightly lower sensitivity levels when compared to N/OPS-VTM, saliva collection is logistically advantageous. We strongly recommend the implementation of saliva-based screening strategies for large workplaces and in schools, as well as for population-level screening and routine surveillance as we learn to live with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

An optical flow-based method for condition-based maintenance and operational safety in autonomous cleaning robots

Autonomous professional cleaning robots are ubiquitous today, coexist with humans, and the demand continues to improve hygiene and productivity, especially in large indoor workplaces. Hence, a proper maintenance strategy is essential to monitor the robot’s health, assuring flawless operation and safety. Manual supervision and periodic maintenance are adopted in general, which is challenging to detect failures in advance, resulting in higher maintenance costs and operational hazards. Anomalous vibration due to system degradation or environmental factors is an early symptom of failure or potential threats. Hence, predicting the sources of such abnormal vibration will help prompt maintenance action or set a hazard-free environment. However, such condition-monitoring research studies are not common for indoor cleaning robots. To fill this gap, we proposed an automated Condition Monitoring (CM) system, predicting the abnormal vibration sources that will enhance Condition-based Maintenance (CbM) and Operational Safety. A novel vibration-based CM method is presented for mobile robots, suitable for indoor environments under typical illumination states, using a monocular camera and optical flow technique instead of their usual perception-related applications. The sources of abnormal vibration were classified as terrain, collision, loose assembly, and structural imbalance. We modelled vibration as sparse optical flow, and the change in optical flow vector displacement due to the robot’s vibration is derived from consecutive camera frames used as vibration data. A practical framework is developed adopting the One Dimensional Convolutional Neural Network (1D CNN) model to fit this vibration data and tested predicting the vibration source class with an average accuracy of 93.8%. In addition, a vibration source map (CbM map) is proposed by fusing the predicted class in the workplace environment map for real-time monitoring. The case studies conducted using our in-house-developed cleaning robot show that the proposed CM framework will help the maintenance team for CbM, operational safety, and select proper maintenance strategies.

Planar Cable-Driven Manipulators for Inspection of Large Surfaces

Cable-Driven Parallel Manipulators (CDPM) are a type of parallel robots in which the rigid links connecting the base with the terminal link, also called end-effector, are replaced by cables. This kind of system has been introduced during the last two decades, since then many issues have been addressed, but there are still open problems. Thanks to the nature of the cables, lightweight if compared to the overall structure, and the very large workplace, their possible applications are increasing. Recently, Robotics and Automation have been applied to the inspection of structures and infrastructure; therefore, they are starting to be used to substitute personnel in dangerous or unsafe operations. Related to the inspection, autonomous or tele-operated systems can be used for securing the access to the buildings or infrastructure. In this paper, we propose the application of CDPMs for the inspection of large surfaces, constituted by buildings facades, top roofs, and parts of infrastructures. The development of suitable model of the system, also called Digital Twin, allows the managing of the operation in safe conditions. As new application, we propose the use of a planar CDPM for being applied to the inspection and monitoring. The 3D model acts as a Digital Twin of the real prototype that has been developed and used for experimental testing. Since the purpose is to drive the end-effector to point of interest carrying suitable sensors, tests for trajectory planning and experimental tests are proposed. The inspection of structures and infrastructures has become a very important issue for the security of critical infrastructures, not only at European level but worldwide.

Sexual harassment among employees and students at a large Swedish university: who are exposed, to what, by whom and where – a cross-sectional prevalence study

BackgroundSexual harassment (SH) in the workplace is prevalent and associated with poor health. Universities are large workplaces with complex formal and informal power relations, which may influence the prevalence of SH. Although employees and students share the university context, few studies on SH have included both groups. The overall aim of the study was to investigate SH among employees and students at a large Swedish public university regarding types of harassment, prevalence in different groups, characteristics of the perpetrators, and the circumstances in which it occurs.MethodsA cross-sectional analysis was performed, based on a web-based survey with 120 items that was sent out to all staff, including PhD students (N = 8,238) and students (N = 30,244) in November 2019. The response rate was 33% for staff and 32% for students. Exposure to SH was defined as having experienced at least one of ten defined SH behaviors during their work or studies.ResultsAmong women, 24.5% of staff and 26.8% of students reported having been exposed to SH. The corresponding figures were 7.0% and 11.3% for male staff and students and 33.3% and 29.4% for non-binary individuals among staff and students. Unwelcome comments, suggestive looks or gestures, and ‘inadvertent’ brushing or touching were the three most common forms of reported harassment, both among staff and students. Attempted or completed rape had been experienced by 2.1% of female and 0.6% of male students. Male and female perpetrators were reported by about 80% and 15%, respectively, of exposed participants. Among staff most reported events occurred during the everyday operation of the university, while among students the majority of the events took place during social events linked to student life. When exposed to a perpetrator from the same group (staff or students), women reported more often being in a subordinate power position in relation to the perpetrator.ConclusionsThe results indicate that sexual harassment is common in the university context, and interventions and case management routines of events should consider power relations between victim and perpetrator, as well as the various contexts within which sexual harassment takes place.

Za stejnou práci stejná odměna? Genderová rovnost v odměňování v různých kontextech trhu práce

Although international comparisons point to the gender pay gap (GPG) as a significant problem in the Czech labour market, until recently the GPG has not been the subject of deeper research or political attention. Using linked employer–employee data, the article answers the question of whether men and women were paid an equal wage for equal work in 2005–2020 and what part of the total GPG is caused by the segregation of women and men into different occupations, workplaces, and jobs. We also pose these questions separately for the public and private spheres, for selected industries, and for workplaces according to size. Throughout the monitored period, the GPG for equal work is around 10% and another roughly one-half of total GPG is caused by gender segregation. There has been a slight decrease since 2018, especially in workplaces with more than 5000 employees, where, however, the significance of women’s segregation into lower-paid positions is growing. The research confirmed that in more regulated, and therefore more transparent, contexts, such as the public sphere and in large workplaces (but also in small companies with up to 50 employees), the GPG for equal work is smaller than elsewhere. The results point to the need to systematically monitor the GPG and increase the transparency of remuneration systems in the workplace. In connection with the GPG, it will also be necessary to analyse the organisational processes that lead to women’s segregation into occupations, workplaces, and jobs that have lower wages, as well as the growing precarity of the Czech labour market.

SARS-CoV-2 sero-prevalence in the workforces of three large workplaces in South Wales: a sero-epidemiological study

BackgroundSero-prevalence studies quantify the proportion of a population that has antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, and can be used to identify the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic at a population level. The aim of the study was to assess the sero-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the workforce at three workplaces: a food factory, non-food factory and call-centre.MethodsNine hundred ninety-three participants were recruited from three workplaces in South Wales. Participants completed a questionnaire and had a lateral flow point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 antibody test administered by a healthcare professional. The data were analysed using multivariable logistic regression, both using complete records only and following multiple imputation.ResultsThe sero-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies ranged from 4% (n = 17/402) in the non-food factory to 10% (n = 28/281) in the food factory (OR 2.93; 95% CI 1.26 to 6.81). After taking account of confounding factors evidence of a difference remained (cOR comparing food factory to call centre (2.93; 95% CI 1.26 to 6.81) and non-food factory (3.99; 95% CI 1.97 to 8.08) respectively). The SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence also varied between roles within workplaces. People working in office based roles had a 2.23 times greater conditional odds (95% CI 1.02 to 4.87) of being positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies than those working on the factory floor.ConclusionThe sero-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies varied by workplace and work role. Whilst it is not possible to state whether these differences are due to COVID-19 transmission within the workplaces, it highlights the importance of considering COVID-19 transmission in a range of workplaces and work roles.

Clarifying human agency in social systems, implications for large schools and workplaces and the Systems Thinking RoundTable

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to return to goals of systemic renewal and sustainable development by clarifying agency or causal factors in complex organizations. To begin this journey, we identify conflicts and flaws underlying common management theory and practice and then correct them using a wider knowledge base underpinned by general systems theory and relevant disciplines. Updated theory is that agency of organization behaviour is not in the leader, nor the employee, but in both. Each system member learns and performs according to their own willingness and ability, resulting in infinite variety. Thus, a provide/pickup paradigm is proposed. In other words, the leader's role is to provide input, resources and tasks; the learner/employee role is pickup of input, each at their own rate. The investigative journey complete, the Systems Thinking RoundTable is proposed to circumvent many of the challenges in modern social systems today—the ever‐increasing demands, the silo effect and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Benchmarking SARS CoV-2 Infection in the Workplace to Support Continuity of Operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic jeopardizes continuity of operations of workplaces and the health and safety of workers. Exemplar workplace-related SARS-CoV-2 benchmarks are described and illustrated with empirical data. Benchmarks were collected over a 9-month period on a large workplace (N = 5500+). These ranged from quantitative indices associated with RT-qPCR targeted testing and random surveillance screening, surveillance for new variants of SARS-CoV-2, intensive contact tracing, case management, return to work procedures, to monitoring of antibody seropositive status. Data and analyses substantiated effectiveness of interventions. This was evidenced in suppressed infection rates, rapid case identification and isolation, acceptance of the program by employees, documentation of presumptive immunity, and working relationships with senior management. These SARS-CoV-2 exemplar benchmarks provided an evidence-base for practice and contributed strategically to organizational decisions.

MRNA SARS-CoV-2 Immunization Confers Robust Antibody Response in Occupational Healthcare Workers and Fosters Workplace Safety.

mRNA SARS-CoV-2 Immunization Confers Robust Antibody Response in Occupational Healthcare Workers and Fosters Workplace Safety.

일본 동경도의 개별적 노동분쟁 해결 시스템에 대한 실증적 연구

Individual labor disputes have been rapidly increasing recently in Japan. The Tokyo Labour Relations Commission, however, handles only collective labor disputes and not individual labor disputes unlike most Labour Relations Commission of another Local Government. The reason is known to be due to the practice that individual labor disputes have been resolved in different ways like the Labor Counseling Center(hereinafter referred to as LCC) within Tokyo Metropolitan Government(hereinafter referred to as Tokyo).<BR> Here an author intends to introduce the functions and operation status of the LCC in Tokyo Metropolitan Government.<BR> Conclusions are as follows:<BR> First, in the case of Tokyo, six permanent LCCs are operated, and each LCC has a jurisdictional area of Tokyo to provide labor counseling, seminar program, circle activity by workers etc. Of course, Tokyo citizens can use any of these LCCs regardless of their address.<BR> Second, labor counseling hours are operated flexibly. In general, labor counseling at the LCC is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. The counseling center, however, is also open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Furthermore some counseling centers have labor counseling until 8 p.m. on certain days of the week.<BR> Third, the quality of the consultation is high. The labor counseling center also provides expert counseling for the mental health of workers. On the other hand, counseling with a lawyer is provided on difficult and complicated labor disputes.<BR> Forth, most of the labor counseling applications are made by telephone, and in terms of the size of the workplace, there are more applications for labor counseling by workers at small or large workplaces than workers at medium-sized workplaces.<BR> Fifth, the contents of labor counseling show that there are many consultations on important working conditions, such as retirement, dismissal, and wages. Next is the sequence of consultations on human relationships, such as harassment, sexual harassment, pregnancy, childbirth, childcare, etc. in the workplace, and consultations on social insurance (pension, industrial accident, and employment insurance) related to social safety nets.<BR> Finally, there is consideration for labor counseling for the socially disadvantaged, such as non-regular workers and foreign workers, that is, separate counseling sessions for non-regular workers on certain days of November every year, and supports English and Chinese.

Leveraging age diversity for organizational performance: An intellectual capital perspective.

The global trend of increasing workplace age diversity has led to growing research attention to the organizational consequences of age-diverse workforces. Prior research has primarily focused on the statistical relationship between age diversity and organizational performance without empirically probing potential mechanisms underlying this relationship. Adopting an intellectual capital perspective, we posit that age diversity affects organizational performance via human and social capital. Furthermore, we examine workplace functional diversity and age-inclusive management as two contingent factors shaping the effects of age diversity on human and social capital. Our hypotheses were tested with a large manager-report workplace survey data from the Society for Human Resource Management (N = 3,888). Results indicate that age diversity was positively associated with organizational performance through the mediation of increased human and social capital. In addition, functional diversity and age-inclusive management amplified the positive effects of age diversity on human and social capital. Our research sheds light on how age-diverse workforces may create value through cultivating knowledge-based organizational resources (i.e., human and social capital). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Ubiquitous Fall Hazard Identification With Smart Insole

Falls are leading causes of nonfatal injuries in workplaces which lead to substantial injury and economic consequences. To help avoid fall injuries, safety managers usually need to inspect working areas routinely. However, it is difficult for a limited number of safety managers to inspect fall hazards instantly especially in large workplaces. To address this problem, a novel fall hazard identification method is proposed in this paper which makes it possible for all workers to report the potential hazards automatically. This method is based on the fact that people use different gaits to get across different floor surfaces. Through analyzing gait patterns, potential fall hazards could be identified automatically. In this research, Smart Insole, an insole shaped wearable system for gait analysis, was applied to measure gait patterns for fall hazard identification. Slips and trips are the focus of this study since they are two main causes of falls in workplaces. Five effective gait features were extracted to train a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model for recognizing slip hazard, trip hazard, and safe floor surfaces. Experiment results showed that fall hazards could be recognized with high accuracy (98.1%).

An Ambient–Physical System to Infer Concentration in Open-Plan Workplace

One of the core challenges in open-plan workspaces is to ensure a good level of concentration for the workers while performing their tasks. Hence, being able to infer concentration levels of workers will allow building designers, managers, and workers to estimate what effect different open-plan layouts will have and to find an optimal one. In this research, we present an ambient-physical system to investigate the concentration inference problem. Specifically, we deploy a series of pervasive sensors to capture various ambient and physical signals related to perceived concentration at work. The practicality of our system has been tested on two large open-plan workplaces with different designs and layouts. The empirical results highlight promising applications of pervasive sensing in occupational concentration inference, which can be adopted to enhance the capabilities of modern workplaces.