Occupational Health Practice Research Articles

Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Workplace Safety Practices of Panel Beaters

Background: Human resources and their safety are central to occupational health practices. Understanding the sociodemographic characteristics and safety practices of workers helps in workplace interventions. This study aimed at comparing the sociodemographic characteristics and safety practices among roadside and organized panel beaters in Enugu metropolis, Enugu State, Nigeria. Methodology: This was a comparative cross-sectional study. A multistage sampling method was used to select 428 panel beaters in Enugu metropolis. A semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 20. Comparative analysis was done using Chi-square and the level of significance was set at 5%. Results: The mean ages (standard deviation) were 31.1 ± 10.3 years and 37.9 ± 12.1 years for roadside and organized panel beaters, respectively. The majority of respondents, (70.6%) and (56.5%), from the roadside and organized sectors, respectively, had secondary education. About 59.8% of the roadside panel beaters were single compared to about two-thirds (63.1%) of organized panel beaters who were married. More than two-thirds (72.9%) of roadside workers earn more than N 35,000 monthly, while half of the organized workers earn more than N 35,000. The differences in sociodemographic characteristics and monthly income were statistically significant. Environmental sanitation was the most common safety and hygiene practices engaged by respondents. Very few respondents, more among the organized sector, noted that their workplaces were monitored or checked. The use of personal protective equipment was found to be generally deficient, in addition to poor health and safety training. Conclusion: There was a statistically significant difference in the sociodemographic characteristics between the roadside and organized sectors panel beaters with poor safety practices. Routine and improved health education and safety training on basic preventive measures would be necessary to prevent occupational hazards in the workplace.

Evaluation of occupational safety and health at construction site in state of Perlis

This current study evaluates occupational safety and health (OSH) practices for 35 medium-and high-grade contractors in the state of Perlis by using structured questionnaires and interviews. Among the 70% of valid participants, majority (Scale Interval Index = 4.16) agreed that “failure to comply with OSH Act” is the main challenge to safety. They strongly believed that complying with OSH standards is beneficial to “the elimination of injury and death” and that “providing the necessary safety gears” at the construction site is among the effective methods to promote efficient OSH among the workers. Companies with adequate OSH management systems have a better record in terms of safety and performance than those that do not have such systems.

COVID-19 as a Recognized Work-Related Disease: The Current Situation Worldwide.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is a newly emerging infectious disease worldwide, can be categorized as an occupational disease, because employees, particularly in the healthcare system, can be infected at the workplace. As of December 15, 2020, we summarized the occupational safety and health practices in selected countries on the recognition of COVID-19 as one of the occupational risks. The situation has differed among countries, including the recognition status and whether a specific regulation existed. International organizations, namely the International Labour Organization, World Health Organization, and European Union, should plan and conduct studies on the work-relatedness of COVID-19, propose criteria for recognition, and add the infection to the occupational disease list to provide a basis for specific country regulations. Stakeholders should also act to adjust country-level legislation.

Competencies required for occupational health professionals in disaster management based on their personal experiences of workplaces damaged by the Kumamoto earthquakes

This study aimed to clarify the competencies required for occupational health professionals in disaster management based on their personal experiences of workplaces damaged by the Kumamoto earthquakes. This study adopted a qualitative descriptive design using semi-structured interviews. The study participants included eight occupational health professionals who had been engaged in occupational health practice at workplaces affected by the Kumamoto earthquakes and subsequently employed at the same workplace. Data analyses were performed using a qualitative data analysis method. The researcher read transcripts of the interviews verbatim and extracted subcategories and categories, seeking points of commonality among homogeneous and heterogeneous elements while identifying content related to the competencies of the professionals during a disaster. Nine categories and 29 subcategories were extracted. The following competencies were identified as skills required for occupational health professionals when a disaster occurred: "perceiving the essentials of the situation through a comprehensive understanding of the health impacts caused by disasters," "prioritizing tasks while appropriately understanding a situation that is changing over time," "starting from what one can do while ensuring one's own health and safety," "continuing occupational health practice by devising efficient approaches while flexibly responding to the situation," "creating an environment that enables each occupational health team member to fulfill their role," and "adjusting the positions of occupational health departments within organizations to utilize networks." The following competencies were identified as skills required for occupational health professionals' disaster response and preparedness: "having the essential personal qualities of occupational health professionals," "establishing relationships of trust with employees and companies," and "linking one's experience of a disaster to future occupational health practice." The competencies required for occupational health professionals in disaster management are disaster response and preparedness. Moreover, these aspects in disaster response and preparedness suggest that occupational health professionals are required to have strategic and creative thinking skills including organizational approaches such as boosting networking in the workplace and establishing employer-employee relationships based on multifaceted assessment and situational flexibility.

Assessment of occupational health and safety practices at government mortuaries in Gauteng Province: a cross-sectional study.

Introductionhospital mortuaries are responsible for the receipt and storage of deceased people. This exposes mortuary workers to a variety of health and safety hazards, which include physical, chemical, ergonomics, biological and psychosocial hazards/stressors. The aim of this study was to assess occupational health and safety practices (OHS) among government mortuary workers in Gauteng province.Methodsa cross-sectional descriptive study design was conducted between the year 2017 and 2018. A convenient sampling technique was used to sample 11 government hospitals in Gauteng Province. A total of 46 employees participated in the study. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and observational checklists. Ethical clearance and permission to conduct the study were obtained prior to the commencement of the study. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 25 software.Resultsthirty-one (67%) of the respondents did not know the concept of hazard. Observations indicated that 5 out of 11 (45%) facilities were well maintained with only 2 (18%) of the facilities had the participants wearing the required PPE on duty. There was no association between working experience and having a knowledge of the existing hazards. However, there was a high correlation (P<0.05) between training and adherence to safe practices.Conclusionthe OHS practices were poor amongst operational employees. The study highlights the significance of developing and implementing Occupational Health and Safety programmes. We recommend that these programmes should focus on occupational health and safety education, training, supervision, medical surveillance and monitoring strategies must be developed and implemented.

Securing compliance: some lessons for EU strategy on occupational health and safety

This paper discusses fi review of recent literature on support for securing compliance and better practice in occupational safety and health (OSH) in the changing world of work in advanced market economies. It explores innovative responses of regulators and private actors to the challenges created by these changes, as well as considering their impact on further forms of support for good practice, such as provided by prevention services and OSH professionals. Although the review is based on a wide-ranging search of the literature in English, its discussion is focused on implications for prevention policies in the European Union. In particular, it considers the extent to which the literature suggests that the current strategic framework for supporting compliance — via EU policies over the past two decades, with a new Strategic Framework anticipated in 2021 — can be said to address these challenges effectively. Not surprisingly, it finds that the literature reveals some gaps between the policy rhetoric and the practice at both EU and Member State levels.

Psychometric properties of burnout measures: a systematic review

Occupational Burnout (OB) is currently measured through several Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and some of them have become widely used in occupational health research and practice. We, therefore, aimed to review and grade the psychometric validity of the five OB PROMs considered as valid for OB measure in mental health professionals (the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Pines' Burnout Measure (BM), the Psychologist Burnout Inventory (PBI), the OLdenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI)). We conducted systematic literature searches in MEDLINE, PsycINFO and EMBASE databases. We reviewed studies published between January 1980 and September 2018 following a methodological framework, in which each step of PROM validation, the reference method, analytical technics and result interpretation criteria were assessed. Using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments we evaluated the risk of bias in studies assessing content and criterion validity, structural validity, internal consistency, reliability, measurement error, hypotheses testing and responsiveness of each PROM. Finally, we assessed the level of evidence for the validity of each PROM using the GRADE approach. We identified 6541 studies, 19 of which were included for review. Fifteen studies dealt with MBI whereas BM, PBI, OLBI and CBI were each examined in only one study. OLBI had the most complete validation, followed by CBI, MBI, BM and PBI, respectively. When examining the result interpretation correctness, the strongest disagreement was observed for MBI (27% of results), BM (25%) and CBI (17%). There was no disagreement regarding PBI and OLBI. For OLBI and CBI, the quality of evidence for sufficient content validity, the crucial psychometric property, was moderate; for MBI, BM and PBI, it was very low. To be validly and reliably used in medical research and practice, PROM should exhibit robust psychometric properties. Among the five PROMs reviewed, CBI and, to a lesser extent, OLBI meet this prerequisite. The cross-cultural validity of these PROMs was beyond the scope of our work and should be addressed in the future. Moreover, the development of a diagnostic standard for OB would be helpful to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the PROMs and further reexamine their validity.The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD 42019124621).

Occupational Health and Safety Practices in Cape Coast Metropolis

Abstract The rate of construction accidents in the Ghanaian construction industry is not encouraging. The study sought to identify the factors affecting the effective health and safety practices in the construction industry within the Cape Coast Metropolis. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the construction firms and ‘Yamane formula’ to arrive at the number of respondents (44) for the study. Structured questionnaires were distributed among site engineers, site supervisors, safety officers, quantity surveyors, foremen, chief masons and chief carpenters. Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the data analysis and results were presented in a form of descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings show that the level of health and safety practices within the Metropolis was high and the factors that affected the implementation of health and safety programmes were severe among the firms. Few of the company’s health and safety programmes were effective and this calls for the strengthenig of the construction sector policy by the ministries responsible for implementation.

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Practices and Its Influenced Factor - Review OSH in Malaysia

High occupational accident in Malaysia as reported by Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia shows the urgently applied a occupational safety and health (OSH) practices in workplaces. This study purposed to review the OSH practices in Malaysia and its influence factor. The factor of that influence to accident cases, good OSH practice and OSH system and framework as well as agencies that has authority with OSH was briefly explained. Factor that influence the accident was consists of stress and fatigue, unsafe act, machinery/tools, design of workplace and training procedure, factor that influenced to achieve good OSH practices was consists of training, safe work procedure, consultation, reporting safety, management commitment and injury management, several OSH agencies that has been developed in Malaysia such as NIOS, NCOSH, DOSH and SOCSO as program in the institution. Institution contribute an important factor due to in institution teach a fundamental of OSH that may applied in the workplaces.

O que significa “Mão Diabética” e qual o papel da Saúde Ocupacional?

Introduction / background / objective As the workforce ages and rates of metabolic diseases increase, it is likely that more cases of “diabetic hand” manifestations will appear in Occupational Health services. While some health professionals know how to quickly track the “diabetic foot”, the “diabetic hand” is often undervalued, diagnosed in isolation, without recognition or association with the high prevalence of metabolic syndrome, especially in the Western world. These manifestations have an impact on functionality, and inevitably affect work performance, and should be subject to screening, monitoring and intervention by occupational health teams, in order to enhance the function and minimize the negative impacts that they cause both individually and collectively. Thus, the main objective of this work is to elaborate a review on the concept of “diabetic hand” and what is the implication that it can have in the worker’s health and Occupational Health practice. Methodology It is a Scoping Review, initiated through a search in the PUBMED (Medline), EBSCO (Cinahl; Medline; Cochrane; Library Information Science &amp; Technology Abstracts; Nursing Allied Health Collection; MedicLatina) and RCAAP databases, conducted in the months of July and August of 2020, covering all articles (in Portuguese and English languages), with no limit of time, that could explain the concept of diabetic hand. The search words used were: “diabetic hand” ou “cheiroarthropathy”. Results Several conditions have been linked to the concept of diabetic hand, namely cheiroarthropathy (limited joint mobility and stiffness), Dupuytren’s contracture, trigger finger (flexor stenosing tenosynovitis), and carpal tunnel syndrome. Conclusions These manifestations share mechanisms with the classic complications of diabetes, and the recognition that microvascular changes occur concomitantly may provide insights for early screening of metabolic biomarkers. Acknowledging so can contribute to reduce disability (delay hand and fist related manifestations’ progression), and also to reduce future morbidity of workers (minimizing the risks of metabolic diseases), helping to maintain a more capable and productive workforce, where corrective measures and early treatments can be implemented. The diabetic hand may be a concept of interest, then can be further addressed soon, as the complications of metabolic syndrome (and associated comorbidities) increase worldwide.

직업계고등학교에서 근무하는 전문교과 교사의 산업안전보건에 대한 지식･태도･실천

직업계고등학교에서 근무하는 전문교과 교사의 산업안전보건에 대한 지식･태도･실천

New and Emerging Risk Factors in Occupational Health

Workplace health and safety is constantly evolving both in developed and developing countries. Under the tumultuous development of technology, working environments are changing, leading to the onset of new occupational hazards and unprecedented risk conditions deriving from the new ways of organizing work. At the same time, progress in medical science, with the knowledge in the fields of genetics, metabolomics, big data, and smart technologies, makes it possible to promptly identify and treat risk conditions that would have escaped notice in the past. Personalized occupational medicine represents the frontier of prevention in the workplace, from the perspective of total worker health and the sustainability of resources. The contributions to this Special Issue range from chemical, physical, and biological to psychosocial risks, and from the search for new ways to control long-known risks, such as mercury toxicity, to observations of the most frequent pathologies in the workplace in the last twenty years, such as repetitive trauma diseases, immunodeficiency transmitted as a result of biological injuries, and violence and psychological trauma in the workplace. New insights are needed in occupational health and safety practice to address the new challenges in this field.

Knowledge of occupational health hazards and practice of personal protective equipment among fabrication workers in Kathmandu district, Nepal

Background: Fabrication work is one of the hazardous occupations in which workers are exposed to different occupational hazards and injuries. But the workers lack proper knowledge about protecting themselves from those hazards. This study was conducted, to assess knowledge about occupational health hazards among fabrication workers and to find out the practice of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in fabrication works.&#x0D; Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 394 fabricator workers of Kathmandu District by using a multi-stage sampling technique. Participants were interviewed with a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire.&#x0D; Results: All the participants were male, and their age ranged from 19-60 years with the mean age of 32.3 years. 71.3% of participants had work-related health complains, among which arc eye (85.76%) was the most common. Among them, 87.1% had at least used one PPE. There was a significant association between awareness about occupational hazards and work experience of fabrication workers (p=0.001), and the practice of PPE with religion (p&lt;0.01).&#x0D; Conclusions: This study found that fabrication workers were aware of occupational hazards and the use of PPE during the fabrication work. But the practice of PPE was not enough to protect them from the occupational hazards.

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and asymptomatic viral carriage in healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo determine the rates of asymptomatic viral carriage and seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in healthcare workers.DesignA cross-sectional study of asymptomatic healthcare workers undertaken on 24/25 April 2020.SettingUniversity Hospitals Birmingham NHS...

Results from a pre-post, uncontrolled pilot study of a mindfulness-based program for early elementary school teachers

BackgroundMindfulness-based programs are a novel and promising approach for supporting teachers’ occupational health and well-being. Although rationales for mindfulness programs for teachers have been offered, the empirical research base evaluating approaches for educating teachers in mindfulness is still developing. This study reports the findings of a pilot study of a mindfulness-based program. This study is unique in that it is one of the only studies of the Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance (MBEB) program to focus on early elementary teachers, to be implemented by a new instructor, and to recruit teachers via extrinsic motivators.MethodsA pre-post, uncontrolled pilot study of a 27.5-h mindfulness-based program for teachers was conducted with 21 pre-kindergarten–third-grade teachers from the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Program acceptability was assessed based on attendance and teacher reports of program benefits. Effect sizes for within-person changes (from pre- to post-program) in teachers’ skills and mindsets, well-being, occupational health, and teaching practices were calculated. Teachers also suggested improvements to the program.ResultsWith regard to program attendance and acceptability, teachers attended 87% of sessions, with 58% of teachers reporting a personal benefit and 58% of teachers reporting a professional benefit of the program. Effect sizes for changes in teachers’ skills and mindsets ranged from small to large, |d| = 0.30 to 0.83, and ranged from small to medium for changes in teachers’ well-being |d| = 0.07 to 0.48, occupational health |d| = 0.14 to 0.39, and teaching practices |d| = 0.15 to 0.48. Teachers suggested shortening the program and linking it more closely to their work in the classroom.ConclusionsThis study suggests that the MBEB program may be beneficial to early elementary teachers, even when implemented by someone other than the program developer, and when provided with extrinsic motivation to participate (more closely mapping to a larger-scale trial of the program). Teachers’ suggestions regarding program length and structure are considered, along with useful avenues for future research on mindfulness-based programs for teachers.

What are psychosocial risk factors for entrepreneurs to become unfit for work? A qualitative exploration.

BACKGROUND:Entrepreneurs may have to deal with different psychosocial risk factors than employees. Understanding relevant psychosocial risk factors for entrepreneurs is important for occupational health practice to develop effective measures to prevent work disability. This knowledge will be used to adjust the Work and Wellbeing Inventory an existing screening tool for employees.OBJECTIVE:The aim was to explore psychosocial risk factors and relevant personality traits to adjust and further develop the Work and Wellbeing Inventory to predict work disability for entrepreneurs.METHODS:In a qualitative explorative study, we interviewed 17 entrepreneurs varying in type of business and demographic background. By semi-structured face-to-face interviews, we explored their experiences with psychosocial risk factors related to entrepreneurship. Transcripts were analyzed by qualitatively coding procedures and constant comparative methods.RESULTS:According to these entrepreneurs financial insecurity, conflict of interest, large responsibility, high number of working hours, managing tasks, and administrative burden were the major themes they had to deal with. Relevant personality traits for successful entrepreneurship were stress resistance, being all round, flexible, a good communicator, good leadership, and being able to set limits.CONCLUSIONS:The results of this study are relevant for occupational health practice focusing on the wellbeing of entrepreneurs, and will be used to adjust items in the Work and Wellbeing Inventory.

Health and motivation as mediators of the effects of job demands, job control, job support, and role conflicts at work and home on sickness presenteeism and absenteeism

PurposeThe first objective was to contribute to a better understanding of the contrasting and paradoxical results in studies of work environment factors and sickness presence and sickness absence. A second objective was to examine if, and under what conditions, employees choose to replace sickness absence with sickness presence, i.e., so-called substitution.MethodsThe study utilizes a large body of cross-sectional questionnaire data (n = 130,161) gathered in Sweden from 2002 to 2007 in connection with a comprehensive health promotion initiative. Health and motivation were analyzed as mediators of the effects of five job factors, job control, job support, job demand, role conflict and “work to family conflict” on sickness presence and absence.ResultsThe results concerning job demands indicate substitution in that increased job demands are associated with increased presenteeism and reduced absenteeism. The direct effect of higher job support was increased absenteeism, but via the health and motivation paths, the total effect of more social support was health-promoting and associated with a reduction in sickness absence and sickness presence. High job control emerged as the most pronounced health-promoting factor, reducing sickness presenteeism as well as absenteeism. More role conflicts and work-to-family conflicts were directly and indirectly associated with decreased health and increased absenteeism as well as presenteeism. earlier research.ConclusionThe mediation analyzes shed light on some of the paradoxes in research on sickness presenteeism and sickness absenteeism, especially regarding job demands and job support. The substitution effect is important for workplace policy and occupational health practice.

Тelemedicine technologies in occupational health and pathology

Introduction. The article provides legal, organizational, and medical reasons for the feasibility of introducing telemedicine technologies into the practice of occupational health and professional pathology to increase the effectiveness of preventive measures to preserve the health of the working population. Material and methods. Analytical review of data of domestic and foreign literature on modern telemedicine technologies. The aim of the study was to analyze the main directions of development and modern achievements of telemedicine to determine the possibilities for using this type of digital technology in improving the working conditions of workers and preventing professional pathology. Results. The analysis showed that to optimize the search for managerial solutions aimed at preserving the health of the working population of Russia through the large-scale use of telemedicine and information technologies, it seemed necessary: the creation and integration into a single network of telemedicine centers based on professional pathology centers in most constituent entities of the Russian Federation with the head scientific institution - the Center for Occupational Pathology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for operational coordination of activities; integrate research institutes and higher educational institutions specialized in the field of Occupational Health medicine in major medical centers. Telemedicine technologies make it possible to optimize information interaction and discussion of materials when preparing new regulatory and legal documents with the participation of the main stakeholders: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labor, Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, the Social Insurance Fund, industry unions, etc.; ensure the participation of highly qualified narrow specialists in medical commissions when making expert decisions. Conclusion. Mechanisms for improving the effectiveness of preventive work in Occupational Health using telemedicine technologies will be due to an increase in the quality of medical examinations of workers, an increase in personnel skills, an increase in information security and the speed of expert and managerial decisions, and economic feasibility.

Occupational Health and Safety Practices at workplace during COVID-19 Pandemic

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) a highly contagious viral respiratory disease has been declared as pandemic due to its global spread across most countries. Social isolation (i.e. physical distancing) and strict embracement of personal hygiene are few demonstrated preventive methods of COVID-19 transmission. All countries, based on the recommendations of World Health Organization (WHO), have adopted lockdown strategy (promoting physical distancing) to prevent COVID-19 transmission in the community including workplaces. In the interest of economic sustenance, many countries have partially relaxed the lockdown policies, to resume selective functioning of factories / organizations / institutes / workplaces. However, in the absence of appropriate occupational health and safety policies, workplaces are a potential threat for COVID-19 transmission &amp; outbreak. The following document reviews the conventional hierarchy of occupational safety and health control measures (i.e. engineering controls, administrative controls and PPE), necessary to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks at workplace, based on the current scientific evidences on COVID-19.

HİTİT ÜNİVERSİTESİ MESLEK YÜKSEKOKULLARINDAKİ PROGRAMLAR ARASINDA İŞ SAĞLIĞI VE GÜVENLİĞİ FARKINDALIK DÜZEYİNİN İNCELENMESİ

Hitit University, Osmancik Omer Derindere Vocational School, Vocational School of Technical Sciences and Vocational School of Technical Sciences Vocational School of Vocational Education and Health Awareness level study was conducted to associate degree students. A questionnaire consisting of twenty questions was applied to the students. at the end of the study, “Cronbach Alpha (α) value was calculated as 0.877, which indicates that the research is reliable. according to the study, it was observed that men's occupational health and safety awareness was higher than women. according to departments, students of Department of Property Protection and Security and Fashion Design Department have high awareness. The way of minimizing work accidents and occupational diseases, continuation of production in the sector and ensuring the safety of employees is to train individuals with OHS Consciousness and OHS Culture. These results will enable students to improve their OHS awareness level and continue their education, conferences and activities and learn about Occupational Health and Safety legislation and practices better.