Occupational Schemes Research Articles

Analytical performance specifications for trace elements in biological fluids derived from six countries federated external quality assessment schemes over 10 years.

This article defines analytical performance specifications (APS) for evaluating laboratory proficiency through an external quality assessment scheme. Standard deviations for proficiency assessment were derived from Thompson's characteristic function applied to robust data calculated from participants' submissions in the Occupational and Environmental Laboratory Medicine (OELM) external quality assurance scheme for trace elements in serum, whole blood and urine. Characteristic function was based on two parameters: (1) β- the average coefficient of variation (CV) at high sample concentrations; (2) α- the average standard deviation (SD) at low sample concentrations. APSs weredefined as 1.65 standard deviations calculated by Thompson's approach. Comparison between OELM robust data and characteristic function were used to validate the model. Application of the characteristic function allowed calculated APS for 18 elements across three matrices. Some limitations were noted, particularly for elements (1) with no sample concentrations near analytical technique limit of detection; (2) exhibiting high robust CV at high concentration; (3) exhibiting high analytical variability such as whole blood Tl and urine Pb; (4) with an unbalanced number of robust SD above and under the characteristic function such as whole blood Mn and serum Al and Zn. The characteristic function was a useful means of deriving APS for trace elements in biological fluids where biological variation data or outcome studies were not available. However, OELM external quality assurance scheme data suggests that the characteristic functions are not appropriate for all elements.

Irritant asthma and work: cases from the UK SWORD reporting scheme from 1999 to 2018

BackgroundAcute irritant asthma is a preventable health consequence of a workplace exposure and has a number of adverse outcomes. While cases and case series are reported, little is known about...

A cross-sectional study to assess the morbidity pattern among female agricultural workers in the rural area of Central India: a study protocol

Agriculture serves as the primary source of income for a substantial number of agricultural workers, with a significant portion of the Indian population, especially in rural areas, engaged in this occupation. However, the health status of female agricultural workers is often adversely affected by various factors, including working conditions, environmental exposure, and other morbidities. As a result, they are at risk of developing several diseases, such as tuberculosis, diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, muscle pain, joint pain, and pesticide poisoning, which constitute the main occupational health concerns in this sector. Unfortunately, despite the prevalence of these health risks, many female agricultural workers do not prioritize their own health and wellbeing. According to the latest survey data by the National sample survey office (NSSO), around 54% of the Indian workforce is engaged in agriculture, mainly in rural areas. There are no unions for female agricultural workers, and they cannot receive occupational health facilities and social security schemes provided to them. This study aims to understand female agricultural workers and health-seeking behaviours and morbidities. Objectives- This study assesses the morbidity pattern among female agricultural workers and the health-seeking behaviour of female agricultural workers. It also identifies the utilization of social security schemes among female agricultural workers in villages. The study focuses on assessing the morbidities among female agricultural workers aged 18 and above residing in the villages of Wardha district of Maharashtra. For this purpose, A pretested questionnaire covering sociodemographic data, morbidity profile, socioeconomic variables, family, education, and social security measures will be utilized. The study aims to conduct a community-based cross-sectional survey among 131 female agricultural workers from the specified region.

Assessing the impact of technological change on similar occupations: Implications for employment alternatives.

The fast-changing labor market highlights the need for an in-depth understanding of occupational mobility impacted by technological change. However, we lack a multidimensional classification scheme that considers similarities of occupations comprehensively, which prevents us from predicting employment trends and mobility across occupations. This study fills the gap by examining employment trends based on similarities between occupations. We first demonstrated a new method that clusters 756 occupation titles based on knowledge, skills, abilities, education, experience, training, activities, values, and interests. We used the Principal Component Analysis to categorize occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification, which is grouped into a four-level hierarchy. Then, we paired the occupation clusters with the occupational employment projections provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We analyzed how employment would change and what factors affect the employment changes within occupation groups. Particularly, we specified factors related to technological changes. The results reveal that technological change accounts for significant job losses in some clusters. This poses occupational mobility challenges for workers in these jobs at present. Job losses for nearly 60% of current employment will occur in low-skill, low-wage occupational groups. Meanwhile, many mid-skilled and highly skilled jobs are projected to grow in the next ten years. Our results demonstrate the utility of our occupational classification scheme. Furthermore, it suggests a critical need for skills upgrading and workforce development for workers in declining jobs. Special attention should be paid to vulnerable workers, such as older individuals and minorities.

Intergenerational Social Mobility in Lithuania: Different Perspectives of Measurement

Both scholarly analyses and main political documents have not focused enough on research into social mobility in Lithuania. Such a case is partly understandable as the issue of ensuring social mobility has never been a prevailing one on the political agenda. This article seeks to describe different perspectives on measuring social mobility between generations in Lithuania and to present their empirical expressions. Intergenerational mobility is understood as the difference between the socio-economic situation of parents and adult children, i. y. a comparison of the person’s current circumstances with those from which the person originated. Social positions that can be compared are usually based on occupational, income, education or other social class or socio-economic situation schemes. This article is based on European Social Survey data from wave 9 and reviews the intergenerational social mobility of 1970-1984 generation in terms of education, occupations, income and health dimensions.. The results show that occupational and educational mobility increases between generations. There has been a significant decline in the number of people with only a basic education and at the lowest levels of the occupational scale. However, there is a lack of data on intergenerational social mobility in health and income. Therefore, conclusions about this mobility can only be drawn from the work of previous researchers. Intergenerational mobility can also be a tool to achieve greater economic efficiency. Low intergenerational mobility may mean that some individuals are unable to realize their talents due to their low socio-economic status. Therefore, in the light of the findings of the study, it would make sense to consider developing a social mobility strategy.

Structural Change Shapes Career Mobility Opportunities: An Analysis of Cohorts, Gender and Parental Class

Research suggests that structural change drives occupational mobility in high-income countries over time, but two partially competing theories explain how such change occurs. One suggests that younger cohorts replace older ones through higher education, and the second suggests that individuals adapt to structural change by switching from declining to new or growing occupations during their careers. A proposed occupational scheme aligns with the two dimensions of structural change – skill upgrading on the vertical axis of occupational differentiation, increasing demand for data comprehension (i.e. high skill) and primary tasks concerning either people or things on the horizontal axis. Applied to career trajectories in the Swedish labour market, sequence analyses of the scheme suggest stability in attainment of career mobility types over time between consecutive birth cohorts, and considerable evidence for within-career manoeuvring. Analyses address heterogeneity along parental class and gender.

Financial Knowledge and Retirement Planning among Pension Scheme Members in Kenya

The rising cost of living, increasing life expectancy and high levels of old-age poverty in Kenya implies that many older people cannot afford necessities. Therefore, the need for individuals to plan for their future financial needs through planning for their retirement has become crucial. Unfortunately, most people who save for retirement in Kenya save with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), which has a low replacement rate. Therefore, financial knowledge plays an indispensable role in influencing an individual’s retirement savings behavior. This paper seeks to establish the influence of financial knowledge on retirement planning in Kenya. The target population was members of the occupational retirement schemes, NSSF and individual retirement schemes in Kenya. A cross-sectional research design was used and a stratified sampling technique to obtain respondents. Using binary logistic regression and primary data from a sample of 332 randomly selected members of pension schemes in Kenya, the study found that financially knowledgeable individuals are more likely to plan comprehensively for their retirement. The study recommends the formulation of training and educational programs on critical financial concepts linked to retirement planning to spur pension schemes to actively participate in retirement savings. Keywords: financial knowledge, retirement planning, Pension schemes, binary logistic regression. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/12-14-03 Publication date: July 31 st 2021

Comparison of Asbestos Victim Relief Available Outside of Conventional Occupational Compensation Schemes.

The asbestos victim relief schemes were introduced to resolve the issue of victims of asbestos-related diseases not receiving compensation through conventional legal orders. This article seeks to derive the differences and commonalities of various asbestos victim relief schemes available outside of the conventional occupational compensation system along with a systematic understanding and to propose plans for improvement through a comparative study. After the degree of asbestos exposure, the population, and the period of implementation were corrected, the recognized claims of the total of conventional occupational compensation schemes and the asbestos victim relief schemes could be ranked in the order of South Korea (KOR) (1867, total), France (FRA) (1571), Japan (JPN) (966), KOR (847, asbestosis grade 2,3 excluded), the United Kingdom (GBR) (670), and the Netherlands (NLD) (95). The average amount of compensation per person, in the case of mesothelioma, was higher in the order of FRA (4.60 times), KOR (1.46 times), GBR (1.03 times), and NLD (0.73 times) of the median income per year. The differences between countries were largely caused by the purpose of institutional design and influenced by the level of qualification, the existence of an expiration date, type of disease, type of benefit, level of judgment criteria, the existence of a procedure for appeals, and recognition rate (GBR: 102%, FRA: 84%, NLD: 81%, JPN: 76%, KOR: 73%, and BEL: 54%). Based on this analysis, suggestions could be made regarding the expansion of disease types, benefit types, and the overall review of judgment criteria.

Frequent attenders of three outpatient health care schemes in Finland: characteristics and association with long-term sickness absences, 2016\u20132018

ObjectivesFrequent attenders (FAs) impose a significant burden on service capacity and public health funding. Although the characteristics of the group and their risk for sickness absences (SA) have been studied, an understanding of FAs in different health care schemes is lacking. The aim of the study was to investigate FAs and their SA risk in the working-age population in public care, occupational health services (OHS) and private care schemes. The average number of SA days was also examined by diagnostic group.Setting and participantsRegister data on the use of outpatient health care, sickness allowance spells and background characteristics (2015–2018) for 25–64 year old residents of the city of Oulu, Finland, (n = 91,737) were used. Subjects were categorized into non-attenders, non-frequent attenders and FAs (top decile of attenders) both for all outpatient health care and specifically for each care scheme in 2016. The number of sickness absence days was measured yearly in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The data were analyzed with descriptive methods and negative binomial regression models.ResultsFAs consumed 31 to 44% of all visits depending on scheme in 2016. Frequent attendance was common among low socioeconomic groups in the public scheme, among lower non-manual employees and manual workers in OHS, and among entrepreneurs in the private scheme. FAs had a higher average number of SA days than others in each scheme, although group differences decreased from 2016 to 2017 and 2018. In public care, the adjusted effect of frequent attendance was strong especially for SA due to mental disorders (adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRR] for FAs 13.40), and in OHS for SA due to musculoskeletal disorders (adjusted IRR for FAs 8.68).ConclusionIn each outpatient health care scheme, frequent attenders pose a great challenge both by consuming services and through their increased risk of disability. FAs in different schemes have partially different characteristics and risks. Common patient registers covering various service schemes would enable an identification of FAs visiting multiple schemes and services. Better coordinated services are needed for public care FAs in particular.

Collective agreements against labor market risks in Sweden: the case of the PTK-SAF employment security agreement

ABSTRACT Occupational welfare as an alternative to public welfare for the protection against social risks has lately attracted increased attention. However, there is no clear agreement on the causes behind the emergence and expansion of occupational welfare schemes in modern welfare states. This article contributes to this subject through a study of one specific form of occupational welfare in Sweden, called Employment Security or Transition Agreements, and the agreements between the bargaining cartel for white-collar employees PTK and the Confederation of private-sector employers SAF/SN from the 1970s until the present time. Based on archival material and articles, the article finds that the protection provided through the agreement expanded during the 1970s and 1980s but has since been reduced, even though the unions finding such solutions more important than ever. Despite the relative strength of Swedish unions, they are not able to sufficiently address increased labor market risks brought about by welfare state retrenchment and structural change.

Occupation and risk of severe COVID-19: prospective cohort study of 120 075 UK Biobank participants

ObjectivesTo investigate severe COVID-19 risk by occupational group.MethodsBaseline UK Biobank data (2006–10) for England were linked to SARS-CoV-2 test results from Public Health England (16 March to 26 July 2020)....

THE SOCIAL PROTECTION RIGHTS FROM PRE & POST-PLACEMENT WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS PERPECTIVE

Migrant workers’ social protection rights include the rights to access healthcare services, medication, social services, and social security. Social security branch applicable for migrant workers are for instance social insurance, universal coverage, provident funds, individual private accounts, employer-liability schemes, and social assistance. Indramayu as the highest migrant workers sender district until April 2019, is also a district with the highest complaint in 2018 and several cases related to social protection. With 148 total cases reported from Indramayu leads to the question of whether women migrant workers from Indramayu understand social protection and its function to protect them and prevent them from poverty. Therefore, this study aims at providing an overview pertaining social protection rights to migrant workers based on the perspective of pre and post-placement women migrant workers from Indramayu District with Hongkong, China as the host country. This is historical-comparative qualitative study with purposive sampling to 10 pre and post-placement women migrant workers. The findings demonstrated that social security obtained by the women migrant workers from Indramayu is social insurance from the home country and healthcare insurance for workers from the host country. At the host country, women migrant workers are protected with healthcare insurance from the employer while at the home country, women migrant workers are protected with social insurance for migrant workers known as BPJS Ketenagakerjaan TKI, whose occupational injury and death insurance schemes are mandatory for all migrant workers. For women migrant workers, healthcare insurance in the host country is much more crucial than BPJS for TKI. It is expected from the findings of this study could be considered by the stakeholders of migrant workers to enhance and to extend the coverage of protection for migrant workers especially woman migrant workers.

Precariousness on the Swedish labour market: A theoretical and empirical account

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to investigate emerging areas of precarious employment in Sweden. Based on the literature on dimensions of precariousness and neoliberalism, this article will begin with an analysis of the transitioning Swedish welfare state and the contextual environment of precarious employment in Sweden. This will serve as a point of departure for the development of an occupational classification scheme including measures of income and employment security. In an empirical analysis, the occupational classification will be applied to a population-based register material including two birth cohorts of employed Swedish residents aged 28–33, with a registered income. The development of income and employment security will be described and discussed. By applying this newly developed measure of precarious employment, this article will provide a platform for future theoretical and empirical research on precarious employment in a transitioning welfare state.

Socioeconomic differences in use of public, occupational and private health care: A register-linkage study of a working-age population in Finland.

There is little knowledge on socioeconomic differences in use of health care organized by different care schemes and on exclusive and concurrent use of health care at different schemes in different socioeconomic groups. In Finland, public, occupational and private schemes offer parallel outpatient primary health care services. Each scheme mainly reaches different population groups because of differences in availability, costs and gatekeeping. This study aimed to analyse how the probability of using health care organized by the three schemes differed by socioeconomic status in a working-age population. Individual-level register-based data on use of public, occupational and private outpatient primary health care during 2013 as well as data on sociodemographic covariates were linked for the total population aged 25–64 of the city of Oulu, Finland. Data were analysed with descriptive methods and multinomial logistic regression models. Those in the study population most often used only occupational care or only public care, or did not use any of the studied health care schemes at all. The lower the socioeconomic status, the higher was the probability of not using care or using only public care. The higher the socioeconomic status, the higher was the probability of using occupational care–either only occupational care or occupational care in combination with private care. Education, occupational class and income were all associated with care use also when adjusted for sociodemographic covariates and chronic disease, but income proved to be the strongest predictor of the three. The results reflect the design of the Finnish health care system, with a strong occupational health care scheme for the employed population contributing to inequality in use of health care and potentially to health inequality between socioeconomic groups.

Sentinel approach to detect emerging causes of work-related respiratory diseases.

The world of work is continually changing, and this could result in new and emerging risks being introduced, including those that may cause work-related respiratory diseases (WRRD). To describe recently emerging and new cases of WRRD and the relevant methodology using data in a national occupational respiratory disease surveillance scheme in the UK. Incident cases of respiratory diseases reported by physicians to the Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Disease (SWORD) between January 2015 and December 2017 were included. Potentially emerging respiratory hazards manifesting in SWORD data were identified with the following hierarchical approach: (i) new respiratory disease not previously associated with work, (ii) specific exposure/agent not previously associated with WRRD and (iii) industry and/or occupation not previously associated with WRRD. A total of 1215 cases of WRRD were reported to SWORD between January 2015 and December 2017. No new WRRD were identified. Thirteen potentially emerging causes of occupational asthma were identified, including exposures to agents such as ninhydrin. Four potential new causes were identified for interstitial pneumonia, which included wood and brass dust. Two potentially emerging causes of WRRD were identified for inhalational accidents (green coffee and nitrocellulose), hypersensitivity pneumonitis (diphenylmethane diisocyanate and salami mould), rhinitis (morphine and Amaranthus quitensis) and sarcoidosis (prions and horses). Continuous monitoring and reporting of any new work-related disease is a critical function of any occupational disease reporting scheme. Potential emerging causes of work-related health risks have been identified by using a simple and systematic way of detecting emerging causes of WRRDs.

Topic modeling to mind illegal compensation for occupational injuries

Abstract Background Accurate reports of occupational injuries are important to monitor workplace safety and health initiatives. In South Korea, media reports, experts, and workers have been constantly raising the issue of underreporting. Supposedly it is because employers have strong market “incentives” by underreporting their employees’ injuries. A critical way to underreport or cover-up is illegal compensation (in Korean called “gong-sang”). Unfortunately, “gong-sang” is not counted as official occupational injury statistics. The aim of this study was to analyze the social media data using topic modeling and to explore issues surrounding “gong-sang”. Methods We used web scraping technology and collected 2,210 social media data from Web search engines. Data was processed to transform unstructured textual documents into structured data using the Python and applied Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) in the Python library, Gensim, for topic modeling. Results Based on the LDA method from “gong-sang”- related documentation, 10 topics were identified. Topic 1 was the greatest concern (60.5%), with keywords implying the choice between illegal compensation (“gong-sang”) and legal insurance claims. The next concern was Topic 2 including keywords associated with claims for industrial accident insurance benefits. The rest topics (topic 3-10) showed the monetary issue, precarious employment, and vulnerable body parts to “gong-sang”. Conclusions We explored web-based data and identified the salient issues surrounding “gong-sang”. LDA topics may be helpful to ensure efficient occupational health and safety scheme to protect vulnerable employees from “gong-sang” practices. Key messages The topics formulated by LDA included queries about legal insurance claims. Legal insurance claims including private or social insurance, monetary compensation, injured body parts, and the type of jobs vulnerable to “gong-sang”.

External quality assessment schemes for inorganic elements in the clinical laboratory: Lessons from the OELM scheme

Measurements of inorganic elements in clinical laboratories produce results used for the diagnosis, the treatment and the monitoring of deficiencies or overloads. The main objective of External Quality Assessment Schemes is to verify, on a regular frequency, that clinical laboratory results correspond to the quality requirement for patient care. Therefore, External Quality Assessment Schemes represent an essential component of a laboratory’s quality management system. However, External Quality Assessment Schemes within the same analytical field remain heterogeneous for different reasons such as samples, determination of assigned value, acceptable limits, content of the reports. The aim of this review was to describe and illustrate some major critical aspects of External Quality Assessment Schemes based on Occupational and Environmental Laboratory Medicine external quality assessment scheme experience.

The UK pensions landscape – A critique of the role of accountants and accounting technologies in the treatment of social and societal risks

The well-being of older people in society depends in part on their having sufficient financial resources to provide for their everyday needs, and to enable them to maintain their health and relationships. Pensions are therefore directly implicated in the well-being of older members of the population and hence are a potential source of significant social and societal risks. This paper critiques the role of accountants and accounting technologies in the treatment of the social and societal risks inherent in the UK occupational pensions’ landscape in relation to four characteristics of pensions’ security, namely that pensions should be predictable, stable, long-lasting and comprehensive. The UK pensions’ landscape has undergone rapid and fundamental change in recent years. A range of examples drawn from state, public and private sector occupational schemes are discussed. Across all sectors, while some people have gained, others have lost valuable pension benefits. In occupational schemes, employer costs have been reduced and pension liabilities have been de-risked, usually involving risk sharing with employees or risk shifting towards employees. The role played by accountants and other business advisers in quantifying, analysing and mitigating this work is critiqued. The rhetoric of de-risking, security and enablement inherent in the various pension changes, where the reality is often different, is examined and implications for social and societal risk explored.

The patterns of the numbers used in occupational fraud schemes

PurposeThis study aims to classify the numbers used in recent financial statement, corruption and asset misappropriation fraud schemes in such a way that these classes can be used to design effective proactive analytics-based fraud detection tests.Design/methodology/approachThe data sources for the classification scheme include the court records of fraud prosecutions, investigative reports and research papers related to fraud cases.FindingsFraudulent numbers are most often amounts that are round, have a strong period-over-period growth, are just above or below internal control thresholds or other targets, are deviations from Benford’s Law, are purposeful duplicates of authentic transactions, are outliers due to being excessively large and are excessively rounded up or down. The study includes several examples of fraudulent numbers.Research limitations/implicationsThe fraudulent number types are based on a sample of fraud-related court documents, and the sample might not be representative of the population of detected and undetected frauds. Further research is needed into the detection of corruption/bribery schemes.Practical implicationsThe results are important for auditors and forensic accountants running proactive fraud detection tests. The discussions emphasize that the analysis should include refining and rerunning the tests, and then using groupings and filtering to deal with false positives. The importance of an effective audit of the notable transactions is stressed in the concluding section.Originality/valueThe study is an original in-depth coverage of the patterns found in fraudulent numbers. The discussion sections review implementation issues and considerations for future research.

The political economy of pension financialisation: public policy responses to the crisis

ABSTRACTFinancialisation has become a key feature of post-industrial economies. This special issue sheds light on pre-funded private pensions as one key component of financialisation, as they turn savings into investment via financial services providers. Public pension systems face financial pressures, resulting from ageing and rising public debt, while financial services are keen to move into the market of private pension provision. Pre-funded private pensions are shaped by regulatory policies that create and correct markets. The financial crisis has triggered policy responses including shifts in investment strategies and also a re-assessment of the role of pre-funded private pensions as a complementary, rather than a superior, source of old-age income. Policymakers’ growing awareness of the benefits of collective occupational schemes administered by the social partners may pave the way for a greater role for collective schemes.