Occupational Health Protection Research Articles

Proportions distribution of pneumoconiosis stages in China: a study based on a meta-analysis and field investigation

Occupational pneumoconiosis is the most serious work-related disease in China. In this paper, pneumoconiosis stages distribution was obtained to study the stages severity of occupational pneumoconiosis patients in China. A meta-analysis was conducted among screening the published literature on the pneumoconiosis epidemiology in China by Stata 15.0. Moreover, a field survey was conducted on 510 migrant workers suffering from pneumoconiosis in four provinces of China, and the results were analyzed by simple linear analysis and ordinal logistic regression analysis. The stage I, II and III pneumoconiosis accounted for 0.71, 0.21, 0.08, respectively, by the results of meta-analysis. The publication bias of these articles is not obvious based on the Egger’s test and funnel plots. There was no significant linear correlation between the distribution of pneumoconiosis stages and the economic status and medical conditions in this study. Migrant workers pneumoconiosis stage I, II and III accounted for 0.14, 0.2, 0.66 respectively, which was significantly correlated with length of work and provinces. In China, migrant workers lack effective occupational health protection so that they have higher occupational health risks than urban workers. Therefore, occupational health protection for migrant workers in the occupational health management system needs to be strengthened.

A survey of cervical and lumbar spine diseases of express delivery employees

Objective: To understand the current situation and influencing factors of cervical and lumbar spine diseases of the express delivery employees, and provide scientific basis for carrying out their occupational health protection in a targeted manner. Methods: From February 2020 to January 2021, the current situation research method was used to obtain 527 express delivery employees by cluster sampling. Online questionnaires were used to investigate sociodemographic characteristics and emotional characteristics, and clinical data were obtained by digital X-ray (DR) examination of the neck and waist. Pearson χ(2) test and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the influencing factors of cervical and lumbar spine diseases in express delivery employees. Results: The prevalence rates of cervical spine and lumbar spine diseases among express delivery employees were 49.15% (259/527) and 67.74% (357/527) , respectively. Univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the distribution of cervical and lumbar spine disease among express delivery employees with different ages, length of service, working hours per week, and different degrees of distress due to emotional factors (P<0.05) . Multivariate analysis showed that express delivery employees aged ≥25 years old had a higher risk of cervical spine disease (P<0.05) , the express delivery employees who worked 49-55 hours per week had a lower risk of cervical spine disease (P<0.05) . Express delivery employees aged≥35 years old had a lower risk of lumbar spine disease (P<0.05) , and the risk of lumbar spine disease was higher among express delivery workers who suffered moderate or more distress due to emotional factors (such as anxiety, depression, or irritability) in the past 4 weeks (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The prevalence of cervical and lumbar spine diseases is relatively high among express delivery employees. It is recommended to adjust the weekly working hours of express delivery employees, organize psychological counseling training, and effectively protect the occupational health rights of express delivery employees.

ANALYSIS OF LIVER FUNCTION DISORDERS IN CRUMB RUBBER FACTORY WORKERS IN PALEMBANG CITY, SOUTH SUMATRA

Workers are required to receive Occupational Safety and Health protection. Work accidents can be influenced by physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic and psychological factors. Natural rubber factory is one of the industries that have risks to these factors. This study used a cross-sectional design. Data analysis used the CHAID (Chi-Square Automatic Interaction) method. P value &lt; 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results of the study showed that the average concentration of H2S in the air and in solids was above the quality standard and the average concentration of H2S in water was still below the quality standard. The average concentration of NH3 in water and in solids is above the quality standard and the average concentration of NH3 in the air is still below the quality standard. The results of the CHAID method analysis showed that glucose levels were associated with impaired liver function (p = 0.000; chi square = 48.766) and the risk of H2S exposure in the air with impaired liver function (p = 0.007; chi square = 7.944). In addition, 3 segments of liver function disorders were also found, namely Segment 1: Workers with abnormal BBS levels, high air exposure H2S; segment 2: Workers with abnormal glucose levels, low air exposure H2S; segment 3: Workers with normal glucose levels. Based on this segment, it was also found that the percentage of risk of experiencing liver function disorders were workers in segment 2 (36.3%) and segment 1 (17.4%).

Legal protection of mental health of employees in Slovakia

The development of technology has a significant impact and creates new requirements in the field of labour-law relations. One of these requirements is the protection of occupational health and safety by preventing the blurring of boundaries between employees’ work and their private lives. In general, it can be stated that health protection legislation in Slovakia complies with standards, international obligations, and European legislation. On the other hand, we have to emphasize that the protection of mental health has only recently come into serious expert discussion, mostly because of the enormous mental health problems of employees caused by the pandemic. In the article we stressed the negative fact that mental disorders cannot be considered as an occupational disease and that means that employees with mental illness are excluded from the social security payments. There is an obvious necessity to include mental disorders and mental illness to the catalogue of occupational diseases as they are a legal basis for social (security) protection. Besides that, the current subject of discussions in the professional community and also in the application practice is the right to disconnect. We consider an adoption of the right to disconnect to a telework regulation in the Labour code as a progress. Despite the fact that it is a progressive step towards a health and safety policy, on the other hand we just cannot resist adding that the above-mentioned right to disconnect should apply not just to domestic work and telework, but to any employment relationship.

Development of occupational health culture scale: A study based on miners and construction workers.

Culture is an essential influence on effectiveness of workplace health promotion, which can promote occupational health protection behavior. The aim of this research was to develop and validate an occupational health culture scale available to Chinese workers. Occupational health culture scale (OHCS) was developed based on elements of health culture and safety culture in workplace. Nine techniques steps of scale development were used, including a 15-member expert group, 10 workers for cognitive interview, and 1,119 questionnaires (from 710 miners and 409 construction workers) for formal investigation. Welch's variance analysis, independent samples t-test, Kruskal–Wallis test, Spearman correlation analysis was employed, respectively, to verified nine hypotheses about impact relationship on OHCS score. After the analysis reliability and validity, the final scale consisted of 21 items in five domains: leadership support, co-workers support, values, policy and norms, employee involvement, physical environment. Moreover, respirable dust concentration from individual sampler had the largest negative correlation coefficient on OHCS score, −0.469 (p < 0.01). The development of an occupational health culture among Chinese workers is necessary for the sustainability of human resources and the implementation of corporate responsibility.

Competence transfer in virtual realities: Can virtual reality bring products and services together?

The virtual and real worlds of work are increasingly merging through digital transformation. This also applies to products and services. Virtual Reality (VR) with all its learning opportunities is a promising technology to improve workflows and enable transparency between different departments and organizations. This transparency is particularly important when it comes to preventing potentially dangerous work situations. We investigate weaknesses in competence transfer processes between computer-aided designers and service employees connected in a hybrid value chain. On the one hand, designers receive only little feedback, hence are missing necessary evaluation to adjust their designs to empirical specifications. On the other hand, service employees, therefore, work with sometimes impractical machine designs which makes their work on-site unergonomic, dangerous, and more difficult. We present a design science-driven, empirical approach to provide enhanced competence transfer with the help of VR. Thereby, we evaluate a self-developed VR demonstrator with an iterative approach consisting of 60 qualitative interviews. The developed VR demonstrator supports interorganizational sharing of (tacit) knowledge by enabling designers to take the service perspective and ensuring collaboration across organizational boundaries. By intentionally using VR technology as an interruption to the work, the design can be viewed from a service perspective and evaluated for occupational safety and health issues. The work process improvements achieved by the VR demonstrator enable early consideration of design issues that are particularly relevant to safety, thus ensuring greater occupational safety and health protection in the processes for service employees.

Human-Centered Explainable Artificial Intelligence: Automotive Occupational Health Protection Profiles in Prevention Musculoskeletal Symptoms.

In automotive and industrial settings, occupational physicians are responsible for monitoring workers’ health protection profiles. Workers’ Functional Work Ability (FWA) status is used to create Occupational Health Protection Profiles (OHPP). This is a novel longitudinal study in comparison with previous research that has predominantly relied on the causality and explainability of human-understandable models for industrial technical teams like ergonomists. The application of artificial intelligence can support the decision-making to go from a worker’s Functional Work Ability to explanations by integrating explainability into medical (restriction) and support in contexts of individual, work-related, and organizational risk conditions. A sample of 7857 for the prognosis part of OHPP based on Functional Work Ability in the Portuguese language in the automotive industry was taken from 2019 to 2021. The most suitable regression models to predict the next medical appointment for the workers’ body parts protection were the models based on CatBoost regression, with an RMSLE of 0.84 and 1.23 weeks (mean error), respectively. CatBoost algorithm is also used to predict the next body part severity of OHPP. This information can help our understanding of potential risk factors for OHPP and identify warning signs of the early stages of musculoskeletal symptoms and work-related absenteeism.

Research progress on the occupational health and personal protection of emergency responders

To meet the requirement from the economy and society, China's emergency rescue has been developing towards specialization and professionalization. The working environment for emergency responders is special accompanying with tremendous challenges and uncertainties. To promote the research on occupational health and personal protection is an important guarantee for the workers in China to realize the goal of "decent work". This paper reviews the hazards that affect the occupational health of emergency rescue workers, the research progress of adverse outcomes caused from exposure to these hazards, and the related development issues of personal protection. In order to ensure the safety and health of emergency rescue workers, the direction of further research on occupational health of emergency rescue workers is put forward.

Research on Countermeasures of Occupational Health Protection for Rehabilitation Therapists under the COVID-19 Pandemic

In China, the level of occupational health protection of medical staff is relatively low, which is prone to occupational diseases and psychological problems. Focusing on the occupational health protection of rehabilitation therapists, the paper summarizes the current situation of six aspects included epidemic prevention control measures, therapy postures, therapy rooms’ environment, doctor-patient communication skills, mental health, and basic legal guarantee. Then give three aspects of countermeasures.

Perlindungan Hukum Terhadap Upah Pekerja Kontrak Di Tinjau Dari Undang-Undang Ketenagakerjaan Indonesia Dan Hukum Islam

Legal protection has a meaning as protection by using legal means or protection provided by law, aimed at the protection of certain interests, namely by making the interests that need to be protected into a legal right. to the wages of contract workers according to Law No. 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower and Islamic Law as well as similarities and differences. The results of this study indicate that the legal protection of the wages of contract workers between Law No. 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower and Islamic law is to show that legal protection of wages of contract workers has not guaranteed the welfare of contract workers and includes six things, namely: protection of workers / laborers women, protection of child workers/laborers, protection for persons with disabilities, protection of occupational health and safety, protection of labor social security and protection of wages. Meanwhile, according to Islamic law the protection provided is in the form of protection for the soul which is included in Islamic principles. As for the similarities and differences, namely that the two laws have the same goal of creating a sense of justice for workers and employers, and do not allow any arbitrariness against workers/labor. While the difference lies in the employment relationship, wages, welfare, functions and sanctions provided.&#x0D; Keywords: Protection, Wages, Workers, Contract Workers

Healthier Nail Salons: From Feminized to Collective Responsibilities of Care

The nail salon is a site in which multiple hazards intersect. This includes exposure to toxicants, poor ergonomics, verbal abuses, and labor exploitation—harms that disproportionately impact newcomer and immigrant women workers. One response to toxic exposures in the nail salon is the Healthy Nail Salon model—a voluntary and incentive-based initiative to encourage salon owners to implement safer practices and products. While initiated with good intentions, the Healthy Nail Salon model reflects the tenets of neoliberal responsibilization. Responsibilities for protection are transferred to consumers, particularly women per feminized responsibilities for care-work and social reproduction. In contrast, this article puts forth the perspectives of 37 nail technicians primarily from Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean communities in Toronto, Ontario. Participants were asked: “How do we create healthier workplaces?” In response, participants shared both individual-level and collective-level solutions—the latter of which have the potential to positively transform the sector. Collective-oriented protections in this context reflect three interconnected “sites of resistance”: Addressing systemic inequities in the Canadian labor market, promoting worker solidarities, and emphasizing the state's responsibilities in occupational health protection—all of which reflect a broadened politics of care. These broad-based and worker-defined interventions pose a challenge to neoliberal-oriented attacks on worker protection.

Aspects of corporate social responsibility occupa-tional safety and health protection in modern hotel complexes.

Aspects of corporate social responsibility occupa-tional safety and health protection in modern hotel complexes.

Validation of the medium and short version of CENSOPAS-COPSOQ: a psychometric study in the Peruvian population.

BackgroundThe presence of psychosocial risks at work are associated with mental and physical health issues in workers. The study aim was to adapt the COPSOQ-ISTAS21 (Spanish version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and Union Institute of Work, Environment and Health) Medium-Version to the Peruvian context and to develop a Short-Version of the instrument.MethodCross-sectional design study. The COPSOQ-ISTAS21 Medium Version was used. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to determine the internal structure of each subdimension (first-order) and dimension (second-order) using the Robust Maximum Likelihood estimation method, and classic fit indices in the literature (CFI, SRMR, RMSEA). Internal consistency was evaluated using the alpha and omega coefficients. A short version was developed based on the items with the highest factorial load and that reduce the factorial complexity.ResultsA total of 1707 participants were evaluated. In the confirmatory factor analysis, the goodness-of-fit indices for seventeen of the 20 one-dimensional models (subdimensions) were identified; two subdimensions could not be evaluated because they presented only two items. When conducting a multidimensional analysis, we identified that all second-order models presented optimal goodness-of-fit indices, except “psychological demands at work”. Finally, a short version of only 31 items was designed from the items with optimal fit indices.ConclusionsThe new adapted versions of COPSOQ-ISTAS21 were renamed CENSOPAS-COPSOQ (National center of occupational health and environment protection for health -in Spanish- and Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire). The CENSOPAS-COPSOQ is an instrument with sufficient evidence of validity and reliability in its medium and short version, which is why its use is recommended in Peruvian work centers to identify the evaluation and prevention of psychosocial risks at work in Peru.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13328-0.

A breathable PTFE membrane for enhanced moxibustion process and occupational health protection

Smoke generated in moxibustion process, which is physiotherapy in traditional Chinese medicine, includes various organic compounds bearing particulate matter. In this paper, according to the composition analysis of moxa smoke, a breathable filter was introduced to reform the moxibustion box for reducing potential respiratory risk and environmental pollution. The breathability, smoke filtration performance, and reuse stability of the filters were systematically evaluated. PTFE membrane with its pore size around 1.44 μm can effectively filtrate (99.99%) the smoke aerosols with the gas permeance of 1257 m3·m-2·h-1·kPa-1, while that of Cambridge filter is 469 m3·m-2·h-1·kPa-1 (filtration efficiency 99.98%). Most of the organic substances such as o-cresol, phenol, stearic acid amide, 2-Pyrrolidinone, etc. can be captured by the PTFE membrane, indicating its excellent protection role. The regeneration performance of the filters and the filtration mechanism of the PTFE membrane were then revealed to verify the applicability of the filters. This PTFE reformed moxibustion box exhibits good application performance and can be well used in clinical practice.

Development of Measures to Amend the Labour Protection Regulations of the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry of Kazakhstan

The chemicals and petrochemicals industry is currently one of the world's leading international economies. But at the same time it also remains an industry where harmful, difficult and hazardous working conditions for workers are present. All occupational safety and health protection measures must be aimed at achieving the main objective of reducing the level of occupational diseases on the basis of, first and foremost, preventive work on risk factors. Professional activity at chemical and petrochemical enterprises reveals the necessity to develop a clear algorithm of occupational risk analysis, which has a common basis with assessment of other technical risks. The chemical and petrochemical industry is an industry with a large number of risks: risk of fire, risk of explosion, risk of leakage of harmful chemicals, risk of evaporation of harmful chemicals. All these risks entail risks of getting sick: respiratory tract cancer, etc. and the resulting disability or disablement.&#x0D; This article examines some methods of occupational risk assessment in the chemical and petrochemical industry. Analysis of methodologies such as the ranking of occupational hazards, the Kwij Al-Dalemi occupational risk assessment, as well as the French experience of the Laboratory Laboratory Network-Prevention Network-National Surveillance for Occupational Diseases (Research National de Vigilance et de Prevention des Pathologies Professionneles, RNV3P) and the US experience of LHAT-Laboratory for Hazardous Substances Assessment in Iowa State in the USA. The article details the methodology for ranking occupational hazards in chemical plants and shows the ranking of occupational hazards by priority and their short- and long-term exposure.

PERLINDUNGAN HUKUM TERHADAP PEKERJA WANITA DAN ANAK DI INDONESIA

Article 1 of Law Number 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower states that, "A workforce is anyone who is able to do work to produce goods/or services both to meet their own needs and for the community". This understanding includes women and child workers. The purpose of this study was to determine the legal protection of female workers in terms of Law No. 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower and International Conventions, as well as the programs used to anticipate child labour. Based on the results of the discussion in this article, the author concludes that the laws and regulations made by the government regarding the protection of occupational safety and health are sufficient to regulate and provide protection for workers, especially female workers, namely providing women with unions and democracy in the workplace, protection of female workers against discrimination, protection of the fulfillment of workers' basic rights, protection of occupational safety and health; and urge people who are able to adopt street children, where street children are part of the community or citizens also have the same rights as other children, they have the right to education and welfare to live properly as members of society.

A Critical Analysis of Legal Protection of Occupational Safety and Health of Workers during COVID-19 Outbreak in Rwanda

A Critical Analysis of Legal Protection of Occupational Safety and Health of Workers during COVID-19 Outbreak in Rwanda

Innovativeness of the process of teaching the discipline «Occupational health and civil protection»: for seafarers

Innovativeness of the process of teaching the discipline «Occupational health and civil protection»: for seafarers

Occupational health protection for health workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: 6P-approach in China

Health workers (HW) are on the frontline fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, they are exposed to multiple occupational hazards. This article analyzed the comprehensive measures of protecting HWs during the COVID-19 response in China. Occupational health protection of HWs was one of the key strategies of the public health measures adopted against the COVID-19 outbreak from the earliest stage in China. This prioritization of HWs health protection was based on the technical and policy guidance of WHO and International Labor Organization as well as the experiences from previous outbreaks in China. The comprehensive measures in China can be summarized as ‘6P-approach’: public health emergency response, prompt learning from lessons, proactive measures of occupational health, precaution strategies against occupational hazards, personal protective equipment and medical devices supply, and professional networking. Through this 6P-approach, China was able to minimize the incidence of COVID-19 infection among HWs, while successfully containing the outbreak during the first quarter of 2020. Although the COVID-19 vaccines have been rolled out, however, the COVID-19 pandemic is still under rapidly evolving situation. Experiences from China may provide other countries with an example of prioritizing and incorporating occupational health protection of HWs in their public health measures responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interaction analysis of the influence of different factors and benzene exposure on the white blood cell count of workers

Objective: To explore the main influencing factors of leucopenia in benzene workers. Methods: The data of 514 benzene hazardous enterprises and 97 non benzene hazardous enterprises in 16 municipal districts of Tianjin from January to December 2019 were collected. A total of 16113 benzene exposed workers and 5817 non benzene exposed workers were included in the study. The occupational health examination data of workers during on-the-job were analyzed, and they were divided into white blood cell count reduction group and white blood cell count normal group. Additive interaction was used to evaluate the effects of workers' general situation, occupational history, enterprise information and benzene exposure on leukocyte count reduction. Results: The age and length of service of workers in the white blood cell count reduction group were higher than those in the white blood cell count normal group (Z=-3.411, -4.539, P<0.01) . The detection rate of white blood cell count reduction in women was higher than that in men (χ(2)=211.631, P<0.01) . The detection rate of white blood cell count reduction in workers in enterprises located in urban areas, classified as manufacturing and small and micro enterprises was higher than that in workers in suburbs, non manufacturing and large and medium-sized enterprises (χ(2)=8.039, 4.232, 37.478, P<0.05) . The additive interaction analysis of the influencing factors of white blood cell count reduction showed that there was additive interaction between gender and benzene exposure, the relative excess risk ratio (RERI) , attribution ratio (AP) and interaction index (S) were 3.789 (95%CI: 2.280-5.299) , 0.571 (95%CI: 0.414-0.726) and 3.045 (95%CI: 1.699-5.459) , respectively. Conclusion: The management of benzene operation in the production environment of small and micro manufacturing enterprises in Tianjin should be strengthened, as well as the personal protective articles and occupational health protection measures for female operators, so as to protect the health of operators and prevent the occurrence of occupational diseases.