Regulation Of Working Conditions Research Articles

Contact lenses as a preferred choice for vision correction in various clinical scenarios with regard to work environment

Amendment to the Regulation of Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 1 December 1998 on safety and occupational hygiene at positions equipped with display monitors, adopted on October 18th, 2023, entered the long-awaited by employees possibility of reimbursement for corrective contact lenses, adjusting the Polish legislation to European directive regulating working conditions with display screen equipment. Contact lenses in many cases of refractive errors can be an alternative to prescription glasses method of correcting the visual impairment. There are however many clinical conditions, in which contact lenses can provide a better corrective effect on visual acuity. The information contained in medical databases of articles and scientific journals (PubMed, Biblioteka Nauki), online publications (Lippincott Journals), books, applicable legal regulations (available in Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych) and guidelines published by organizations and associations (Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society) were analyzed, covering the discussed issues over the years 2000-2023. Non-correction or suboptimal correction of a refractive error can cause a wide variety of troublesome symptoms, such as eye pain, headache, double vision, balance disorders, nausea, disturbances in the perception of the surroundings, contributing to poorer work efficiency, faster fatigue or an increased risk of error. This article, which is a narrative review, aims to present these conditions, as well as provide a brief overview of the types of contact lenses used, complications that may result from their use and contraindications to the use of this type of correction. Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2024;75(4):383-390.

From access to understanding: Collective data governance for workers

Regulating data collection and use in the workplace is now more a matter of regulating working conditions than data protection. This article argues that existing data protection law fails workers for precisely this reason. We examine how workers currently use data protection law, labour law, and technology to access and leverage the data they produce at work and identify key ways in which current regulation falls short. Existing regulations primarily aim to protect worker privacy, an approach that ignores the fact that data use now often defines the fundamental conditions of work, particularly in the gig economy. This is because a key limitation of modern data protection law for workers is its myopic focus on the individual ‘data subject’, whose rights to data stem from a right to privacy or data protection. Instead, data regulation in the workplace requires a framework that acknowledges the core interest workers have in accessing their data: to collectively exert greater agency and control at work. We argue that workplace data regulation should largely be a matter of workplace governance and worker co-determination, an approach rooted in workers’ rights, to negotiate the terms of their employment agreements and specific working environments.

The relationship between Sleep Quality and Job Satisfaction of Nurses working in the pediatric surgery clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: It is important to determine the relationship between the quality of sleep, which is the basic requirement, and job satisfaction, which has an important place in the working life of nurses. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between sleep quality and job satisfaction of nurses working in the pediatric surgery clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods:This study is of descriptive type. The sample of the study consists of 94 pediatric surgery nurses who are members of the Association of Pediatric Surgery Nurses. Nurse Descriptive Information Form, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Nurse Job Satisfaction Scale (NJSS) were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk, Kruskall Wallis, Mann-Whitney-U test and Pearson Correlation analysis were used in the evaluation of the data. Results: The mean age of the pediatric surgical nurses was 32.82±7.85 years. It was determined that the sleep index and job satisfaction of pediatric surgery nurses were low. There was a negative and moderate correlation between the scores the pediatric surgery nursing obtained from the Nurse Job Satisfaction Scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. It was determined that as the sleep quality of the pediatric surgery nurses decreased, the job satisfaction decreased. Conclusions:As a result of the study, the sleep quality of pediatric surgery nurses in the COVID-19 pandemic decreased their job satisfaction. It is thought that these results may play a key role in increasing the job satisfaction and regulating working conditions of pediatric surgery nurses working at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Frequency and Risk Factors of Low Back Pain in Pharmacy Workers

Objective: To contribute to the literature by investigating the frequency of low back pain in pharmacy worker and its relationship with personal, occupational and psychosocial risk factors affecting low back pain.Method: A total of 200 individuals (124 female , 76 male) working in pharmacies participated in this study. A questionnaire consisting of four separate sections created by the evaluator was applied. In the first part of the questionnaire; age, gender, in the second part; occupational risk factors, in the third part; psychosocial risk factors, in the fourth part; the characteristic of low back pain. Occupational life, income status, workplace satisfaction and pain level of participants was evaluated with the Visual Analogue Scale.Results: One hundred twenty-six individuals stated that they experienced low back pain. Low back pain in female was found to be 68.5% and 53.9% in male. Thirty-one people who were satisfied with their income status stated that they did not experience low back pain in 41.9%, whereas the income satisfaction of people with low back pain was 15.9%. Family history was the most effective risk factor for the presence of low back pain.Conclusion: In order to decrease the incidence rate of low back pain, necessary regulation should be made, postural alignment, regulation of working conditions and preventive rehabilitation should be expanded.

Taming Proteus: Challenges for Risk Regulation of Powerful Digital Labor Platforms.

The platform economy’s emergence challenges the current labor regulations hinged upon the binary employer–employee relations established during the industrial age. While this burgeoning phenomenon presents several possibilities for workers, customers, and businesses alike, scholars from various fields have sounded alarms regarding pitfalls in platform-mediated work (PMW). The regulation of working conditions, health, and safety risks are integral to these worries. Drawing upon existing research and empirical data from 49 qualitative interviews with several stakeholders, this paper explores the various dimensions of power exerted by platforms and the mismatch with the current risk regulatory framework. Four regulatory gaps are identified and the concept ‘regulatory escape’ is introduced. The study posits that taming powerful platforms requires harnessing adequate regulatory capacity grounded on developing an expansive view of regulation that encompasses all forms of socio-economic influence. The paper invokes reflection on the existing regulatory systems in society and calls for a more profound and inclusive debate on platform-mediated work and how regulatory gaps can be closed.

Health system responses to COVID-19: a multi-level systematic review of primary qualitative studies

COVID-19 had presented challenges to the healthcare systems and healthcare professionals in all countries. After one year of the pandemic, the evidence begins to consolidate, and the literature demands the documentation of the experiences lived by healthcare professionals and other frontline actors. This systematic review of primary qualitative studies depicts the experiences and perceptions of organizations and actors at multiple levels of health systems internationally in responding to COVID-19. Six main databases of biomedical information, public health and health administration research were searched over the period 1 October 2019 to 21 October 2020. Information extracted from included studies was analysed thematically. Twenty-two articles were selected for full assessment. Considering the professional level experiences, the most predominant themes of the studies consisted of the new roles and responsibilities of healthcare workers, burnout and distress, unseen healthcare workers, and positive changes and emergent solutions amid the crisis. Recommendations of the studies discussed mainly about the urge to provide psychological support, and leadership for managers and health authorities. Continuous training, regulation of working conditions, providing supportive resources, coordinating a diversity of actors, and reviewing and updating regulations were recommendations of a wider system support. The experiences of frontline healthcare workers had been the focus of attention of primary qualitative studies as of October 2020. Knowledge gaps and the need for primary research were identified in the organisational and national levels that could answer to the needs of the workforce.

Condiciones laborales en la Unión Europea: Directiva (UE) 2019/1152

Las directivas de la Unión Europea son actos legislativos que vinculan a los Estados de la Unión respecto al tema que reglamentan, pueden tener un alcance general o particular y sirven como guía para determinar objetivos, reglas o requisitos mínimos en materias específicas. El propósito del presente documento es analizar la Directiva (UE) 2019/1152 del Parlamento y del Consejo Europeo, la cual tiene como finalidad regular las condiciones laborales y las nuevas relaciones de trabajo que se presentan en la actualidad.

Career Preferences of Senior Students in Faculty of Medicine and Factors Affecting These Preferences

Kariyer, genel anlamıyla seçilen bir iş hattında ilerlemek ve bunun sonucunda sorumluluk üstlenmek, statü kazanmak ve saygınlık elde etmek anlamını taşımaktadır. Bir kişinin iş yaşantısındaki aktivite, sorumluluk, tutum ve davranışlarının gelişimidir. Tıp fakültesi öğrencilerini mezuniyet sonrası temel, dâhili ve cerrahi bilimler alanlarında farklı düzey ve statüde kariyer olanakları beklemektedir. Bu çalışmada Tıp Fakültesi son sınıf öğrencilerinin kariyer tercihlerinin ne olduğu ve bu tercihlerini etkileyen faktörlerin belirlenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Çalışmada karma araştırma yöntemi ve tamamlayıcılık deseni kullanılmıştır. Nicel ve nitel veriler eş zamanlı toplanmış ve bir yöntemden elde edilen bulguların detaylandırılması, sunulması, artırılması ve açıklığa kavuşturulmasında diğer yöntemin sonuçları kullanılmıştır. Veri toplama aracı olarak odak grup görüşmeleri ve kariyer tercih anketi kullanılmıştır. Yapılan odak grup görüşmeleri içerik çözümlemesi ile analiz edilmiştir. Transkriptleri çıkarıldıktan sonra kodlanıp, kategorize edilmiştir. Veri analizinde tanımlayıcı istatistikler ve Fisher’s Exact Test kullanılmıştır. Çalışmaya katılanların %60.9’u (n=28) kadın, genel yaş ortalaması 24.4 (±1.9) idi. Öğrencilerin %66.7’si (n=30) mezuniyet sonrasında dâhili, %28.9’u (n=13) cerrahi tıp bilimleri, %4.4’ü (n=2) temel bilimleri seçmeyi planlıyordu. Hiçbir öğrenci meslek hayatına pratisyen hekim olarak devam etmek istemiyordu. Öğrencilerin %84.8’i mezuniyet sonrasında “kamu hastanelerinde” çalışmak istediklerini ifade etti. “Yaşam tarzı esnekliği” ve “Kabul edilebilir çalışma saatleri” kariyer tercihini en çok etkilediği ifade edilen faktörlerdendi. Kariyer tercihini en az etkilediği tespit edilen faktörler ise “aile isteği” ve “sürekli mesleki gelişim için zaman ve para harcama zorunluluğu” ile “toplum tarafından algılanan statü” idi. Odak grup görüşmelerinden “ilgi, yetenek, para, saygınlık statü, kabul edilebilir ve yönetilebilir çalışma koşulları, dar ve odaklanmış ve genel uygulama alanı, TUS’dan alınan puan, mesleki tatmin, hastalar ve hasta yakınları ile ilişkiler, etik ilişkiler, yurtdışı olanaklar ve kariyer danışmanlığı” etkileyen faktörler olarak belirlenmiştir. Öğrencilerin kariyer planlamalarını yetenek ve ilgi alanlarına göre yapabilmelerini desteklemek ve sağlık alanında dengeli bir hizmet dağılımı sağlamak için, çalışma koşullarının düzenlenmesi yanında, mezuniyet öncesi eğitimde olumlu rol modellerinin varlığı ve kariyer danışmanlığı önem kazanmaktadır.

Digital collaborative platforms: A challenge for both the legislator and the social partners in the Nordic model

This paper focuses on the specific problems in the labour and social security legislation as it relates to crowdworkers in the digitalised new economy, analysing their place in labour market, and especially in the collective agreements which are the standard means of regulating working conditions in the Nordic model. Sweden has a binary system where a performing party is as either an employee or self-employed. The law on working and employment conditions offers only limited protection to those on short, fixed-term contracts; instead, it is social partners that have improved crowdworkers’ conditions in some industries by using collective bargaining. However, there are no collective agreements in the digital economy, or indeed for platform entrepreneurs. The complications of the parties’ positions will be analysed, especially as platforms do not consider themselves to be employers, but rather coordinators of the self-employed. It is not only labour law regulations that are important to prevent precariat among crowdworkers. It is also very important that the social security regulations adapt to the new labour market as the social security legislation is an important part of the Nordic model.

Federal Enforcement of Migrant Workers’ Labour Rights in Canada: A Research Report

Although Canada’s migrant labour program is seen by some as a model of best practices, rights shortfalls and exploitation of workers are well documented. Through migration policy, federal authorities determine who can hire migrant workers, and the conditions under which they are employed, through the provision of work permits. Despite its authority over work permits, the federal government has historically had little to do with the regulation of working conditions. In 2015, the federal government introduced a new regulatory enforcement system - unique internationally for its attempt to enforce migrants’ workplace rights through federal migration policy - under which employers must comply with contractual employment terms, uphold provincial workplace standards, and make efforts to maintain a workplace free of abuse. Drawing on enforcement data, and frontline law and policy documents, we critically assess the new enforcement system, concluding that it holds both promise and peril for migrant workers.

Work accidents with children and youth in a rural environment in southern Brazil.

Objective:to know the prevalence of occupational accidents in children and youth who work with their families in the rural environment and to identify the associated factors.Method:exploratory, descriptive and analytical study with quantitative approach, developed in three rural areas. Participants were 211 children and young people who assisted the family in rural work. Data collection was performed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Bivariate analysis was performed using Pearson’s chi-square, Fisher’s exact, Student’s t and Mann-Whitney tests and multivariate analysis using Poisson regression.Results:the prevalence of self-reported occupational accidents was 55%. It was highlighted: insect bites (44%), burns (40.5%), falls (27.6%), injury with a working tool (16.4%), electric shock (15.5 %), burn by animal (8.6%), animal bite (6.9%) and pesticide poisoning (2.6%). These were related to shared housing, leisure activity - riding a motorcycle, product resulting from lettuce cultivation and use of personal protective equipment.Conclusion:it is believed that these findings may enhance the development of public policies aimed at preserving the health of these children and young people, regulate working conditions and reduce occupational risks in the rural environment.

The relationship between long working hours and weight gain in older workers inEurope.

Several studies have been performed on the relationship between working conditions and health. Numerous parameters still require further study, including working hours and obesity among different groups, specifically older workers in national, regional, and international levels. Working hours have considerable effects on the socio-cultural, psychological, and economic aspects of people's lives and health. While long working hours increases income level and raises living standards, it increases the risk of certain health problems. This study investigated whether working hours are associated with obesity in upper-middle-aged workers. The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) dataset was used for the analyses. Analyses were carried out by means of a Cox regression of the panel dataset created with the data in question, surveyed by European Commission to 12,000 participants. The survey was performed in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Ireland. We found that in most countries, especially Sweden and the Netherlands, upper-middle-aged employees working > 59 hours per week are more likely to gain weight than their counterparts working < 59 hours. Our findings raise awareness of obesity in older workers, and highlight the need to regulate working conditions and hours in the European Union and other countries.

The Relationship Between the Quality of Work and Organizational Commitment of Prison Nurses.

ABSTRACTBackground:Nurses working in prisons are exposed to security problems while serving those who may be uninterested in their own healthcare, face high risks of drug and alcohol addiction, and may have aggressive personalities. For this reason, nurses working in prisons may have more problems with work-related quality of life than their non-prison-nurse peers.Purpose:This descriptive research study was conducted to evaluate the work-related quality of life and organizational commitment of nurses who work at prisons and detention centers.Methods:According to 2015 data, approximately 513 nurses currently work in prisons in Turkey. The study group consisted of 224 nurses who currently work in prisons or detention centers. The data were collected by sending a created link address to the e-mail addresses of nurses who work in these facilities. A 13-item sociodemographic information form, including a demographics datasheet, a work-related quality of life scale, and an organizational commitment scale, was used to collect data.Results:The participants reported a moderate level of work-related quality of life and organizational commitment. Moreover, work-related quality of life was shown to affect organizational commitment, with 20% of the total variance in organizational commitment explained by work-related quality of life.Conclusions/Implications for Practice:This study supports that work-related quality of life affects organizational commitment positively. Therefore, regulating working conditions by taking into consideration employee security will positively affect job satisfaction in terms of both the institution and the employee. Moreover, as nurses do not only work in hospitals, taking this action should also work in different settings. Administrators should ensure the work-related quality of life of the prison nurses by understanding the difficulties of prison nursing.

Temporary safety. Regulating working conditions in temporary agency work

This comparative case study investigates how regulatory frameworks of temporary agency work shape occupational health and safety at workplace level. Research is framed by Pressures-Disorganization-Regulatory Failure (PDR) model explaining workplace level occupational health and safety outcomes through economical, work organizational and regulatory factors. Two cases of using temporary agency work in manufacturing are compared within one multinational company in two contrasting EU regulatory regimes: Sweden and Poland. Workplace level practices relating to occupational health and safety of temporary agency work are explored through empirical evidence from interviews, documents and on-site observations. Results illustrate how workplace level practices that impact health and safety are overwhelmingly shaped by economic pressures and suggests a hierarchical relationship between the factors of PDR model, with economic pressures and work disorganization moderating the effect of regulatory failure.

The Trade-Labour Nexus: Global Value Chains and Labour Provisions in European Union Free Trade Agreements

Labour standards provisions contained within the European Union’s (EU) free trade agreements (FTAs) are a major iteration of attempts to regulate working conditions in the global economy. This article develops an analysis of how the legal and institutional mechanisms established by these FTAs intersect with global value chain governance dynamics in counoutries with contrasting political economies. The article formulates an original analytical framework to explore how governance arrangements and power relations between lead firms in core markets and suppliers in FTA signatory countries shape and constrain the effectiveness of labour provisions in FTAs. This analysis demonstrates how the common framework of labour provisions in EU trade agreements, when applied in a uniform manner across differentiated political-economic contexts, face serious difficulties in creating meaningful change for workers in global value chains.

Радіоекологічні дослідження у лісових екосистемах України

Проаналізовано основні наукові публікації і нормативні документи щодо ведення лісового господарства в умовах радіоактивного забруднення. У процесі досліджень порушено такі проблеми: вивчення міграції радіонуклідів у лісових екосистемах, санітарно-гігієнічні, обгрунтування лісокористування, здійснення лісогосподарських заходів, економічні. Проведені дослідження дали змогу вченим обґрунтувати новий напрям у лісівництві – радіоекологію лісових екосистем, а також регламентувати використання продукції лісового господарства та проведення лісогосподарських заходів на територіях, забруднених радіонуклідами.

Kwestia robotnicza w USA w I poł. XX w. Wkład Kościoła katolickiego w jej rozwiązanie

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The Tolerable Cost of European Union Regulation: Leaving the EU and the Market for Politically Convenient Facts

AbstractEuropean Union (EU) law-making has played a key role in promoting social equity in the UK through safer working conditions, enhanced rights for workers, and by reducing environmental pollution. Concerns over its effect on business competitiveness have long been a major driver of Euroscepticism, underpinning criticism of the EU by influential opinion formers within British conservatism. The Leave Campaign argued that EU laws damage the UK economy by imposing unnecessary costs on British business, claiming that EU regulations cost the UK economy £33.3 billion per year. This paper examines the reliability of, and assumptions that underpin, aggregated estimates of the costs and benefits of EU-derived regulation, and considers how the economisation of public policy influences understanding of the social value of regulation. It brings together the findings of studies that have evaluated the accuracy of the estimated costs and benefits in formal impact assessments and analyses impact assessments of EU-derived policy instruments aimed at regulating working conditions. Our findings suggest that aggregated estimates represent poor guides to understanding the social costs and benefits of social regulation and highlight the value of discarding impact assessment estimates of costs and benefits in the context of efforts to shape social policy post-Brexit.

The labor issue in the USA in the first half of the 20th century. The contribution of the Catholic Church to its solution

The stance of the Catholic Church in the United States of America on the problems related to workers’ wages is an interesting issue from the point of view of the ethics of economic life and the development of Catholic social thought. The interpretation of the main Catholic social ideas contained in Leo XIII’s encyclical letter Rerum novarum was made by Father John Augustine Ryan (1896–1945), who soon became a major proponent of the idea that a good economic policy can only result from good ethics. In the history of the United States of America, the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was a time of the development of labor unions, associations and workers’ organizations as well as the consolidation of efforts to achieve equitable remuneration (a living wage) and regulate working conditions. It was also a time of struggling with the ideas of socialism and nationalism. The Catholic Church played a significant role in the discourse on these issues, including the influence of John A. Ryan. His efforts led to one of the most important interpretations of economic life: The Program of Social Reconstruction (1919), and some of its postulates can be found in the New Deal legislation.

Health inequality and the uses of time for workers in Europe: policy implications

This paper analyses the relationship between health inequality and the time allocation decisions of workers in six European countries, deriving some important policy implications in the context of income tax systems, regulation of working conditions, and taxes on leisure activities. Using the Multinational Time Use Study, we find that a better perception of own health is associated with more time devoted to market work activities in all six countries and with less time devoted to housework activities for both men and women. However, the evidence for the associations between health and leisure is mixed. This study represents a first step in understanding cross-country differences in the relationship between health status and time devoted to a range of activities for workers, in contrast with other analyses that have mainly focused only on market work. A better understanding of these cross-country differences may help to identify the effects of public policy on inequalities in the uses of time. JEL codes: D13, J16, J22