Similar Work Environments Research Articles

ADOLESCENT OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES AND PEDIATRIC-ADOLESCENT TAKE-HOME EXPOSURES

Thousands of adolescents are employed and routinely incur occupational exposures as part of their work. Case reports of adolescent exposure-related fatalities and illness, coupled with observational studies of chemical and other exposures with potential health risks, create a strong case for better tracking of work-related exposures and illness, better training for all working adolescents, education of their parents about risks, more clinical involvement in the health and safety of working adolescents, and advocacy for safer adolescent work environments. Because adolescents are neither children nor adults, much research is needed to clarify exposure patterns and risks; however, existing data on adolescent occupational injury and knowledge of exposures to adults in similar work environments permit immediate interventions. The most applicable information from the growing knowledge of environmental health in young children also can be borrowed and applied, especially to younger workers, such as those on farms, who may be children rather than adolescents. Crucial to future protection of working youth from occupational exposures are application of knowledge that already is possessed about occupational risks to adults, a cultural change in the way the US population views risks of chemical exposures, and improved occupational health and safety protection for all adult workers. Improving occupational health for working adolescents may be more politically acceptable and thus feasible than starting with adults, but ultimately the two are linked inextricably. These are new realms for pediatricians, but pediatrician input is needed greatly on all of these levels.

A Model to Analyze Ergonomics Working Conditions

An ergonomics and safety model to assess and evaluate the most critical industrial improvement areas in a developing nation. This study was initiated and supported by a Fortune 500 Corporation interested in improving its global operations in developing nations. This initiative was also fully supported by an emerging nation that was concerned with its ergonomics and safety problems. The model was tested and validated in the emerging nation and the results were used to further enhance the model so that it can be implemented and adapted to other similar work environments. The model provides a practical methodology that analyzes and evaluates an emerging nation’s current work environments, suggests practical solutions, and recommends effective remedies.

Personnel Management

After almost a quarter century since graduation from veterinary school, it is somewhat of a challenge to offer valuable information to an audience that does the same work that I do in a very similar work environment. The progression from employee to solo practitioner to partnership to multi- person practice is very familiar to many. We often advise the producers we serve to concentrate a lot of effort on managing feed costs because it is a significant cost of production. We should take our own advice and apply it to our own significant cost of doing business-payroll and personnel. I would like to share with you some ideas that I've done (some regrettably), ideas that are presently employed, and things I will do in the future (hopefully).
 As with any large task, breaking it into manageable, smaller parts makes the whole project easier to deal with. These parts come in the form of questions that we must answer in order for present and prospective associates to understand the employers and the practice setting and mission more fully. Truthfully analyzing and answering these questions, then clearly conveying the answers to personnel, present and future, will save the practice management the drudgery of revolving door associates and spare the employees the unhappiness of involuntary career changes.

Individual and Nomothetic Models of Job Stress: An Examination of Work Hours, Cohesion, and Well‐Being1

Many models of job stress are implicitly based on the assumption that there is considerable variability in how individuals perceive and respond to their environments. In this paper, we introduce a nomothetic perspective of job stress. The nomothetic perspective assumes that despite individual differences there will be consistencies in how groups of individuals perceive and respond to similar work environments. To contrast the individual and nomothetic perspectives, we analyzed data from 7,382 respondents from 99 groups. In the analyses, we examined individual‐and group‐level relationships using both real groups and randomly formed groups. The results revealed that respondents from the same work group agreed about perceptions of the work climate. The results also revealed that both individual and nomothetic perspectives were useful in describing the relationship between cohesion and psychological well‐being. The relationship between work hours and psychological well‐being, however, was best modeled from a nomothetic perspective.

Vascular responses in chain saw operators.

The intensive use of chain saws is associated with development of the hand-arm vibration syndrome (vibration white finger). Objective testing for cold induced vasospasm was carried out on the fingers of 12 chain saw operators and 12 matched control men from a similar working environment. Two of the chain saw operators tested positive for vasospasm in the laboratory and another three had an abnormal result. All of the control subjects tested negative. Measurements of finger blood flow at different temperatures and during vibration of the hand were similar in the chain saw operators and controls. Use of the chain saw did not cause significant alterations in the plasma concentrations of von Willebrand factor antigen in either the long or the short term.

Investigation of a Testicular Cancer Cluster Using a Case-Control Approach

A case-control methodology was developed and utilized to investigate a reported cluster of testicular cancer among leather workers in New York. Eighteen cases of testicular cancer, including the three index cases, diagnosed from 1974 to 1986 among residents of two counties with substantial leather tanning and finishing establishments made up the case group. Controls (n = 259) consisted of men of similar age who had been diagnosed with cancers of all other sites during the same time period. Reports of usual occupation for cases and controls, obtained from cancer registry reports and death certificates, indicated that cases were much more likely to be leather workers (28%) than controls (7%). After adjustment for age, the relative risk estimate for occupation and testicular cancer was 7.2 (95% Cl: 1.9-27.7). The association was further supported by occupational histories showing similar work environments within the leather industry for five out of six cases known to have been leather workers. Case-control analysis of a reported cluster does not provide independent confirmation of an association between occupational factors and testicular cancer. The methodology, however, can provide a timely way to evaluate the significance of occupational cancer clusters.

Vibration syndrome--with special reference to the effects of temperature on vibration-induced white finger.

AbstractIn order to clarify the effects of temperature on vibration‐induced white finger, two groups of chain saw operators in the forestry industry served as the subjects of this study. One group worked at a cold high altitude; the other group worked at a warm low altitude. Except for the difference in temperature, these two groups had similar work environments. The high altitude group had a high prevalence of white finger (75%), but none of the low altitude group suffered from this circulatory disturbance. After measuring the skin temperature and analyzing the results of the cold provocation test, we demonstrated that low temperature is an important factor in causing vibration‐induced white finger.

Risk for Bladder Cancer

Informing persons that they have been exposed to a carcinogenic chemical (beta-naphthylamine) may adversely affect these persons and their families. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess the psychological impact of a bladder cancer notification and screening program on persons at risk and their families. Approximately 140 subjects were randomly selected from 850 workers exposed to beta-naphthylamine. The Family APGAR, Impact of Event Scale, and Improved Readability Form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were administered within four weeks of the initial medical screening and readministered six months later. Results show no evidence of disruption to families or substantive psychopathology among these persons. While the actual acquisition of cancer is undoubtedly a psychological trauma, mere notification of risk may not be traumatic in every situation.