scholarly journals Occupational Characteristics in the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta Variant in Nanjing, China: Rethinking the Occupational Health and Safety Vulnerability of Essential Workers

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (20) ◽  
pp. 10734
Author(s):  
Yujun Liu ◽  
Bowen Yang ◽  
Linping Liu ◽  
Maitixirepu Jilili ◽  
Anuo Yang
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Infection Risk ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
Workplace Hazards ◽  
Occupational Characteristics ◽  
And Control

The risk of contracting COVID-19 varies by occupation. Clarifying the occupational disparity in the infection risk is crucial to the prevention and control of the epidemic in the workplace. In late July, some new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among cleaners working in Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, China. The infected cases rapidly increased and spread to many domestic cities in the following days. The present study traces the brief reports of epidemiological investigations among the confirmed cases released by the Nanjing government from 20 July to 2 August, and offers a descriptive analysis on the occupational distribution of these cases. Cleaners and other staff working in the airport were found to make up more than 40% of all cases. The overwhelming majority of the cleaner cases were confirmed in the first 7 days. The present study statistically ascertains that the airport cleaners were the initial sufferers and transmitters in this outbreak. They experienced occupational health and safety vulnerability on both individual and contextual levels, including workplace hazards, workplace safety policies, and lack of awareness and empowerment. Effective protection for essential workers and the strict surveillance of occupational health in the workplace is urgently needed.

A Strategic Response to the Occupational Health Establishment

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Sass
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Workplace Hazards ◽  
Strategic Response ◽  
The Awakening ◽  
Positive Side ◽  
Union Activists ◽  
The Way

The experiences of occupational health and safety “activists” in Canada reveal the limits of achieving reform in working conditions by technical efforts in combination with rank-and-file activation. The author argues that the way union “activists” approach occupational health and safety limits workers in dealing with their actual experiences and understanding about workplace hazards and risk, then discusses the conditions for the awakening of their critical consciousness as a basis of acting on hazardous working conditions. The first movement in the way the worker apprehends the work environment is a movement of negation and is the prior condition to a critical and disclosive discourse about workplace hazards. It is the positive side of “No!” and the taking seriously of workers' rights. It is this negation of the negative that holds out the greatest hope for solidarity and a liberatory community in workplaces, since legislated workers' rights as the basis of protection have become a facade. Workers can respond with the power of saying “No!” in solidarity with suffering workers, and then work through appropriate principles, ends, or strategies avoiding entrapment by a “telos” in the first instance. By laying out these “ends” or a strategic paradigm, one introduces a “conversation stopper” for workers and atrophies their activation.

scholarly journals Occupational Health and Safety Practices Assessment in Damietta Port, North Egypt

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Mokhtar S. Beheary ◽  
Ahmed Abdelaal ◽  
Samira M. Matar
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Safety System ◽  
Training And Education ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Safety Practices ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
And Control ◽  
Different Sources

Occupational, health and safety system (OHS) is a sensitive item for each organization. Health and safety is part of the business, just like production and quality. Therefore, it should be managed in the same way as other aspects of business. This study investigated the safety culture and behavior between the labors, assess the implemented safety system and evaluate the surround environmental workplace. Field data were collected from different sources, i.e. questionnaire, interview, personal observation and documentary evidence. From collected results, the occupational health and safety measures implemented in some workplaces are not sufficient and some workers are dissatisfied with the current occupational health and safety measures. Health and safety should be the concern of each worker in the organization and this can only be achieved when serious training and education is carried out. Also, monitoring, inspection and evaluate existing health and safety measures on regular basis is very important for improvement and control the risk to achieve occupational health for the port man-power.

Guidance for handling and use of nanomaterials at the workplace

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 407-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Heinemann ◽  
HG Schäfer
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Chemical Industry ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Sustainable Chemistry ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Federal Institute ◽  
Guidance Documents

Chances and risks of nanomaterials is a most fascinating challenge of future technologies. This new technology and their related materials are beneficial, for example, for energy reduction, lower emissions to the environment, and safe resources. However, there are concerns about health effects related to the very small dimensions of such materials. Because of our commitment to the principles of “Sustainable Chemistry” and “Responsible Care®,” the chemical industry actively cooperates with all relevant stakeholders to assure a safe handling and use of nanomaterials. In this manner, the German chemical industry is committed to establish and disseminate best practices for a responsible production and use of nanomaterials. Protection of human life and the environment is a fundamental principle for our industry. Even though in the European Union the existing legal framework for risk assessment for chemical substances applies for nanomaterials, specific properties of nanomaterials may require amendments. The German Chemical Industry Association (Verband der Chemischen Industrie, VCI) has, therefore, issued guidance documents and recommendation papers to support companies in the sustainable and responsible development of nanotechnology-based applications. One of these guidance documents focused on ensuring the workplace safety of our employees. Background for this document was a joint survey on occupational health and safety in the handling and use of nanomaterials, which was conducted in spring 2006 from the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA) and VCI. The purpose of the survey was to obtain an overview of occupational health and safety methods currently applied in the chemical industry in activities involving nanomaterials. The questionnaire survey was evaluated by BAuA; the "Guidance for Handling and Use of Nanomaterials at the Workplace" was elaborated predominantly by VCI. This Guidance provides some orientation regarding measures in the production and use of nanomaterials at the workplace. The recommendations given there reflect the current state of science and technology.

The Federal Ergonomic Standard in Brazil: Its Social Historic Process

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais Helena De Carvalho Barreira ◽  
Mary Lee Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Safety Regulations ◽  
Control Regulation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Technical Advances ◽  
Federal Standard ◽  
And Control

Brazil has a Federal Ergonomic Standard [1] enacted in 1990 that attracts the attention of practitioners in occupational health and safety fields because it is viewed symbolically as a political gain and because of its technical advances. The 1990 ergonomic standard modified a former one that was issued within a set of 28 occupational health and safety regulations established in 1978 [2]. This article focuses on the social and historical steps in a persistent workers' struggle for a healthier work environment in the late 1980s that resulted in this federal standard as a “command-and-control” regulation pioneering a wide tripartite process of policy-making in Brazil.

scholarly journals KESIAPAN SISTEM PENANGGULANGAN KEBAKARAN PADA GEDUNG FAKULTAS TEKNIK UNIVERSITAS SYIAH KUALA

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-127
Author(s):  
Dede Hermansyah ◽  
Mochammad Afifuddin ◽  
Abdul Munir
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Analysis Data ◽  
Hazard Identification ◽  
Management Institutions

Fire hazard is one of the risks that must be considered in the building safety management. This study aims to determine the condition of fire risk in the Engineering Faculty Building, Syiah Kuala University Banda Aceh. The analysis used in this research is Hazard identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control and descriptive analysis. Data were collected using questionnaire survey, interview, and observation. The purposive sampling method is used to determine the number of samples. A total of 238 samples were collected with target respondents are lecturers, employees, and students at the Faculty of Engineering, Syiah Kuala University. Observations were conducted at the Engineering Building of A1, A2, and A3. Further, we conducted a direct interview with an expert of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). The result from the analysis the value of firefighting unit counted on an average 688.7. It can be concluded that the condition of fire protection system preparedness in the building of Faculty of Engineering, Syiah Kuala University in bad condition. Furthermore, the result of the assessment of fire risk in administrative room, supporting room, lecture room, and library room obtained shows is a low risk, while as for the laboratory room categorize a high risk. Fire risk controls are needed as the most effective in implementing Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management systems, including establishing OHS fire management institutions and fire safety coordinator of a faculty composed in fire prevention procedures.

Case study application of prevention through design to enhance workplace safety and health in Manitoba heavy construction projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-133
Author(s):  
Uzo Ezisi ◽  
Mohamed H. Issa
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Failure Mode ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pump Station ◽  
Prevention Through Design

This research aimed to develop a method to facilitate the implementation of prevention through design and apply it to a pump station case study in Manitoba, Canada. The method used, in part, failure mode and effects analysis and involved tasking experts with analyzing the project’s design documents to identify potential occupational health and safety failures that could occur throughout construction. It also entailed analyzing the project’s construction documents to determine actual, design-related, occupational health and safety failures observed throughout construction. The application of the method to that project identified 42 potential failure modes in the design, 38% of which were deemed high-risk. A total of 18 failures were detected throughout construction. Of these, 89% were predicted using failure mode and effects analysis and thus deemed preventable by design, indicating the potential effectiveness of the method. Future research should reapply it to other projects to validate these findings.

Ideological Influences on Participatory Research in Occupational Health and Safety: A Review of the Literature

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Moir
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Workplace Hazards ◽  
Worker Participation ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Worker Empowerment ◽  
Research And Policy

Research and policy initiatives often cite the need for greater worker participation in reducing workplace hazards. However, the meaning and methods of participation are less clearly understood. To clarify the nature of worker participation in occupational health and safety (OHS), the various traditions are deconstructed in this review of the published literature. Three traditions influencing OHS emerged from larger social forces in the late 1950s and 1960s: the Scandinavian work environment movement, the Italian Workers' Model, and the Japanese model of participative management. The review is used to create a “genealogy” of worker participation in OHS, clarifying the effect of underlying political ideologies on management control, worker empowerment, and the levels and limits of participation in practice.

scholarly journals Effect of Workplace Safety and Health Practices on Employee Commitment and Performance in Steel Manufacturing Companies in Rwanda

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudine Umugwaneza ◽  
Irechukwu Eugenia Nkechi ◽  
Jean Baptiste Mugabe
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Workplace Injuries ◽  
Steel Manufacturing ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
And Performance

The purpose of this study was to establish the effects of workplace safety and health practices on the employees’ commitment and performance in Steel manufacturing companies in Rwanda. The target population of this study was 533 people, which comprised of Managers, Supervisors and employees. A simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 229 respondents from the target population. The data was collected using questionnaires, interview guide and personal observation. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, version 21.0, was used to process data while descriptive statistics such as the means, modes, standard deviation, variances and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study indicate that most workers are aware of the dangers of occupational health and safety in the workplace. Also the study found that although employees are aware of the occupational health and safety concerns they neglect to put on the Personal Protective Equipments saying that it is too hot. The study concludes that occupational health and safety significantly affects employee commitment and performance. This study recommends that management should insure the workers and provide them with personal protective equipments to minimize workplace injuries and accident. The study also recommends that management provide regular education and training on occupational health and safety concerns to prevent workplace injuries, hence, promote productivity.

scholarly journals The Roles of Communicative Language Mechanisms in Occupational Health and Safety Milieu in Reducing Workplace Hazards

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 264
Author(s):  
Ravnil Narayan ◽  
Vikrant Krishan Nair
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Safety Communication ◽  
Preventative Measures ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Integral Role

Workplace safety communication plays an integral role in the day to day running of any organisation. The policies and procedures tend to provide a worker with the highest level of performance that is expected in terms of the output. Effective communication mechanisms are highly critical to ascertain the level of safety measures in order to achieve support and cooperation in maintaining an injury-free working milieu. Hence, communicative language mechanisms are needed to complement the technical and practical safety of all the workers. Unambiguous constructive safety communication mechanisms will lead to an improvement towards knowledge and fathoming of preventative measures that would enhance workplace safety practices. Thus, this study sought to highlight the occupational health and safety communicative language mechanisms, whereby the examples to illustrate the variety of safety communication has been analysed from a case study. The output of the research states that communicative language mechanisms in occupational health and safety (OHS), health and safety environment (HSE) tend to provide a better working environment, which can be considered as a conducive tool to avoid unwanted injuries and also to comprehend complicated occupational health and safety technical jargons.

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