Engagement in Health and Safety at the Workplace

2016 ◽  
pp. 265-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Magnavita
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Occupational Medicine ◽  
Occupational Diseases ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Chronically Ill ◽  
Participatory Ergonomics ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Term Management

Dramatic changes in the age structure of the population have led to a rise in the age of retirement. An ageing working population may be a problem for companies and for their health and safety services that must face the long-term management of active, chronically ill workers. For sustainability reasons the discipline of occupational medicine must be replaced by occupational health, which not only combats occupational diseases, but actively works to promote the health of older workers. More in general, occupational health has a strong interest in promoting engagement in professional activities. Shifting from a reactive to a proactive logic will take time and require a big effort on the part of employers, employees and health and safety staff in order to develop participatory ergonomics and best health promotion practices in the workplace.

scholarly journals Compatibility as guiding principle for ergonomics work design and preventive occupational health and safety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Strasser
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
System Performance ◽  
Occupational Diseases ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Design ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
Machine System ◽  
Human Capacity

AbstractMutual adaptation and inter-changeability of system elements are very important prerequisites for machines, technical devices and products. Similar to that technical compatibility which can be achieved by standards and regulations, optimum design of human-oriented workplaces or a man-machine system cannot be attained without, e.g., a compatible arrangement of connected displays and controls. Over and above those stimulus/response relations, all technical elements and interfaces have to be designed in such a way that they do not exceed human capacity in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. Compatibility between the properties of the human organism on the one hand, and the adaptable technical components of a work system on the other hand, offers a great potential of preventive measures. Examples of ergonomically designed working tools show that compatibility is capable of reducing the prevalence of occupational diseases and repetitive strain injuries as well as leading to lower physiological cost in such a way that the same output results from a lower demand of human resources or even a higher performance will be attained. Compatibility also supports the quick perception and transmission of information in a man-machine system, and as a result of lower requirements for decoding during information processing, spare mental capacity may enhance occupational safety. In the field of software, compatibility also helps to avoid psychological frustration. All in all, the center core competency, which reflects the major significant function of the ergonomist in work design, consists in determining the compatibility of human capacity and planned or existing demands of work. In order to provide efficient working tools and working conditions as well as to be successful in occupational health and safety, ergonomics and industrial engineering in the future are expected to pay more attention to the rules of compatibility. Applied in an appropriate way, these rules may convince people that ergonomics can be a powerful means for reducing prevalence of occupational diseases and complaints, and has a positive effect on overall system performance. Besides presenting examples of work design according to the principle of compatibility, also methods will be shown which enable the assessment of the ergonomic quality of hand-held tools and computer input devices.

scholarly journals “A Mere Matter of Rock”: Organized Labour, Scientific Evidence and British Government Schemes for Compensation of Silicosis and Pneumoconiosis among Coalminers, 1926–1940

2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark W Bufton ◽  
Joseph Melling
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Occupational Diseases ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
British Government ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Industrial Injuries ◽  
Recent Account

The growth of statutory compensation for industrial injuries and illness has attracted considerable attention from historians of state welfare and students of organized labour in both Europe and North America. The rights of legal redress for disease and accidents in the workplace have become the subject of some debate among historians of occupational health and safety, most particularly in regard to asbestos-related illnesses. Among the most detailed and scholarly accounts of the subject in Britain are those by Peter Bartrip and his collaborators. In contrast to many accounts in labour and medical history which express strong empathy with the plight of workers who faced injury and death in the workplace, Bartrip adopts a model of industrial behaviour which is closer to rational-choice assumptions of mainstream economics. His recent account of government regulation of occupational diseases since the nineteenth century offers limited comment on the attitudes of trade unionists to accidents, though he broadly maintains that British unions have historically been more concerned with winning compensation awards than pressing for the prevention of hazards in the industrial workplace.

scholarly journals Message

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Fuk Liem
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Occupational Medicine ◽  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Occupational Injuries ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Potential Biomarker

It gives me great pleasure and enthusiasm to welcome you to the special issue of Acta Medica Philippina - Workplace and Environment Safety and Health Issue. The occupational medicine and occupational health and safety activities primarily focusing on preventing diseases, injuries, and deaths due to working conditions. While exposure to harmful substances and or activities can happen at any time, I believe there are always some measures to ensure that no one has to suffer a work-related injury or illness because of their job. In this special issue, we published several articles including papers from the 13th Indonesia Occupational Medicine Updates, covering research on important aspects of occupational health and safety in the Philippines and Indonesia. The impacts of psychosocial hazards and shift work, the potential biomarker of effect on cardiovascular risk, pesticide exposure among farmers; and key statistics and trends in occupational injuries and traffic accidents in the Philippines are featured in this issue. I sincerely hope this work will be of interest to our readers and meet the real needs of the scientific community, stimulates thought, and eventually open up new research ideas. Finally, as special editor of this special issue, I would like to thank the authors who have worked very hard to prepare and revise the articles and to all reviewers for their careful reviews, and for providing valuable and constructive comments.   Jen Fuk Liem, MD Department of Occupational Health and Safety Faculty of Medicine and Health Science Universitas Kristen Krida Wacana Jakarta, Indonesia

Tropical infections as occupational diseases – labor inspectorate physicians’ aspects of a complex problem

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Paul J. Jansing ◽  
Audry Morrison ◽  
Travis W. Heggie ◽  
Thomas Küpper
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Occupational Disease ◽  
Occupational Diseases ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Risk Exposure ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
State Institute ◽  
Occupational Physicians ◽  
Tropical Infections

<p><b>Background: </b>Occupational physicians work directly with individual employees regarding diseases that has been caused or exacerbated by workplace factors. However, employees are increasingly required to travel for their work, including to tropical countries where they risk exposure to diseases they would not normally encounter at home (i.e., malaria). Such disease/s may also take days to months to incubate before becoming symptomatic, even after their return home, thus delaying and complicating the diagnosis. Proving this was an occupational disease with respective sick leave entitlement or compensation can be challenging. There is a lack of data concerning occupational diseases caused by tropical infections. <p> <b>Material and methods: </b>Employee case records for the period 2003-2008 from the State Institute for Occupational Health and Safety of North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany were analysed and assessed within Germany’s regulatory framework. These records included Germany’s largest industrial zone.<p> <b>Results: </b>From 2003-2008the suspected cases of “tropical diseases and typhus”, categorized as occupational disease “Bk 3104” in Germany, have decreased significantly. A high percentage of the suspected cases was accepted as occupational disease, but persistent or permanent sequelae which conferred an entitlement to compensation were rare. <p><b>Conclusion: </b> There is scope to improve diagnosis and acceptance of tropical diseases as occupational diseases. The most important diseases reported were malaria, amoebiasis, and dengue fever. Comprehensive pre-travel advice and post-travel follow-ups by physicians trained in travel and occupational health medicine should be mandatory. Data indicate that there is a lack of knowledge on how to prevent infectious disease abroad.

scholarly journals O7C.2 Developing a measuring strategy for monitoring and evaluation of a national occupational health intervention programme in great britain (GB)

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A64.3-A65
Author(s):  
Yiqun Chen ◽  
Andrew Curran
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
National Level ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Measurement Framework ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Over Time

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the GB regulator for health and safety at work. The HSE Health and Work (H&W) program designs and carries out a wide range of interventions; including inspection, enforcement and other regulatory activities as well as prevention; targeting priority health conditions in high-risk sectors. It is anticipated that long-term, sustainable and coordinated actions developed as part of the program will over time improve awareness, behaviors, control of exposures, and, as a result, prevent work-related ill health in GB workforce.An HSE Measuring Strategy, together with measurement framework and principles, has been developed. The measurement framework draws together data systems, covering Attitudes (A), Behaviors (B), Control of exposures (C), and Disease and work-related ill health reduction (D), based on a simple model to provide evidence required for evaluating the short, medium and long term impacts of the large scale and complex H&W program on the GB health and safety system. The Strategy gives a new focus on measuring behavioral changes and risk reductions; and emphasizes longitudinal measurement designs to assess progress over time.For developing the Strategy, workshops were organized to bring stakeholders across HSE to review existing systems for conducting population surveys, collecting exposure intelligence and occupational health surveillance, which have contributed to forming a long-term vision of fit-for-purpose measurement systems.We will present the development of the Strategy and the plans to implement it with the H&W program, which requires close collaborations between epidemiologists and social researchers, policy makers, and other multidisciplinary regulatory specialists. The lessons learnt will help HSE towards building the right evidence base for monitoring and evaluation of a range of national level intervention programs for work-related ill health prevention.©British Crown copyright (2019)

scholarly journals Proceedings from the CIHLMU occupational safety and health symposium 2019 “Protecting workers’ health: global challenges and opportunities in work-related respiratory diseases”

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (S14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Netsanet Workneh Gidi ◽  
Anna Suraya ◽  
Beatrice Mutayoba ◽  
Bernarda Espinoza ◽  
Bindiya Meggi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Occupational Diseases ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

AbstractThe international CIHLMU Occupational Safety and Health Symposium 2019 was held on 16th March, 2019 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany. About 60 participants from around the world representing occupational health and safety professionals, students, instructors from several institutions in Germany and abroad, attended the symposium.The main objective of the symposium was to create awareness on global challenges and opportunities in work-related respiratory diseases. One keynote lecture and six presentations were made. While the keynote lecture addressed issues on occupational diseases in the twenty-first century, the six presentations were centered on: Prevention and control of work-related respiratory diseases, considerations; Occupational health and safety in Mining: Respiratory diseases; The prevention of TB among health workers is our collective responsibility; Compensation and prevention of occupational diseases and discussion on how artificial intelligence can support them: Overview of international approaches; Work-related Asthma: Evidence from high-income countries; and The role of imaging in the diagnosis of work- related respiratory diseases. A panel discussion was conducted following the presentations on the importance and challenges of data acquisition which is needed to have a realistic picture of the occupational safety and health status of workers at different levels. The current summary is an attempt to share the proceedings of the symposium.

scholarly journals Notification of occupational diseases in the Republic of Croatia: the impact of COVID-19

SEER ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
Cvetan Kovač ◽  
Ivana Krišto ◽  
Ana Šijaković
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Occupational Diseases ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Current Health ◽  
Special Knowledge ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Interdisciplinary Process ◽  
Administrative Problem

Diagnosis of occupational diseases is an interdisciplinary process that requires special knowledge of medicine and other areas related to health and safety at work. So too is their diagnosis and treatment the responsibility of occupational health specialists. The recognition of occupational diseases in Croatia is regulated by the Law on the List of Occupational Diseases, while diagnosis is carried out according to modern occupational health criteria, which includes determining the clinical picture of the disease and the damage caused by the work process. The current health crisis caused by the pandemic of the new infectious disease COVID-19 points us to several challenges in the field of health and safety at work in the Republic of Croatia, including the administrative problem of reporting and recognising occupational diseases caused by COVID-19. At the beginning of April 2020, an amendment to the Regulation on Infectious Diseases completely removed all administrative barriers to the recognition of occupational diseases caused by COVID-19 infection.

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