The healthy/unhealthy worker effect as a phenomenon of occupational selection and the causation problem

Today, the "healthy worker effect" is understood as organized (on the part of the employer) and/or unorganized (self-selection on the part of the worker, due to the functional capabilities and the state of workers’ health) professional selection of healthier workers in unfavorable working conditions, who remain in the profession. It represents one of the most important problems in epidemiological research in occupational medicine. The “healthy worker effect” and its intensity in various industries (in various professions) can indirectly characterize the harmful and unfavorable conditions. The “healthy worker effect” and its intensity determine the need for medical and social security, as well as rehabilitation measures, not only for people who remain in this production (in this profession), but also for people who left this production or specialty, to prevent the phenomenon of increased mortality among workers who left a given production or profession due to suspension from work based on the results of periodic medical examinations and self-selection, or due to intolerance to working conditions because of the state of health.

Psychological Prevention of Industrial Injuries

The psychological analysis for the problem of the human factor of industrial injuries is presented in the article. The urgency of considering the problem of industrial injuries from a psychological point of view is substantiated. The characteristics of the factors influencing the efficiency of production activities are given. The results are presented concerning the empirical study conducted at the petrochemical enterprise with the employees in the production of monomers using an assessment of the ergonomic working conditions and causes of injuries, psychodiagnostic techniques. The reliability of the study results was achieved by using the methods of mathematical statistics (correlation analysis by Brave-Pearson and Vard methods). The specificity of the manifestation of psychophysiological characteristics of the employee in the morning, day and night shifts is specified. The possibility is provided to predict the risks of human errors in non-standard situations at the level of psychological diagnostics. The possibilities of using psychological measures in the prevention of injuries at the stage of occupational selection are described. The results of study demonstrate the possibility of reducing injury rate by differentiating employees based on the psychophysiological indicators and determining the optimal working time. Conclusions are formulated regarding the influence of psychological factors on the efficiency and safety of the work activity. It is advisable to consider the psychophysiological characteristics of the employees in professional selection, determination of the shift work schedule and admission to occupational activity. The need is defined related to studying the causes and factors of injury rate from the standpoint of analyzing critical periods of time that require special attention and control from the medical and psychological services of the enterprises and departments of occupational and industrial safety.

Job Flexibility and Occupational Selection in Ghana: An Application of Maximum Simulated Likelihood†

In many African labour markets, the vast majority of self-employed workers are female. It is often hypothesised that self-employment enables workers to balance income-generation with caring for children and other domestic tasks and, since responsibility for these activities is divided unequally in the household, this effect is stronger for women than men. However, testing whether ‘job flexibility’ matters is difficult because variables that proxy for domestic obligations—such as the number of dependents in the household—may be endogenous to occupational choice. In this paper, we build a new estimator using maximum simulated likelihood that allows us to use selection on observables as a guide to selection on unobservables within the multinomial choice problem individuals face when deciding their occupation. We apply this approach to detailed cross-sectional data from Ghana. Our results show that having extra dependents in the household pushes women towards own account self-employment substantially more than men, even under more conservative assumptions about the extent of endogeneity.

New psychophysiologic approaches applied in occupational selection of candidates for dangerous professions

Introduction. In increased requirements to occupational and personal qualities of workers engaged into or applying for dangerous professions, effi ciency of occupational selection considerably depends on choice of methodic approaches adequate to the study objectives. Objective. To study psychophysiologic approaches to evaluation of social psychologic reliability and occupational fi tness of individuals with dangerous professions, for revealing prognostic facilities of new methods and for improving occupational selection for military and police offi cers. Materials and methods. Psychophysiologic studies used eye-tracker SMI-RED–250 and polygraph “Diana” and covered 201 candidates for service in various divisions of RF Investigating Committ ee. Major part of the examinees consisted of individuals aged under 30 years (134 males and 67 females). All the candidates had normal vision or corrected to normal one. Evoked brain potentials study covered 114 candidates for military service (2 females and 112 males) aged 17 to 52 years. According to polygraph study, 51.8% of the examinees demonstrated a risk factor of “drug use”. Results. Th e authors presented results of psychophysiologic studies of occupational fi tness in candidates for military and police service. Nowadays, polygraph study remains a reliable method to reveal reactions proving presence of concealed information. Using evoked brain potentials for disclosing individuals who conceal drug usage is an important procedure in security maintenance. Within a standard polygraph procedure, videooculography (eye-tracker) seems the most interesting. Th e studies covered possible use of evoked EEG potentials and eye-tracker along with polygraph study for personnel checkups. Conclusions. Occupational selection in individuals with dangerous professions obtained experimental data indicating high effi ciency of combined use of eye-tracking and polygraph, for diagnosis of social psychologic reliability one can use soft ware of evoked brain potentials with demonstration of drugs-associated slides.

PERIODIC MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS AND OCCUPATIONAL SELECTION IN INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE

The article reflects the problems of preliminary and periodic medical examinations of workers in harmful working conditions. The historical aspects of the formation of the domestic regulatory framework in the field of preliminary and periodic medical examinations as well as activities aimed at improving the quality of medical examinations are described.

Human service work, gender and antidepressant use: a nationwide register-based 19-year follow-up of 752 683 women and men

ObjectivesTo examine antidepressant use among male and female human service professionals.MethodsA random sample of individuals between 25 years and 54 years of age (n=752 683; 49.2% women; mean age 39.5 years). Information about each individual’s filled antidepressant prescriptions from 1995 to 2014 was provided by the Social Insurance Institution. First, antidepressant use in five broad human service categories was compared with that in all other occupations grouped together, separately for men and women. Then, each of the 15 human service professions were compared with all other occupations from the same skill/education level (excluding other human services professions). Cox models were applied and the results are presented as HRs for antidepressant use with 95% CIs.ResultsThe hazard of antidepressant use was higher among men working in human service versus all other occupations with the same skill/occupational level (1.22, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.27), but this was not the case for women (0.99, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.01). The risks differed between professions: male health and social care professionals (including medical doctors, nurses, practical nurses and home care assistants), social workers, childcare workers, teachers and psychologists had a higher risk of antidepressant use than men in non-human service occupations, whereas customer clerks had a lower risk.ConclusionsMale human service professionals had a higher risk of antidepressant use than men working in non-human service occupations. Gendered sociocultural norms and values related to specific occupations as well as occupational selection may be the cause of the elevated risk.

GENETIC MARKERS AS AN INDICATOR OF HUMAN RESILIENCE TO VARIOUS ECOLOGICAL AND PROFESSIONAL FACTORS

Various ecological and professional factors (hypoxia, a hot or cold climate, noise, vibration, radiation, intense physical activity, etc.) are peculiarities of the military activities. The introduction of molecular and genetic methods in medical practice and occupational selection can greatly improve the efficiency of selection and rational appointment of people into separate specialties, optimize working capacity, maintain human health, reduce the costs for rehabilitation and (or) specialists’ treatment

Whose Job Will be Taken Over by a Computer? The Role of Personality in Predicting Job Computerizability over the Lifespan

Economists estimate that 47% of US jobs will be computerized in the future. This paper tests the prospective role of a comprehensive range personality factors on selection into more (or less) computerizable jobs. We used a US representative high school sample ( N = 346 660) and a longitudinal design. At baseline, we measured social background, intelligence, personality traits and vocational interests. In two follow–ups (11 and 50 years later), we recorded occupations and coded their probability of being computerized based on the skills required and technological developments. Multiple regressions showed that, regardless of social background, people who were more intelligent, mature, interested in arts, and sciences at baseline, and selected into jobs that had a lower probability of computerization. On average, a one standard deviation increase in each of these traits predicted an average of 4 percentage points drop in the probability of one's job of being computerized. At the US population level, this is equivalent with saving 5.8 million people from losing their future careers to computerization. Most effects replicated across time. Path analyses showed that educational attainment mediated these effects and some direct effects remained. This highlights the importance of personality on occupational selection and in shaping the labour market. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology