Reducing Musculoskeletal Discomfort: Effects of an Office Ergonomics Workplace and Training Intervention

Effects of an office ergonomics workplace and training intervention on workers’ knowledge and self-reported musculoskeletal pain and discomfort were investigated. An instructional systems design process was used to develop an office ergonomics training program and the evaluation tools used to measure the effectiveness of the training program on workers’ office ergonomics knowledge and skills. It was hypothesized that the training and workplace intervention would allow the worker to more effectively use their workplace through increased office ergonomics knowledge and skills. Following the intervention, there was a significant increase in workers’ office ergonomics knowledge and awareness. Self-reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders significantly decreased for the group who had a workplace change and received ergonomic training relative to a workplace change-only group and a no intervention control group.     

Disaster in the South Paciic: Impact of tropical cyclone "Nomu" on the Solomon Islands, May 1986

Tropical Cyclone "Namu" struck the Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands during 18-20th May 1986. It was sthe most serious natural disaster in the Solomons in lining memory. Nearly a third of the total population of 267,000 were diriven from their homes and 150 people were killed, with damage estimates beginning in AUD 25 million. It has been estimated by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Economic Planning that it will take seven years for the economy to recover. This paper discusses the major events of the disaster episode by employing the Powell and Rayner model of "disaster-time." Factors relating to current disaster Planning and management within the Solomon Islands are outlined. The paper also highlights assistance provided by Australla during the Post-impact sequence and illustrates the type of general disaster preparatory support which Australia provides to South pacific.     

Improving the safety of distracted pedestrians with in-ground flashing lights. A railway crossing field study

Introduction: Current signage at intersections is designed for attentive pedestrians who are looking ahead. Such signage may not be sufficient when distracted by smartphones. Illuminated in-ground LED lights at crossings are an innovative solution to alert distracted pedestrians. Method: We conducted a field study at a railway crossing equipped with in-ground lights to assess whether distracted pedestrians (N = 34, Mean age 33.6 ± 8.6 years) could detect these lights and how this impacted on their visual scanning and crossing behaviour. This involved a 2 × 3 repeated measures design exploring the impact of the presence (treatment) or absence (control) of in-ground lights (treatment) at a crossing, and a distractor task presented through a mobile device (none, visual, and audio) on eye movements recorded using an eye tracker, and verbal reporting of when participants detected the lights. Results: Participants engaged in the distraction tasks as evidenced by their accuracy and reaction times in all conditions. With both the audio and visual distraction tasks, participants looked at the in-ground LEDs and detected their activation as accurately as when not distracted (95%). While most participants detected the lights at their activation, visual distraction resulted in 10% of the detections occurring as participants entered the rail corridor, suggesting effectiveness in gaining pedestrians’ attention. Further, participants were significantly less likely to check for trains when visually distracted (70%), a 10% reduction compared to the no or audio distractor conditions (80% and 78% respectively). The introduction of the in-ground lights resulted in appropriate scanning of the rail tracks (77% and 78% for the visual and auditory distractor tasks respectively) similar to that of non-distracted participants for the crossing without lights (80%). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that illuminated in-ground lights could be useful in attracting the attention of distracted pedestrians at railway level crossings, and possibly at other road intersections. Practical Applications: Illuminated in-ground lights can be installed at rail and road intersections with known pedestrian distraction as a countermeasure. Further research is necessary to understand their long-term effects.     

我国农村室内空气污染干预状况综述

概述了1994-2006年国内外对我国农村室内空气污染干预的研究成果,从中总结了改炉改灶、健康教育与行为干预、开发和使用清洁能源、社会动员等4项干预措施.其中,使用改良炉灶和清洁能源可直接而有效地改善室内空气质量; 健康教育、行为干预与社会动员通过帮助人们改变不良的生活方式达到改善室内空气质量的目的,这些措施在我国农村室内空气污染干预中取得了很好的效果.建议结合我国各地实际,采用综合干预措施控制农村室内空气污染.     

Occupational injury and accident research: A comprehensive review

In this paper, a comprehensive review of the concepts of occupational injury and accident causation and prevention is presented. Starting with hazard identification, the issues on risk assessment, accident causation, and intervention strategies are discussed progressively. The distinctiveness and overlaps in accident and injury research are highlighted. Both empirical research in terms of hypotheses tested and theoretical research such as accident causation models are compared and contrasted. Finally, based on the critical appraisal of the comprehensive review, future research directions on occupational injury research are delineated.     

汶川地震后幸存人员心理危机干预方法研究

选取汶川地震中的伤员和陪护家属各40人作为干预对象,采用心理治疗中的心理危机干预方法,对干预对象进行心理危机干预。干预过程分为3个阶段,分别是以构建良性关系为目的的初始阶段、以治疗为核心的干预和稳定阶段、以评估干预效果为目的的评估阶段。干预评估结果显示,心理危机干预前后,伤员和陪护家属评估结果存在显著差异（P<0.001）;与语言方法相比,该研究方法进行心理危机干预后,各量表得分显著下降,症状自评量表各评估方向得分显著低于语言方法的量表得分,前、后侧得分间差异存在统计学意义,说明该方法心理危机干预对震后人员恢复,效果较好。     

Addressing behavior in pollinator conservation policies to combat the implementation gap

Solutions for conserving biodiversity lie in changing people's behavior. Ambitious international and national conservation policies frequently fail to effectively mitigate biodiversity loss because they rarely apply behavior-change theories. We conducted a gap analysis of conservation behavior-change interventions advocated in national conservation strategies with the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW), a comprehensive framework for systematically characterizing and designing behavior-change interventions. Using pollinator conservation as a case study, we classified the conservation actions listed in national pollinator initiatives in relation to intervention functions and policy categories of the BCW. We included all national-level policy documents from the European Union available in March 2019 that focused on conservation of pollinators (n = 8). A total of 610 pollinator conservation actions were coded using in-depth directed content analysis, resulting in the identification of 787 intervention function and 766 policy category codes. Overall, these initiatives did not employ the entire breadth of behavioral interventions. Intervention functions most frequently identified were education (23%) and environmental restructuring (19%). Least frequently identified intervention functions were incentivization (3%), and restriction (2%) and coercion were completely absent (0%). Importantly, 41% of all pollinator conservation actions failed to identify whose behavior was to be changed. Building on these analyses, we suggest that reasons for the serious implementation gap in national and international conservation policies is founded in insufficient understanding of which behavioral interventions to employ for most beneficial impacts on biodiversity and how to clearly specify the intervention targets. We recommend that policy advisors engage with behavior-change theory to design effective behavior-change interventions that underpin successful conservation policies.     

畜禽粪污集中处理模式中的三方演化博弈研究——基于规模差异与政府干预视角

作为环境污染治理的新举措,畜禽粪污集中处理中心虽然在高效处理粪污、提高资源利用质量、改善农村环境等方面发挥了显著作用,但是,其在运营中依然存在各种各样的问题,如设备利用率低下、粪污未能得到有效收集、骗取补贴等。为了探讨上述运营困境的形成机理,本文从养殖规模差异化与政府干预视角出发,构建政府、养殖户与处理中心三方共同参与的演化博弈模型,并在不同情境下探讨三方策略选择的影响因素与演化路径。研究表明,当小规模养殖户占比较高时,处理中心会选择“投机”策略加以获利,反之,在粪污处理需求大的规模养殖地区,处理中心则倾向于“不投机”的稳定经营策略;虽然政府补贴对于养殖户选择“参与”策略具有促进作用,但是,对于小规模养殖户而言,仍有一定的概率选择“不参与”策略;政府需要综合考虑处理中心的预期收益、受奖惩力度等因素制定合理补贴范畴,若补贴过高且缺乏相应的监管机制,处理中心会为了谋求更多利益而采取“投机”策略;当处理中心投机行为较频繁时,政府需加大监管并提高惩罚力度,以维护畜禽粪污集中处理模式正常运作。     

Transformational change: governance interventions for climate change adaptation from a continuous change perspective

Although transformational change is a rather new topic in climate change adaptation literature, it has been studied in organisational theory for over 30 years. This paper argues that governance scholars can learn much from organisation theory, more specifically regarding the conceptualisation of change and intervention strategies. We reconceptualise the divide between transformational change and incremental change by questioning the feasibility of changes that are concurrently in-depth, large scale, and quick; and the assumption that incremental change is necessarily slow and can only result in superficial changes. To go beyond this dichotomy, we introduce the conceptualisation of continuous transformational change. Resulting intervention strategies include (1) providing basic conditions for enabling small in-depth wins; (2) amplifying small wins through sensemaking, coupling, and integrating; and (3) unblocking stagnations by confronting social and cognitive fixations with counterintuitive interventions. These interventions necessitate a modest leadership. Governing transformational change thus requires transformation of the governance systems themselves.     

Protecting the planet and its people: how do interventions to promote environmental sustainability and occupational safety and health overlap?

Problem: The challenges of both occupational safety and health and environmental sustainability require large-scale behavior change for meaningful improvements to occur. Environmental sustainability, or the ‘green movement’ has received far more attention recently, and certain strategies and recommendations from interventions designed for promoting pro-environmental behaviors may inform efforts to intervene on critical behaviors for improving occupational safety and health. Method: A survey of the literature regarding behavioral interventions for both environmental sustainability and occupational safety and health was conducted. Several theoretical approaches are reviewed, and successful approaches from each domain are identified, as well as parallel challenges and points for crossover. Recommendations are provided for adapting environmental sustainability intervention approaches for occupational safety and health applications. Impact on Industry: Safety and health leaders may achieve sustainable improvements in worker safety and health by harnessing the momentum of the green movement and adapting successful intervention approaches from the environmental sustainability domain.