Evaluation of an integrative masters program in occupational health at the Tel Aviv University Medical School

Tel Aviv University conducts the Master's program in occupational health in Israel. The program is composed from three different disciplines: occupational physicians, industrial hygienists and psychosocial workers. The aim of the program was to train graduate academic professionals for the developing occupational health system in Israel. The program is a two year study, opens every second year and accommodates about thirty students per class. After the second class, comprehensive assessment was conducted by the Unit of Medical Education. The evaluation was done by means of personal interview of class leaders, teachers and students, using structured questionnaires. A similar evaluation was again conducted after graduation of the fourth class in 1993. Three aims of the assessment were defined: to learn about the students' and teachers' expectations of the course, the level of integration achieved between the occupational health professionals in the three disciplines; and to evaluate the employment status of the graduates upon completion of the course. Following the first evaluation, changes were implemented in the methods of student selection for the program. A new entering examination was constructed to ensure a common basic knowledge of the potential students in the three disciplines. Changes were also made in the curriculum regarding teaching hours and subjects. A major problem at that time was that most of the graduates could not find positions in the field, because of low awareness for occupational health in Israel. In the second evaluation done in 1993 a higher level of satisfaction of students and teachers from the program was noted. The average level of the accepted students was higher compared with those accepted earlier. Better and deeper integration between the three disciplines of studies was appreciated. More graduates of the program found jobs in the area of occupational health and there is a higher level of awareness of employers and high regards to the course.     

中国职业安全的现实问题

中国职业安全现实引起社会关注,特别是务工农民伤亡事故的数字背后,隐含着对职业安全的认识,职业人群的安全健康理念,职业安全健康的法规基础等深层次问题。笔者指出了现代职业安全存在的现实状况;提出需要关注的难点;强调人的安全健康是职业安全的实质;给出了职业安全与安全生产的差异,分析了务工农民的安全意识与安全文化冲突,呼吁职业安全需要法律保障,建立一体化的职业安全健康法律法规体系,以《宪法》为基础,以人为本,保护从业人员的安全健康。     

安全工程专业学历教育方案的中西对比研究

根据学科研究对象的异同 ,对中外不同名称的安全科学技术学科领域间对应关系的分析表明 ,我国的安全科学技术学科与美国、英国等西方国家称为公共健康的学科 ,我国的安全工程与西方国家的职业安全健康学科分别在宽泛和具体的意义上基本对应 ,相应的学历教育方案具有可比性。以此为据 ,运用案例比较研究了安全工程与职业安全健康学科专业学历教育方案中课程设置的多方面差别 ,分析了通过改善学历教育方案、加强职业安全培训途径来提高我国安全管理水平的努力方向。     

Enhancing corporate compliance with worksite safety and health legislation

Introduction: A 2-year prospective study evaluated the effectiveness of a managerial training program to enhance corporate compliance with statewide worksite safety and health regulations. The program offered participants information about regulatory requirements and emphasized organizational and environmental strategies for reducing occupational injuries and illnesses. Objectives: To assess the effects of a train-the-trainer program on business managers' knowledge of statewide occupational safety and health legislation and on levels of corporate compliance with regulatory requirements. Methods: Forty-eight small- and medium-sized companies participated in the training sessions during the first year of the study. These firms were compared with 46 control companies that did not receive the training until the conclusion of the study. Results: Participation in the program was associated with higher levels of corporate regulatory compliance 12 months after the training sessions were held (controlling for baseline levels of corporate compliance with the regulations). Program effects on compliance levels were mediated by posttraining changes in managers' knowledge of regulatory requirements. Conclusions: The REACH OUT training program raised managers' awareness of and corporate compliance with statewide worksite safety and health regulations. Impact on Industry: Smaller companies face greater challenges than larger ones in developing and maintaining worksite safety and health programs. Barriers to regulatory compliance, especially in small- and medium-size companies, should be identified and removed to enhance the efficacy of these programs.     

Development of a new masters program for occupational physicians in Flanders

Background: discussions with occupational physicians and a postal survey identified the shortcomings of previous programs, mainly found in the fields of occupational hygiene, ergonomics, environmental health and management.Objectives of the new program: basic knowledge (see content), the development of problem solving skills, scientific and social attitudes.Content: first year: occupational health practice, occupational hygiene, epidemiology, work physiology, toxicokinetics and dynamics and in service training (4 weeks). Second year: occupational pathology, environmental health, ergonomics, social legislation, safety, management and in service training (4 weeks). The total study load is estimated at about 1600 hours per year.Methods: interactivity is stimulated by the introduction of interdisciplinary seminars, project work in groups and Socratic dialogue. The objectives, contents and teaching and student-evaluation methods of the separate items were defined before selecting teachers.Finality of the program: a masters title sufficient to practice occupational medicine in Belgium. A subsequent postacademic training of 2 years, while at work, will be required for the title of specialist in occupational medicine, valid at European Union (EU) level. It will include preparing and publically defending a thesis.Statement: The collaboration of ex-students working in the field is essential in the development and quality assessment of adequate teaching programs.     

Safety climate at agricultural cooperatives

Introduction: This study identifies determinants of safety climate at agricultural cooperatives. Methods: An extensive survey was designed to build upon past research done in collaboration with DuPont (Risch et al., 2014). In 2014 and 2015, the survey was administered to 1930 employees at 14 different agricultural cooperatives with 154 locations. Injury incidence data were also collected from each location to better understand the overall health and safety environment in this sector. An ordered probit model is used to identify variables that are associated with better safety climates. Results: Safety system components such as discipline programs, inspection programs, modified duty programs, off-the-job safety training programs, and recognition programs are positively related to individual safety climate for both managerial employees and nonmanagerial employees. Variables representing an employee’s agricultural background, distance between their workplace and childhood home, and formal education are not associated with managerial safety climate. However, agricultural background and childhood home distance are associated with nonmanagerial safety climate. Conclusions: Improving occupational health and safety is a priority for many agricultural cooperatives. Lower safety climate emerges as nonmanagerial employees have more experience with production agriculture and work nearer to their home community. Practical applications: Employees of agricultural cooperatives face a host of health and safety challenges that are likely to persist into the future. The safety system components associated with safety climate indicate that continuous feedback is important for improving occupational health and safety. Occupational health and safety programming should also acknowledge that many employees have experiences that influence their attitudes and behaviors.     

安全工程专业英语教学中的文化导入

为激发学生学习安全工程专业英语的兴趣,强化学生对学科专业文化差异的敏感性、宽容性,培养他们的思维灵活性,提出在教学过程中采用文化导入教学方式。基于课程教学内容的专业性,从词汇、语法、语篇教学三个方面探讨了文化导入的内容,导入过程要抓住民族文化和安全专业文化两大特性,实现专业文化导入,丰富和拓宽课程内涵;从教学内容、课堂训练和语言应用角度探索文化导入的方法,注重学生主体作用的发挥,通过引导的方式提高学生专业英语综合应用能力。采用文化导入教学方式,可实现语言教学与专业文化教学的有机结合,提高教学效果,有利于培养出优秀的安全专业人才。     

对乡镇企业职工的职业安全卫生知识、态度、行为的调查

从对某市部分乡镇企业职工的职业安全卫生知识、态度、行为所进行的调查看,不同状况的人群对职业安全卫生知识、态度、习惯有显著性差异。为此,提示职业安全卫生监督管理部门及企业的有关职能部门在职工的职业安全卫生教育中,要加强对文化程度低、年轻、工龄较短的职工的教育,并采用形式多样化手段。另外,职业安全监督管理部门还要加强监督外资企业做好职工的职业安全卫生教育。从职工对职业安全卫生的态度及行为结果看,提出在进行职业安全卫生教育时,要有针对性。不仅要给职工配备劳保用品,更重要的是监督职工经常和正确地使用劳保用品,并养成良好的卫生习惯     

Occupational and public health and safety in a changing work environment: An integrated approach for risk assessment and prevention

During recent years the work environment has undergone significant changes regarding working time, years of employment, work organization, type of employment contracts and working conditions. In this paper, consequences of these changes on occupational and public health and safety are examined. These include the disruption of human biological rhythms, the increase of workers fatigue due to changes in patterns of working hours and years of employment, job insecurity and occupational stress, which have a serious impact on workers’ health and may result in an increase in occupational accidents. Unsafe work practices related to workload and time pressure, the impact of work changes on public safety and the deterioration of workers’ living conditions with respect to income, social-family life, health and insurance benefits, are also described. In this context, difficulties that occur due to the changing work environment in conducting effective occupational risk assessments and implementing OSH measures are discussed (for example, frequent changes between tasks and workplaces, underreporting of occupational accidents and diseases, lack of methodological tools, etc.). A fundamental criterion used while studying consequences on health and safety and the relative preventive measures is that health and safety must be approached as ‘the promotion and maintenance at the highest degree of the physical, mental and social well-being of workers’ and not only as retention of their work ability. Limits in combining “flexibility” at work and overall protection of occupational and public safety and health in a competitive market are put forward for discussion.     

青藏铁路建设中高寒缺氧及保障问题的研讨

“高寒缺氧”是青藏铁路建设面临的主要难题之一,青藏铁路沿线自然条件恶劣、海拔高、气压低,含氧量低,缺氧严重会导致急性高原病严重影响人体健康和劳动能力,同时含氧量低会造成机械功率降低。为保障高原施工人员和铁路建设者的健康和安全,降低机械设备的功率损耗,在青藏铁路的设计和建设中,必须采取高原劳动卫生和劳动保护措施、选用可靠度高、维修量少的运营设备,建立起适合高原特点的管理体制、机构及合理的用工制度等技术保障措施,提供坚强有力的医疗卫生保障,从而提高劳动效率,降低劳动强度、缩短工期,保护员工的安全与健康。     

Action-Oriented Support for Occupational Safety and Health Programs in Some Developing Countries in Asia

Action-oriented support programs have been increasingly playing vital roles in promoting safety and health in developing countries in Asia. This paper studied achievements of 3 action-oriented support programs: the WISE program for small enterprises, the WIND program for farmers, and the POSITIVE program for workers and trade unions. Special attention was paid to how the programs have strengthened local efforts for sustainable actions in safety and health improvements. The results showed that there were significant achievements in action-oriented support programs in the region, including a large number of improvement examples, integration into government policies, and network support through employers’ and workers’ organizations. Participatory, action-oriented training tools such as action-checklists, local good example photos, and group work methods played key roles in the effective implementation of the programs. It was of note that there were a number of local efforts to extend the coverage of action-oriented support even to hard-to-reach workers such as home-based workers, rural workers, and ethnic minorities. The efforts included the equal participation in the training by female and male farmers, shortened and weekend training programs, photo sheets showing local good examples, and reasonable fee collection for better sustainability. In conclusion, action-oriented support programs provided local people with concrete means to promote safety and health improvements. The successful programs commonly focused on local initiatives and were built on local wisdom and resources.     

The effect of first aid training on Australian construction workers' occupational health and safety motivation and risk control behavior

METHOD: A 24-week experiment was conducted to assess how first aid training affects the motivation of small business construction industry employees in avoiding occupational injuries and illnesses and its effect on their occupational health and safety behavior. A simplified multiple baseline design across workplace settings was used to evaluate the effects of first aid training. Participants' motivation to control occupational safety and health risks was explored during in-depth interviews before and after receipt of first aid training. Objective measurement of occupational safety and health behavior was conducted by a researcher directly observing the workplace before and after participants received first aid training. RESULTS: The observations at participants' worksites suggested that, for the most part, the first aid training had a positive effect on the occupational safety and health behavior of participants. First aid training appeared to reduce participants' "self--other" bias, making them more aware that their own experience of occupational safety and health risks is not beyond their control but that their own behavior is an important factor in the avoidance of occupational injury and illness. First aid training also appeared to reduce participants' willingness to accept prevailing levels of occupational safety and health risk and increase the perceived probability that they would suffer a work-related injury or illness. Participants expressed greater concern about taking risks at work after receiving first aid training. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: It appears that first aid training enhances participants' motivation to avoid occupational injuries and illnesses and improves their risk control behavior. The implications of this are that first aid training can have a positive preventive effect and could complement traditional occupational health and safety training programs. As such, there may be benefit in providing first aid training to all employees rather than limiting this training to a small number of designated "first aiders."     

Occupational safety conditions of bus drivers in Metro Manila,the Philippines

The study looks into the occupational safety and working conditions among bus drivers in Metro Manila, the Philippines. Quantitative data were collected through survey interviews of 95 bus drivers using the stratified sampling technique. Results showed that bus drivers worked an average of 16?h/day and were engaged in risky driving behaviors such as over-speeding and road racing in order to reach their quota for the day. Fifty-nine percent experienced work-related accidents, with a mean of three accidents. The most common accident was hitting another vehicle followed by side swipe. The accidents were blamed on other drivers, followed by vehicle defect, inattentiveness and tiredness/micro-sleep or sudden involuntary sleep while driving. The most common health symptoms experienced by the bus drivers were fatigue, back pain, and cough and colds. This study underlines the need for an occupational health and safety program for bus drivers in the Philippines.     

Occupational Safety and Health in Finland

In Finland, occupational safety is the responsibility of the employer, while the occupational safety and health laws are enforced by the Labour Inspection Service, an organization of the state. The Labour Inspection is divided in 11 administrative districts, and it employs 360 professionals. They are mandated to carry out site visits without prearranged appointments to inspect safe work situations, working hours, construction safety, or any aspect of accident risks. The inspectors are also mandated to verify the existence of sufficient occupational health services as prescribed by the Occupational Health Services Act for all employees. The occupational health services are typically provided by enterprise-owned medical departments, by mutually owned health care centers, by private practitioners, or by municipal health care centers. The latter are required by law to provide all services as prescribed by the legislation to anyone who comes to the facility. This situation is prevalent in the countryside, where there are very few private caregiving centers. Declaring occupational accidents and disease cases is mandatory, and the Inspection districts examine all accidents to establish causes and consequences, and to initiate prosecution in case of criminal negligence. Labour Inspection Districts are also notified of the new occupational disease cases as they are declared to insurance companies. Insurance for occupational disease, accidents, and death is an obligation of the employer, although they can choose the insurance company. The medical confidentiality between the workers and their occupational health care providers is very strict. Official statistics are maintained by the state Statistics Finland organization, and they may be used, for example, for research purposes by scientific institutes like the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Construction industry accounts for 25% of all fatal accidents (120 cases per 1 million working hours), followed by mechanical, wood, metal, machinery, and pulp and paper industry (10% each of fatal accidents) with rates ranging from 100–160 cases per 1 million working hours. There are some 5,000 occupational disease cases per year (rate 22/10,000 employed). The major disease categories include repetitive strain injuries (1,300 cases), respiratory allergies (600 cases), occupational skin diseases (1,000 cases), and 900 cases of noise-caused hearing loss. In 1998, 589 cases of asbestos-related diseases were reported.     

Perceived organizational support and perceived safety climate from the perspective of safety professionals: Testing reciprocal causality using a cross-lagged panel design

Introduction: The objective of this study was to determine the reciprocal relationship between safety professionals perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived safety climate. Safety professionals are most effective when they perceive support from management and employees and they also attribute most of their success to support from the organization. Their work directly improves safety climate, and organizations with a high safety climate show a higher value for the safety professional. The causal direction of this relationship is, however, unclear. Method: Using a sample of 162 safety professionals, we conducted a cross-lagged panel study over one year to examine whether safety professionals’ POS improves their perceived safety climate and/or whether safety climate also increases POS over time. Data were collected at two points and, after testing for measurement invariance, a cross-lagged SEM was conducted to analyze the reciprocal relationship. Results: Our findings show that safety professionals’ POS was positively related to perceived safety climate over time. Perceived safety climate, however, did not contribute to safety professionals’ POS. Conclusions: This study significantly adds to the discussion about the factors influencing safety professionals’ successful inclusion in organizations, enabling them to perform their work and, thus, improve occupational safety. Practical Applications: Since safety climate increases in organizations in which safety professionals feel supported, this study points out the kind of support that contributes to improved organizational safety. Support for safety professionals may come in classical forms such as approval, pay, job enrichment, and information on or influence over organizational policies.     

The need for detailed gender-specific occupational safety analysis

IntroductionThe female work in population is growing in the United States, therefore the occupational health and safety entities must start to analyze gender-specific data related to every industry, especially to nontraditional occupations. Women working in nontraditional jobs are often exposed to extreme workplace hazards. These women have their safety and health threatened because there are no adequate policies to mitigate gender-specific risks such as discrimination and harassment. Employers tend to aggravate this situation because they often fail to provide proper reporting infrastructure and support. According to past studies, women suffered from workplace injuries and illnesses that were less prominent among men. Statistics also confirmed that men and women faced different levels of risks in distinct work environments. For example, the rates of workplace violence and murders by personal acquaintances were significantly higher among women.MethodsIn this paper, the authors analyze prior public data on fatal and nonfatal injuries to understand why we need to differentiate genders when analyzing occupational safety and health issues.ResultsThe analyses confirmed that women dealt with unique workplace hazards compared to men.ConclusionsIt is urgent that public agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Labor, record gender-specific data in details and by occupations and industries.Practical applicationThe reader will become aware of the current lack – and need – of data and knowledge about injuries and illnesses separated by gender and industry. Finally, safety and health researchers are encouraged to investigate the gender-specific data in all industries and occupations, as soon as they become available.     

安全工程专业基础课翻转课堂探索应用与研究--以《燃烧学》的翻转课堂教学为例

为了培养本科生的实践能力、创新能力、团队合作等多项工程核心能力,探索性地将翻转课堂教学模式应用于安全工程专业基础课《燃烧学》教学中。结合问卷调查分析学生自主学习、沟通合作能力,教师信息技术素养、课堂管理能力,结果显示:自主学习能力强及参与度高的学生教学效果良好,期末考评中优秀率上升明显。微视频自主学习在翻转课堂课前学习中占重要地位,但并不是学生最习惯采用的自学方式;教师在课堂氛围、讨论质量及节奏把控方面还需针对性强化。     

徐州市职业安全卫生工作探讨

本文概略描述了徐州市职业安全卫生各组成部门的工作情况。指出职业病危害存在患者待遇不落实、职业危害项目转移、职业健康检查滞后、工作场所职业危害因素检测、评价制度不健全的状况。调查发现，职业卫生工作存在5个方面的问题：现有职业卫生法律法规不够完善；对职业危害防治工作的支持力度不够；部门之间的协作机制有待加强；执法监督力量不足；企业法制意识淡漠。最后，提出解决问题的应对办法。     

Synthesis and recommendations of the economic evaluation of OHS interventions at the company level conference

PROBLEM: In today's economic environment, enterprises may not be able to fund every new project aimed at promoting health and safety in the workplace. Company level economic evaluation of interventions can provide guidance in sound business decision-making. The Economic Evaluation of Occupational Health and Safety Interventions at the Company Level Meeting brought together members of the global occupational safety and health community interested in encouraging the use of economic knowledge and tools to evaluate economic gains from occupational health and safety interventions. DISCUSSION: Discussions of the six models presented explored similarities, reliability, and potential use by corporate enterprises, small and medium enterprises, developing and transitioning nations, and economic theorists. Each group provided specific projects that could be pursued to advance knowledge in the area of economic evaluation at the company level. CONCLUSION: This conference established pathway to incorporate economic evaluation of health and safety interventions or programs at the workplace.