安全生产中介组织建设与发展

社会主义市场经济体制要求政府职能转变成适合市场经济体制要求的功能,随着产权多元化、企业自主经营为基本内容的经济体制改革促使企业和政府所分离出来的大量社会事务,需要大量的专业人力、物力资源,特殊的运行机制去配置,有大量的工作需要有执行特定社会职能的组织去从事;要实现这一领域里活动的有序进行,需要特定的体制和机制去协调。因此,如何根据社会中介组织的特征把握发展方向,如何对社会中介组织功能进行科学定位,本文进行了论述和研究探索。根据社会中介组织功能定位,发挥其在政府和生产经营单位之间的联结纽带和桥梁的作用。通过研究当前安全生产中介发展过程中存在的现实问题和薄弱环节入手,探寻安全中介技术服务工作的切入点以及有利于安全生产的工作方式和手段,积极推进我国安全生产形势的稳步好转。     

Change in job conditions,change in psychological distress,and gender: a longitudinal study of dual-earner couples

Building on the Job-Strain Theory, we estimated three relationships in a random sample of 201 full-time employed men and women in dual-earner couples interviewed three times over a 2-year period. We first estimated the main effects relationships between change over time in employees' experiences of job demands and job control and change over time in psychological distress. Then we estimated the interaction effects relationship of change in job demands on the relationship between change in job control and change in distress. Finally, we estimated the interaction effects of gender on these relationships. Job control was disaggregated into two conceptually distinct job conditions: skill discretion and decision authority. Controlling for other potentially stressful job conditions such as pay adequacy, job security, and relations with supervisor, as well as trait anxiety (an indicator of negative affectivity), change over time in job demands and skill discretion, but not decision authority, was related to change over time in psychological distress. Equally, for full-time employed women and men in dual-earner couples, if concerns about having to do dull, monotonous work increase over time, distress increases; if concerns about having to work under pressure of time and conflicting demands increase over time, distress increases. Finally, neither average skill discretion nor change over time in skill discretion moderated the relationship between job demands and psychological distress. Thus, at every level of skill discretion, high job demands were related to high distress. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Staging the new romantic hero in the old cynical theatre: On managers,roles and change in Poland

Poland is undergoing a major systemic shift from a centrally-planned toward a market economy. All dimensions of societal life are involved in the change. The paper discusses the current role of Polish managers against the background of what it used to be like under communism from a social constructivist perspective. The role is considered from the point of view of the actors; how they construct their role.     

The effect of change in supervisor support and job control on change in vigor: Differential relationships for immigrant and native employees in Israel

Building on the premises of the conservation of resources theory, the aim of this study was to investigate long‐term effects of job resources on vigor among native and immigrant employees in Israel. More specifically, we investigated the effects of baseline and change in job control and supervisor support on change in vigor levels, as well as the degree to which these effects differ among educated native and immigrant employees in Israel. We surveyed 235 white‐collar Eastern European and Russian immigrants and 235 white‐collar native Israelis matched on occupational and demographic characteristics at two points of measurement with a 30‐month time lag. Latent change score modeling revealed that among both immigrants and natives, change in job control was related to change in vigor. Multiple group analyses further revealed that among immigrant employees only, baseline levels of supervisor support were associated with change in vigor. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the utilization of resources as a means of acquiring new resources may be influenced by immigrant background. Managerial implications are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Invisible men and women: A status report on race as a variable in organization behavior research

Twenty-five years after passage of the Civil Rights Act, the full integration of racial minorities in the Unites States workforce has still not been achieved. Recent demographic trends indicating that the workforce will be increasingly composed of racial minorities make this a critical issue for academics and practitioners alike. This paper reports on a review of journal research addressing issues of race in organizations. Articles published in twenty major outlets for organization behavior research between 1964 and 1989 were reviewed. Data on the quantity, types and topics of published work are presented. Results indicate that the amount of total published research is small relative to the importance of the topic, that the recent trend is for less rather than more research, that the designs and research questions have been very narrow, and that the topics covered are not representative of the domain of organization behavior. Based upon the findings, some suggestions for future research are offered.     

Why it was so difficult to develop new methods to inspect work organization and psychosocial risks in Sweden

In 2001–2003, the Swedish Work Environment Authority (SWEA) ran a project to develop better methods to inspect psychosocial risk factors at work. The objective was twofold: to develop methods to enable most inspectors to effectively inspect such health risks, and to set a standard for method development within SWEA. This article presents our evaluation of the project and a discussion of this as an example of regulatory implementation. The methods project largely failed. Major reasons were the lack of general provisions on psychosocial risks, isolation from other policies in SWEA that affect the inspection of such risks, and a lack of engagement and guidance by top management on how to prioritize and conduct this very challenging development project. Underlying this was possibly a preoccupation with other major internal reforms, a limited competence and an unwillingness to challenge the employers on psychosocial and organizational issues within SWEA’s top management. Yet, the project probably had some indirect positive effects by raising awareness within the authority of psychosocial risk factors, of the complexities of inspecting such risks and of the difficulty to develop effective methods to supervise them.     

Training trade unionists in ergonomics: Interaction between public policies, trade union practices and the development of research

For a number of years now, enterprises have become increasingly interested in training in the area of health and safety at work. Even though trade unionists and managers see different advantages in such training, they share the same willingness to reduce occupational injuries. Even if demand for training is sometimes limited on purpose (all that is expected of it is to pass on recipes enabling work to be continued without getting hurt), training in safety and health is a privileged point of contact between researchers and trade unionists. But the contact between these two groups of actors in the process of changing working conditions does not happen without raising a number of questions: that of reciprocal mental images of each other, for instance, something which will condition the ways in which their knowledge meets; or the issue of the target groups of training: all the workers or just the delegates representing the workers in cooperation bodies? Other fundamental questions relate to the context in which training takes place: what type of training should take pride of place? What is the role of the expert in this approach? And how should the expert's knowledge be linked in with that of the workers?     

The effect of an ergonomic intervention on musculoskeletal, psychosocial and visual strain of VDT entry work: organization and methodology of the international study.

This special issue of the International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE) reports the results from an extensive multinational and multidisciplinary collaborative investigation of the impacts on visual display terminal (VDT) work of musculoskeletal, visual, ergonomic, and psychosocial factors. For brevity, this effort has been referred to as the MEPS project (musculoskeletal--eyestrain--psychosocial--stress). This paper lays out the basic methodological structure of the study. The study was conducted in 4 countries utilizing VDT data entry workers as the primary subject population. A battery of objective and subject assessment measures, including muscle load, visual function, physical and visual strain, postural, ergonomic and psychosocial factors, were assessed at 3 different points in time. A pre-test was given prior to an ergonomic intervention. Two post-tests were given 1 month and 1 year after the ergonomic intervention.     

Occupational chemical exposure and risk estimation in process development and design

Each year more people die from diseases caused by work than are killed in industrial accidents. Therefore, methods are needed to evaluate occupational health hazards as early as possible when the process is still under development. A method for estimating inhalative exposures and risks in petrochemical and related plants is presented. The method is simple and suffices with the limited data availability during the early design stages.The steps of the method, which utilizes preliminary process flow diagrams are as follows: first the fugitive emissions and process plot areas are estimated based on precalculated process modules representing the typical process sections (such as a distillation unit). Chemical concentration in the air is then calculated based on the wind velocity probability and the estimated process cross-sectional area. For this purpose a typical wind velocity distribution in the area is used. The worker risk of exposure to chemicals is evaluated either based on the concentration in air by using the hazard quotient method or calculating the carcinogenic chemicals intake and the resulting risk of cancer. The values are compared to the benchmarks.As a result the process route health characteristics such as fugitive emissions rate, critical wind speed, chemical concentration in air and intake amount as well as the corresponding risk of exposure are produced. By using statistical meteorological data, health risks of occupational exposure can be estimated more realistically as probabilities. The approach is capable of comparing alternative processes to select the concept which is inherently occupationally healthier. Using this method, the exposure problems of a process can be identified earlier and proper decisions can be made early in process development or predesign stage.The concentration-based method is demonstrated by a case study of six competing manufacturing routes for methyl methacrylate (MMA). The C3 is found to be the most harmful alternative to health. Both concentration-based and intake-based methods are applied. The study indicates that the intake-based risk estimation benchmark is stricter than the exposure limit-based benchmark for carcinogens.     

Reducing fall risk by improving balance control: development, evaluation and knowledge-translation of new approaches

Problem

Falling is a leading cause of serious injury, loss of independence, and nursing-home admission in older adults. Impaired balance control is a major contributing factor.

Methods

Results from our balance-control studies have been applied in the development of new and improved interventions and assessment tools. Initiatives to facilitate knowledge-translation of this work include setting up a new network of balance clinics, a research-user network and a research-user advisory board.

Results

Our findings support the efficacy of the developed balance-training methods, balance-enhancing footwear, neuro-prosthesis, walker design, handrail-cueing system, and handrail-design recommendations in improving specific aspects of balance control.

Impact on Knowledge Users

A new balance-assessment tool has been implemented in the first new balance clinic, a new balance-enhancing insole is available through pharmacies and other commercial outlets, and handrail design recommendations have been incorporated into 10 Canadian and American building codes. Work in progress is expected to have further impact.     

我国安全产业发展现状与战略研究

安全产业是改善安全生产状况,实现安全发展的重要支撑和保障。本文明确了安全产业的相关概念及分类,对国内外安全产业发展状况进行了较为全面深入的调查,分析了我国安全产业发展的形势和主要问题,研究提出了我国安全产业发展的战略思路、原则及主要目标,明确了安全产业发展主要方向,重点领域、关键技术和重点产品,并提出了安全产业发展的重点工程和政策措施建议,为制定出台我国安全产业发展的政策措施、地方政府制定安全产业园区规划和企业投资发展安全产业提供重要的理论参考。