Safety and Health at Work最新文献

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Background

As the tremendous impact of extreme workloads, arduous working conditions, and disorganization disrupt humane job definitions in some industries, the need for workplace re-articulation was interfered to ameliorate psycho-social factors and suggest organizational intervention strategies. Especially for colossally wounded health-care (HC) systems, today it is now even more unrealizable to retain workforce resilience considering the immense impact of overwhelming working conditions.

Methods

This study introduces employment of concurrent engineering tools to re-design humane workplaces annihilating abatement over devoured resources. The study handles HC-workforce resilience in a pioneering motive to introduce transformation of well-known motivators and proposes solutions for retention and resilience issues grounding on HC workers’ own voice.

Results

The proposed adjustable approach introduces integral use of focus group studies, SWARA, and QFD methods, and was practiced on a real-world case regarding Turkish HC workforce. The paper also presents widespread effects of findings by tendering generalized psycho-social rehabilitation strategies. Results confirmed the modifications of the most potent incessant motivators.

Conclusion

“Burn out issues” and “Challenging work” were found as the most important motivator and satisfier, respectively, to be exigently fulfilled. Corrective interventions, required resolutions, and workplace articulation connotations were arbitrated in terms of entire outcomes on four dimensions in three different planning periods considering the current status, repercussions of pandemic, and contingency of similar catastrophes. Descriptive illustrations were additionally presented to support deducted interpretations.

Occupational use of cleaning products can cause asthma in healthcare workers but the cleaning agents responsible are not yet known. This study aimed to identify respiratory and other hazards in cleaning products on the National Health Service (NHS) supply chain online catalogue and used in the NHS. Information on cleaning products, their composition, and H-statements that identified hazard characteristics of chemical substances in them was obtained from chemical safety data sheets (SDSs). Furthermore, a quantitative structure-activity relationship model and a published asthmagen list were used to identify potential additional respiratory hazards. 473 cleaning products and 229 substances were identified. SDSs reported only 4 respiratory sensitizers but an additional 51 were suggested by the other 2 methods. In contrast, 25 respiratory irritants were identified using SDSs and only one from the asthmagen list. This comprehensive overview of cleaning agents' hazards has potential use in future risk assessment and epidemiological studies.

Background

Limited research has delved into the effects of work characteristics on premenstrual symptoms (PMS) in women, which can influence work performance and overlook potential hazards for women in their work environments. This study aimed to investigate the impact of shift work and working in a clean room on premenstrual symptoms, menstrual status, and menstrual pain among employed females in an electronics manufacturer.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted on menstruating female employees between August and December 2014, aged 18–55, who received regular employee health checks. Questionnaires were designed to collect information on demographics, personal lifestyle, menstrual status, menstrual pain scores, and self-reported premenstrual symptoms.

Results

Among 7,193 participants, 18.6% reported moderate to severe menstrual pain affecting their work. Female workers who reported shift work showed an increased prevalence of moderate to severe premenstrual symptoms, including fatigue (RR = 1.20), somatic discomforts (RR = 1.04), diarrhea (RR = 1.04), and tension (RR = 1.05). Additionally, shift work was associated with an elevated risk of experiencing a moderate or significant impact of menstrual pain on work (RR = 1.03), menstrual irregularity (RR = 1.30), and high menstrual pain (RR = 1.23). Working in a clean room was associated with an increased risk of high menstrual pain (RR = 1.13). Subjects working shifts in a clean room had the highest pain scores compared to the other groups.

Conclusion

This study underscores the association of work-related factors on PMS in female employees. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of premenstrual symptoms in female workers with different work characteristics, emphasizing the potential hazards of work-related factors on female employees.

Background

This study aimed to identify the prevalence of workplace hazards and organizational protection resources according to the size of the enterprise in the manufacturing industry of the Republic of Korea.

Methods

We analyzed data of waged workers (weighted N = 5,879) from the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey (2017). Enterprise sizes were categorized as “micro enterprises” (less than five employees), “small enterprises” (5–49 employees) and “medium-large enterprises” (50 or more employees). Self-reported exposure to 18 physical, chemical, ergonomic, and psychological hazards were measured. The presence of organizational protection resources such as a labor union, a safety delegate working at the company, designated spaces to deal with safety, and the provision of health and safety information was evaluated.

Results

Compared to workers in medium-large enterprises, those in micro enterprises showed a higher proportion of exposure to most of physical, chemical, ergonomic, and psychological hazards, except for exposure to solvents, prolonged sitting, and experiencing a state of emotional unrest. On the other hand, workers in micro enterprises had the lowest proportion of access to organizational protection resources.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that manufacturing workers at the micro enterprise in the Republic of Korea are exposed to the most hazardous work environment and yet have access to the fewest organizational protection resources.

Background

In recent years, the rise of workplace racial discrimination and microaggressions has decreased the efficiency and productivity of organizations and institutions, and realization of organizational goals globally. Accordingly, it was decided to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis in the present study with the aim of investigating the prevalence of microaggression and racial discrimination in the workplace.

Methods

The PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases were systematically searched for studies that had reported the effects of work stress among managers. The search did include a lower time limit and was conducted in June 2023. The heterogeneity of the studies was investigated using the I² index, and accordingly random effects method was adopted for meta-analysis. Data analysis was conducted with the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (v.2) software.

Results

In the review of seven studies with a sample size of 2998 people, the overall prevalence of microaggression and racial discrimination in the workplace was found to be 73.6% and 18.8%, respectively. Publication bias within the selected studies was examined with the Egger's test, which indicated the absence of publication bias for the pooled prevalence of workplace microaggression (p: 0.264) and for the pooled prevalence of workplace racial discrimination (p: 0.061).

Conclusion

The results obtained from this report indicate the high impact of micro-aggression and racial discrimination in the workplace. Considering the negative effects of such behaviours, the findings from this study will be helpful to managers and health policymakers.

Background

Risk perception plays a crucial role in workers' unsafe behaviors. However, little research has explored why workers generate biased risk perceptions, namely underestimating or overestimating the risks of unsafe actions. Cognitive biases in risk perception arise from uncertainties about the dangers of unsafe behaviors. As a typical heuristic strategy, the anchoring effect is critical in decision-making under uncertain conditions. Consequently, this study empirically analyzed the influence of anchoring effects on workers' risk perception.

Methods

In 2022, a survey was conducted with 1,418 coal mine workers from Shanxi Province, China. The survey instruments assessed workers' risk perception of unsafe behavior, anchoring effects, need for cognition, and safety knowledge. Multivariable linear regression models were employed to analyze the associations among these variables.

Results

The findings verified the proposed anchoring effects. Specifically, experimenter-provided high-risk anchors led workers to overestimate unsafe behavior risks, thus reducing their tendency to engage in such behavior. In contrast, experimenter-provided low-risk anchors and accident-injury experiences (self-generated anchors) decreased workers' risk perception, increasing their propensity to engage in unsafe behavior. Additionally, workers' safety knowledge and need for cognition significantly affected anchoring effects.

Conclusion

This research enhances workplace safety studies by applying the anchoring effect from psychology to risk perception research. Suggestions for improving risk perception encompass implementing hazard warnings, fostering safety education, and providing training. Furthermore, managers should give special attention to workers with accident-injury experience and promptly correct their accident fluke mentality, thereby improving overall risk awareness.

Background

In the food manufacturing industry, exposure to inhalable aerosols contributes to respiratory illnesses such as occupational asthma and rhinitis. However, there is a lack of comprehensive exposure assessment studies. This study evaluated occupational exposure to inhalable aerosols in an instant powdered food manufacturing plant during work operations involving dried food and powders.

Methods

In total, 50 workers from an instant powdered food manufacturing plant were recruited. Personal inhalable aerosol exposure measurements were taken for both full-shift and task-based activities. The concentrations of inhalable aerosols were analyzed to identify any variation within and across departments, as well as between seasons, handedness, and sex.

Results

In total, 134 personal air samples were collected, and the particulate mass was determined gravimetrically. The concentrations of inhalable aerosols ranged from 0.1 to 27 mg/m³ for full-shift exposure measurements and 3.1 to 73 mg/m³ for task-based measurements. Statistically significant differences in mean aerosol concentrations were found across departments (A:B p < 0.001, A:C p < 0.05, B:C p < 0.001) and between seasons (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

This study revealed high exposure to inhalable aerosols among workers, particularly those involved in manual weighing, mixing, and adding powders. The significant differences between departments highlight the specific activities contributing to increased inhalable aerosol concentrations. Seasonal variations were also evident, with autumn showing higher concentrations of inhalable aerosols in all departments compared with summer. These findings emphasize the importance of understanding the distribution of aerosol concentrations across different work tasks and departments, particularly during different seasons.