A case-referent study was designed to investigate the relationship between occupational solvent exposure and mental disorders. New cases of mental disorder (males, 40 to 69 years old), were individually matched for age and date of admission to hospital patients and neighbors. An occupational history was obtained from 91.7% of the sample (1143 subjects, or 381 'trios'), during a telephone interview or by mail. / No increased risk of mental disorders was found among subjects exposed to moderate levels of solvents, but the risk was elevated--though not to a statistically significant degree--at exposure to high levels. When diagnoses were divided into psychotic (ICD-9 codes 290-299) and non-psychotic (ICD-9 codes 300-316), the latter group presented an increased risk with exposure to high levels of solvents (odds ratio = 2.43, 90% C.I. = 1.16-5.08). No systematic exposure-response relationship was demonstrated, although there was a suggestion of increased risk of mental disorders among subjects exposed to high levels for 5 to 9 years. / Various aspects of referent selection--with a specific comparison of hospital and population referents--were also examined as a methodological issue of case-referent studies.

Occupational histories collected during interviews in an epidemiological study and then expressed as types and levels of occupational exposure have been compared to the results acquired in a physico-chemical analysis of the particles extracted from pulmonary parenchyma of forty-two subjects with different types of cancer. The original scenario was for a group of workers, ten exposed mainly to asbestos fibers, ten to silica, ten to welding fumes, six smokers, and six nonsmokers not exposed to the target contaminants. Fragments of tissue that had been formolated or covered in paraffin were used after having been standardized by two pathologists. The preparation and analytical protocols were validated so that a representative number of particles could be counted and "reasonably" characterized from their morphology and their chemical composition by transmission electron microscopy and laser microprobe mass analyser. / A Kappa test revealed that there was a limited correlation at the 5% level of confidence between the work history history and physico-chemical estimators for the group of subjects exposed to asbestos fiber (k = 0.475, p = 0.001), a 10% level for the group with silica exposure (k = 0.213, p = 0.089) and at a 5% level in the unexposed nonsmoker group (k = 0.417, p = 0.003). The average pulmonary dust burden of the log-normalized values for certain minerals that were extracted from subjects belonging to certain groups of interest were statistically different.

No description available.

Shift work is a major feature of modern work practices. It involves individuals working at times considered unconventional for most workers, such as at night. Although the community often benefits from such work practices, shift work can be hazardous, for both the workers and the community. The thesis reviews the main problems of shift work, especially when involving night work. These are: an increased risk for accidents and errors; increased sleepiness and fatigue due to difficulties sleeping; increased health problems; and disruption to family and social life. Strategies to limit the risk associated with these hazards are also reviewed, and include using knowledge of circadian principles to plan shift schedules, sleeping schedules and meal times; planned napping; consideration of the work environment; and newer techniques such as using bright lights and melatonin. While this information is known to the research community, it has not filtered down to many shift work workplaces and thus has had little if any positive effect on actual shift work practices. For a change in shift work practices to occur, the research knowledge must become available to every shift work workplace, as must some incentive or motivation to ensure that workplaces make the necessary changes. The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) laws provide such a framework. Considering shift work as an OHS hazard would ensure that all shift work workplaces identified the hazards of shift work, conducted a risk assessment to identify the risk associated with the hazards, and then implemented the appropriate strategies, from the hierarchy of shift work hazard control measures, for both employers and employees, to fulfil their duty of care to minimise the risks. Considering shift work as an OHS issue would ensure that the research information was used as intended – to improve the safety, performance, and quality of life of all shift workers. The present thesis reviews the shift work research and introduces an OHS perspective as a method to manage shift work effectively.

Historically society has, at various periods in time, protected the health, safety and welfare of those most disadvantaged by using socially based collective mechanisms. Within the United Kingdom the model used to achieve this collective protection has developed from proscription, under the Factories Acts, to a more self-regulatory and risk based approach advocated by Lord Roben's under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and its relevant statutory provisions. The body tasked with providing examples of good practice and regulating the provisions of the Act, The Health and Safety Executive, advocate a management-led model using the principles of total quality management (TQM). This model is one which purports to focus on a systematic and empowered approach by involving all staff in the evaluation and reduction of systematic error within processes throughout the whole organisation. It can be argued that the contemporary disadvantaged are no longer the children of the industrial revolution but are those members of society who seek employment yet are handicapped by society through disability or impairment- the paradigm of disability. This study sought to explore this paradigm of disability and TQM within the context of two contrasting industrial sectors - the engineering and retail sectors. The study sought to break new ground by exploring whether the TQM model, which advocates system totality, reduction in variation and continuous improvement as fundamental principles, does in fact provide improved cognitive adequacy (a construct of institutional responsibility, communication and problem resolution) within the paradigm of disability. The study used a triangulation methodology to collect qualitative data at the individual and institutional level. This involved a number of phases comprising group discussions, focus groups and self-completed questionnaires (n=1135) by economically active disabled, impaired and handicapped individuals and at the organisational level case study analysis (n=8) and self-completed questionnaires (n=2181) by institutional key players. Although the construct of disability is multifaceted, the study concluded that at the individual level a number of factors were perceived to be ranked higher and as such more important to disabled employees in maintaining their health, safety and welfare. These were further classified into 'software' and 'hardware' domains of a safety management system with institutional social support being most important. Social support comprised support, communication and trust and was perceived to be low at the organisational level. At the institutional or organisational level social support can be measured using the theory of cognitive adequacy comprising responsibility, communication and problem resolution. When measured at the organisational level, via the policy domain, cognitive adequacy was once more concluded to be low or absent. These results applied equally to individuals within both the retail and engineering sectors. The study also concluded that, at the organisational level, safety systems which can be categorised as formal did not exist to meet the needs of the disabled within the organisations studied. This was particularly evident at the policy domain level where it was noted that few companies had included provisions for the allocation of specifically defined responsibility and control. However there existed many informal sub-systems which had developed through group dynamics and personal interrelations. In many cases those tasked with operational responsibility were unaware of such sub-systems. There also existed many barriers within the disability paradigm to both the duty holder and disabled employees meeting specific duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. In particular communication, both verbal and non-verbal, presented the highest ranked barrier to organisations achieving a high cognitive adequacy condition. Each construct was measured using contingency tables and log-linear analysis to determine any association between TQM and non-TQM organisations for the paradigm of disability. Significant differences in data acquisition, performance measurement and problem resolution existed between TQM and Non-TQM organisations. However in relation to the paradigm of disability, the study concluded that the data supported the null hypothesis that, in the context of the paradigm of disability, no significant differences were exhibited between the safety management systems (SMS) of organisations who had adopted TQM and those that had not. Holistically this study has provided a deeper understanding of the complexity of the disabled paradigm and safety provisions at work.

Statement of problem: Dynamic work environments and physically demanding jobs in the healthcare and commercial construction industries present workers with a constantly changing suite of hazards, and hence the changing need for controls. Workers in these industries experience high rates of MSDs and other illnesses and injuries. Hazard recognition and control are essential and inspections are essential elements used to identify and anticipate hazards and to implement corrective action as part of a systems-level approach to tackle the dynamic worksite. Methods: Because there is a dearth of practical resources for evaluating ergonomic risk factors in healthcare environments the first step in this dissertation was to explore the development of a tool and process for identifying modifiable aspects of acute care hospital patient care units to prevent work-related MSDs. To address a lack of systems-level approaches to worksite-based interventions in construction, an ergonomics program that relies heavily on inspections was developed and evaluated on five pairs of commercial construction sites. To examine associations between physical working conditions and safety climate, the relationship between weekly safety inspections and weekly safety climate scores was examined on six commercial construction sites. Results: The inspection process provided a structured method for recognizing hazards in dynamic and physically demanding work environments and reporting both observations and recommendations to decision makers. There were no significant intervention effects, however key challenges to intervention implementation were competing safety and production priorities and break practices leading to inconsistencies delivering the intervention and key resources to workers. Variations in week-to-week safety inspections were highly correlated with variations in week-to-week safety climate. Conclusions: Inspection tools and processes were useful in a systems-approach to workplace interventions in the dynamic industries of healthcare and commercial construction. Worksite-based ergonomics interventions focusing efforts on hazard identification, recommendations for solutions, and reinforcing both positive and negative feedback to safety management and workers can have a major impact on worker wellbeing. In addition, physical working conditions (as identified through weekly safety inspections) are an important aspect of the week to week changes of safety climate in the dynamic commercial construction environment.

Disability management is a relatively new field that has received some attention recently. Although organizations have traditionally avoided the management of disability and its associated costs, they cannot continue to do so. This paper demonstrated the high costs associated with workplace injuries. A literature search led to a plethora of models for managing disability. The purpose of this paper was to prove the need for disability management, but more importantly to develop an ideal disability management model: the Diamond Health Management (DHM) model. The model developed in this paper was the result of analyzing several models in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. Key elements were applied to the DHM Model. The DHM Model has gone beyond other models in its completeness and simplicity. As well, the DHM Model has a focus on the new challenges facing disability management: psychological disorders, substance abuse, and repetitive strain injuries. Evidence was presented to support the elements present in the DHM Model. Finally, suggestions for future research and implications for the field were discussed.

Cette recherche, de type qualitatif, a pour but la reconstruction du processus institutionnel d'enquete et de prise de decision dans le domaine de l'inspection du travail au Quebec. Plus precisement, nous voulons regarder le cheminement quotidien de l'inspecteur de la Commission de la sante et de la securite du travail (CSST) en ce qui a trait a son role dans les enquetes d'accidents et a son mandat au niveau de la prise en charge par le milieu "employeurs et travailleurs", lui permettant de proteger les travailleurs, des risques de sante de securite, dans les lieux de travail. Cette recherche nous a permis de conclure que les exigences du mandat, que l'on a confie a la CSST, est de proteger le travailleur, se trouvant, en permanence, module par une autre exigence, sans aucun doute, aussi forte; "celle de la survie economique, des entreprises, qu'elle controle". (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Over the last few years the lay media have raised the question whether there may be a link between the use of police radar and the development of cancer. Radar has been used to measure traffic speed since the mid 1950's. The purpose of this research study was to determine the profile of exposure and cancer outcomes in members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who have ever performed radar duties. The design was a historical cohort study involving 4 cohorts. The target population was defined as all members of the RCMP who had been assigned to highway patrol from 1973 onward. Four cohorts of subjects were identified within this population and surveyed: pensioned members (n = 1819), active members who had 30 or more consecutive days of sick leave (n = 750), a sample of active members who had less than 30 consecutive days of sick leave (n = 750) and the deceased members (n = 146). The questionnaire ascertained police service, radar unit usage, diagnosis of cancer, risk factors for testicular cancer and socio-demorgraphic information. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The unilateral muscle activity of the erector spinae muscles, hip extensors, knee extensors, ankle dorsiflexors and plantarflexors, along with joint articulation kinematics of the ankle, knee, hip and lumbar region in the sagittal plane, were examined as' a multi-link system. The objective was to determine the effects of wearing work boots on joint kinematics with particular emphasis on the lumbar angle formed by the spinous processes of S3-L3-T10. Seventeen male subjects volunteered to perform specific 'repeated measures' exercises of a material handling nature while wearing properly laced work boots and barefoot with the feet on boot wedges but in an unbound state. Differences in relative angles, and EMG magnitude and timing were examined. The results of this study demonstrate that by externally restricting the articulation of the ankle-foot complex, other joints of the body compensate. If the restriction is in place for the most part, potentially, derogatory side effects could result such as back problems and the low back could become more susceptible to injury. Any research identifying other etiological factors that could be contributing to back pain or injury is very relevant. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)