Syftet med denna studie var att analysera anmälda arbetsolyckor inom sjöfarten utefter frekvens och konsekvens och således kunna dra slutsatser om vilka arbetsolyckor som är allvarligast. Studiens syfte var också att finna eventuella samband mellan dessa olyckor. Efter kontakt med Sjöfartens arbetsmiljönämnd beställdes statistik från Arbetsmiljöverket. Denna statistik bearbetades på olika vis, bland annat genom att stora avgränsningar gjordes gällande typ av befattning ombord. Efter att ha studerat hur förutsättningarna för anmälan av arbetsskada förändrats valdes relevanta år. Resultatet av studien visar att när en person snubblar, halkar, trampar snett eller går tungt leder det i många fall till lång sjukfrånvaro. Det är också denna typ av olyckor som sker oftast. Att en person förlorar kontroll över föremål eller utrustning för förflyttning av material är också något som sker ofta och leder till lång sjukfrånvaro. Det enda riktiga samband som hittats är att den yttre faktorn tross (förtöjningslina/grovt tågvirke) förekommer i flera arbetsolyckor med olika konsekvens och orsak. / The purpose of this thesis was to analyse the reported work-related accidents in shipping by using frequency combined with consequence. Thereafter the purpose was to reach conclusions regarding which work-related accident was the most serious. The thesis also aimed to find if there were any connections between these accidents. Statistics were ordered from the Swedish Work Environment Authority. These statistics were processed in several ways, for instance demarcations regarding position onboard was made. Since the conditions of reporting workrelated accidents had changed during time, relevant years was chosen after consideration. The result of the study shows that when a person experiences an accident where he or she stumbles, trips, slips or treads heavily, the person is more likely to have a long sick-leave. These types of accidents are also the most common ones. To lose control of equipment or to lose control of equipment used to move material is also a common accident leading to a long sickleave. The only connection found is that the external factor hawser is present at several accidents with different consequences and cause.

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p> <p>Annually, thousands of immigrant women employed in precarious low-paying jobs become more marginalized after experiencing work-related injuries because they cannot obtain just compensation from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). In 1913 Sir William Meredith attempted to establish an equitable compensation system. Over the decades, and especially in the past 25 years, the influence of neoliberal forces has continued to create a system that resembles a market-based insurance model.</p> <p>Using an institutional ethnographic approach, this research explicates how the policies of the WSIB are implicated in ruling relations. Four immigrant women who had experienced work-related injuries were interviewed. Their experiences of the problematic were mapped to the texts: the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, the New Experimental Experience Rating and Merit Adjusted Premium Programs, and WSIB’s Forms 6, 7 and 8.</p> <p>The findings indicate that (a) work-related injuries have resulted in the immense social, emotional, moral, financial, and physical degradation of the participants; (b) an important relationship exists between the contents of the texts and the adverse experiences of the participants; (c) the texts influenced the ways that employers, WSIB service and health care providers, and legal professionals responded to the participants; and (d) the texts influenced the women’s experiences of the system and directed the actions that they had to take in very specific ways.</p> <p>This study examined the experiences of this group of women about whose experiences of the system little is known. Although the information that they provided was strong and supported what is already known about how other groups of injured workers experience the system, the small sample size suggests that additional research with a larger sample size is warranted. Because the women’s employers were not interviewed, research on the influence of these texts on the experiences and actions of all stakeholders would add to our knowledge.</p> <p><strong><br /></strong></p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

A modern society is often characterized by a large measure of welfare that all citizens take part of to a greater or lesser extent. Welfare can be defined as the social rights and benefits enjoyed by the habitants of a country. In Sweden, the social safety net is well developed and offers financial compensation in several situations and the individual can safely rely on the social safety net. In addition, legislations and insurances have been developed to offer protection to the habitants in special deserving cases. For example, when a person gets injured at the work-place or in traffic there are insurances that allow compensation regardless of any negligence, so called culpa. The insurance form is called no fault insurances. In addition, there is tort law that is applicable on all non-contractual damages. Tort law, private insurance law, insurances due to collective bargaining, public insurances covering occupation as well as different areas of the social security system are all connected in a vast and complex structure. The main purpose of the essay is to analyze the interdependence between the different compensation systems and to examine the differences that the no fault insurances concerning work related injuries and injuries due to traffic shows between them but also in comparison with tort law regarding for example compensation and the possibility to appeal a “wrongfully” made decision. The first part of the essay will provide a historical background to the development of the no fault insurances, especially regarding occupational damage and accidents in traffic, and focus on the relation between the different compensation systems - the Swedish model. Further on the motives to the regulations will be examined, followed by cases illustrating the actual application and specialness of the regulations. Analyzes and conclusions will be found in the different chapters of the essay, and they will be put together in a final chapter.

Work-related injuries are a persistent problem in the manufacturing industry. This research focuses on factors involved in the incidence, severity, and effective treatment of work-related injuries in a population of manufacturing workers. Data from a large Midwestern manufacturing facility were obtained with the aims of measuring the association between shift work and injury incidence, measuring the impact of injury reporting lag on injury severity, describing an intervention designed to provide expedited treatment to injured workers, and describing worker and injury characteristics associated with treatment success. Using injury and employment data from the Midwestern manufacturing facility for the years 2011 and 2012, we found that workers on second shift had a marginally significant increase in injury incidence compared to first shift workers. No differences were observed between third shift and first shift workers. Gender and job tenure were also found to be associated with increased injury rates. Job tenure was, in fact, a more significant predictor of injury than age. Using injury data from the years 2011 and 2012, we found that delayed injury reporting had a significant impact on injury severity. As the lag time increased between the date of injury and the injury report date, so too did the odds that the injury would lead to restricted work days. We did not, however, find the same association between reporting lag and lost work days. Injury type was a significant predictor of both restricted and lost days. Job tenure and body part injured were also predictors of lost days. Finally, we collected data from the years 2007-2009 on injured workers treated for musculoskeletal disorders through an intervention designed to reduce treatment lag time. The intervention, delivered by occupational health nurses and physical therapists, provided injured workers with a physical therapy visit within three days of reporting an injury. The intervention was designed to circumvent two barriers to timely care, the delay between the injury report date and the first occupational health physician visit, and the delay between the first physician visit and the first physical therapy visit. The most significant predictor of program discharge success was patient age. Older workers tended to have lower odds of being discharged to their baseline work duties compared to young workers. Overall, nearly two-thirds of the injured workers referred to the program were successfully discharged, regardless of gender, body part injured, cause of injury, or nature of injury. This project addresses the important issue of injuries in the manufacturing industry. We provide evidence on the factors associated with injury incidence and injury severity among workers in a large Midwestern manufacturing facility. We also show that workplace injury treatment interventions directed by occupational health nurses and physical therapists can be very effective in returning injured workers to their regular job duties. Our evidence suggests that future research and injury prevention efforts should focus on shift workers, low tenured workers, reducing delayed injury reporting, and reducing delayed injury treatment.

Health and safety at work The topic of the diploma thesis is Health and safety at work (HSW). The topic has been chosen for its importance and topicality. The diploma thesis is structured into eight chapters. The first chapter gives a characterization of HSW. Safe and healthy working conditions are protecting employees and other people against harm to their health and safety. Ensuring of HSW is significant to employees, employers and society in general. The second chapter describes the history of HSW. The third chapter deals with the main legislation provided for the health and safety of people in the workplace. There are also described international organizations and their legal provisions in connection with HSW. The fourth chapter discusses the rights and obligations of both employers and employees. Employers have the primary responsibility for ensuring HSW. On the other hand, employees have to take reasonable care to protect their health and safety and the health and safety of other people in the workplace. Employers have a duty to cooperate with employees, or their representatives, on health and safety matters. There are also described rights of trade unions and representatives of employees in HSW. The fifth chapter describes further conditions for ensuring HSW. The sixth chapter discusses the...

Karpaltunnelsyndrom är den vanligaste formen av infångningsneuropati hos den vuxna befolkningen. Kända riskfaktorer för karpaltunnelsyndrom inkluderar arbetsskador som upprepad och repetitiv användning av handen och handleden, men även andra orsaker som graviditet, kön, eventuella frakturer med mera. Elektroneurografi (neurografi) är en klinisk undersökningsmetod som används för att diagnostisera och gradera nervskadan av karpaltunnelsyndrom. Syftet med studien var att jämföra motorisk och sensorisk nervledningshastighet och amplitud mellan arbetsrelaterade skador och andra orsaker vid bekräftad karpaltunnelsyndrom. Patienter rekryterades från avledningen för klinisk neurofysiologi på Gävle sjukhus som var kallade för en neurografiundersökning med frågeställning karpaltunnelsyndrom. Inklusionskriterier i studien var patienter, kvinnor och män i åldern 18–65 år med bekräftad karpaltunnelsyndrom. Neurografi utfördes motorisk och sensoriskt på n. medianus och n. ulnaris bilateralt. Vidare undersöktes n. medianus bilateralt med 14–7 metoden. Ingen signifikant skillnad hittades mellan arbetsskador och andra orsaker för karpaltunnelsyndrom vid jämförelse mellan motorisk och sensorisk nervledningshastighet samt amplitud. Ingen skillnad hittades i 14–7 metoden vid registrering av n. medianus mellan grupperna. Inget samband hittades mellan kroppslängd och motorisk nervledningshastighet. / Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common form of entrapment neuropathy in the adult population. Known risk factors for carpal tunnel syndrome include work related injuries such as repeated and repetitive use of hand and wrist, but also other causes such as pregnancy, gender, possible fractures and more. Electroneurography (neurography) is a clinical examination method used to diagnose and grade the nerve damage of carpal tunnel syndrome. The purpose of this study is to compare motor and sensory nerve conduction velocity and amplitude between work related injuries and other causes when confirmed carpal tunnel syndrome. Patients were recruited from the neurophysiology department at Gävle hospital who were called for a neurography examination with a question of carpal tunnel syndrome. Inclusion criteria in the study were patients, women, and men between the age 18-65 years with confirmed carpal tunnel syndrome. Neurography were performed bilaterally for both motor and sensory function of the median and ulnar nerve. The median nerve was also examined bilaterally with the 14-7 method. No difference was found between work related injuries and other causes in carpal tunnel syndrome when comparing motor and sensory nerve conduction velocity and amplitude. No difference was found in the 14-7 method when registering the n. medianus between the groups. No correlation was found between body height and motor nerve conduction velocity.

Les impacts des changements climatiques sur la population sont nombreux et ont été relativement bien documentés, ce qui n’est pas le cas de ces impacts sur la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs. L’objectif de cette thèse est de documenter les effets négatifs des changements climatiques sur la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs dans une région d’un pays industrialisé à climat tempéré, comme le Québec. Pour y arriver, deux approches ont été utilisées : a) les dangers et les effets sanitaires ont été identifiés par une revue de la littérature validée par des experts nationaux et internationaux, et des priorités de recherche ont été établies à l’aide d’une méthode de consultation itérative, b) des modèles statistiques, utiles à l’estimation des impacts sanitaires des changements climatiques, ont été développés pour apprécier les associations entre la survenue de lésions professionnelles et l’exposition des travailleurs aux chaleurs estivales et à l’ozone troposphérique, deux problématiques préoccupantes pour le Québec. Le bilan des connaissances a mis en évidence cinq catégories de dangers pouvant affecter directement ou indirectement la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs au Québec (vagues de chaleur, polluants de l’air, rayonnements ultraviolets, événements météorologiques extrêmes, maladies vectorielles transmissibles et zoonoses) et cinq conditions pouvant entraîner des modifications dans l’environnement de travail et pouvant ultimement affecter négativement la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs (changements dans les méthodes agricoles et d’élevage, altérations dans l’industrie de la pêche, perturbations de l’écosystème forestier, dégradation de l’environnement bâti et émergence de nouvelles industries vertes). Quant aux modélisations, elles suggèrent que les indemnisations quotidiennes pour des maladies liées à la chaleur et pour des accidents de travail augmentent avec les températures estivales, et que ces associations varient selon l’âge des travailleurs, le secteur industriel et la catégorie professionnelle (manuelle vs autre). Des associations positives statistiquement non significatives entre les indemnisations pour des atteintes respiratoires aiguës et les concentrations d’ozone troposphérique ont aussi été observées. Dans l’ensemble, cette thèse a permis de dégager douze pistes de recherche prioritaires pour le Québec se rapportant à l’acquisition de connaissances, à la surveillance épidémiologique et au développement de méthodes d’adaptation. Selon les résultats de cette recherche, les intervenants en santé au travail et les décideurs devraient déployer des efforts pour protéger la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs et mettre en place des actions préventives en vue des changements climatiques. / The impacts of climate change on human health are multiple and have been extensively studied in the general population, whereas these impacts on the working population have received little attention. In this perspective, the objective of this research is to document the negative effects of climate change on Occupational health and safety (OHS) in northern industrialized countries with a temperate climate, such as in Quebec. To achieve this goal, two approaches were used: a) exposure/hazards and potential effects of climate change on OHS were identified using a narrative review of the scientific literature validated by a working group of international and national experts and Quebec’s stakeholders, and research priorities applicable to the Quebec context were established by a consensus approach, b) statistical models, useful for quantifying the health impacts of climate change, were developed to estimate the associations between occupational illnesses, injuries and exposure to summer outdoor temperatures or tropospheric ozone, as these climate conditions are among the most preoccupying issues related to climate change in Quebec. The literature highlighted five categories of hazards that are likely to impact OHS in Quebec (heat waves/increased temperatures, air pollutants, UV radiation, extreme weather events, vector-borne/zoonotic diseases) and five conditions that could potentially affect the working environment and negatively impact the OHS (changes in agriculture/breeding methods, alterations in the fishing industry, disruptions of the forest ecosystem, deterioration of the built environment and emerging green industries). The modeled associations suggest that daily compensations for heat-related illnesses and work-related injury increase with ambient temperature, and that these relations vary according to workers age, industries and physical demand of the occupation (i.e. manual vs other type). Positive non-statistically significant associations were observed between acute respiratory problems compensations and levels of ozone. Overall, this work produced a list of twelve research topics for the Quebec context, all related to the knowledge acquisition, the surveillance of diseases or the development of adaptation strategies. According to this thesis, stakeholders and decision-makers should make effort to increase the protection of workers health and safety in the context of climate change.