Class of 2012 Abstract / Specific Aims: The purpose of this study was to test an interactive educational program for older adults on preventing accidental falls. Methods: This was a prospective, descriptive study evaluating the helpfulness of an interactive educational program. English speaking residents were recruited from five independent senior living communities in Arizona. The intervention consisted of a 30-minute interactive PowerPoint presentation followed by a 10-minute question and answer session. Information provided during the presentation focused on information from the CDC and the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence. Participants completed an anonymous questionnaire to rate the helpfulness of the program. The primary dependent variable was overall helpfulness of the educational session. Other variables included: intention of changing future behavior related to preventing falls, whether participants would recommend the program to others, participant perception of gained knowledge, change in fear of falling, and interest in meeting with pharmacist to discuss medications. Categorical data was analyzed by calculating frequencies and percentages and continuous data by calculating means and SDs. A t-test for independent groups was used to compare men and women. Main Results: A total of 93 individuals attended the presentations. Out of 81 completed surveys, 5 did not indicate gender, 7 additional did not indicate age, and 6 were over 89 years of age. Demographic data for the men and women was similar. 90% of participants indicated that the program was either "very helpful" or "moderately helpful". 92% of participants responded “absolutely yes” or “likely” that they would recommend the program. No participants strongly disagreed that they had a better understanding of fall risks or medications that increase fall risk. 87% of participants responded “absolutely yes” or “likely” that they plan to increase daily exercise . 42% of participants said it was “not likely” that they plan to make changes in their living environment. Conclusions: An interactive educational program on fall safety and prevention is helpful for older adults. As one of the most widely accessible health care providers, pharmacists and pharmacy students are well suited to provide patient education and improve outcomes. The results of this study provide preliminary data supporting the usefulness of a patient education program on fall safety prevention administered by pharmacy students.

M.Phil. / There has been considerable debate amongst specialists as how to minimise accidents in dangerous working environments. Irrespective of many contributions from a variety of studies, inputs and attempts, safety in dangerous working environments still remain a problem of great concern. This is equally true in especially the mining sector in South Africa. To this extent this study was conducted in an underground hard rock mine in the North West Province. Leadership may play an important role in the behaviour of employees in the work place, and may therefore have a direct impact in minimising workplace related accidents and incidents. Analysis indicated that it would be beneficial to focus on the real reasons for accidents in the mining industry i.e. the human factor. It was calculated that the human factor could be blamed for 87% of injuries in the South African mining industry, with 11% where a direct link exists with the physical working environment. This study is not an attempt to provide an answer that will solve all mining related incidents and accidents. It is an attempt to use Personal and Professional Leadership (PPL) as framework in order to establish if PPL may be a contributing factor in solving accidents and fatalities. Einstein once said, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them". Suffice to say that our present problems are a product and consequence of our past and present paradigms.

Class of 2015 Abstract / Objectives: The purpose of this review was to determine the safety of various pre-workout supplements that utilize proprietary blends in comparison with some of the most common individual ingredients; caffeine, creatine, and B-alanine. We hypothesized that there will be a greater number of adverse events reported for proprietary products than for the individual active ingredients. Additionally, we also wanted to look at the efficacy of the same aforementioned products. We hypothesized that there would be no statistically significant differences in performance between the two arms. Methods: Four databases were searched for subjects that were 18-35 years of age that were already physically active. The number of participants included in each trial ranged from 6 to 98. Results: Caffeine was the only individual compound that affected health markers, increasing mean arterial pressure (MAP) (P<0.05), and HR in 2 of the 3 studies (P<0.05) significantly. Both caffeine and creatine showed a benefit in maximal exertion, but only caffeine improved endurance at doses of 3mg/kg (P<0.05). Proprietary blends did not show a benefit, but serious adverse events such as liver failure were reported. Conclusions: Individually caffeine, creatine, and B-alanine all look to be safe at the recommended doses in healthy and active individuals, with caffeine and creatine benefitting performance. Pre-workout blends should be safe in theory, but due to the unregulated nature of the supplement industry there are a number of serious adverse events that occur. Untested amphetamine-like compounds seem to be the most common addition, with contamination of other ingredients such as anti-depressants occurring as well.

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.

The extant research on the experiences of lesbian/gay, bisexual, and questioning —unsure- (LGBQ) youth shows that they have a lower sense of belonging and safety a tschool, are more likely to be victims of various types of bullying and to skip school, and use drugs and alcohol than their straight peers. Lately, however, a shift in direction towards examining the protective factors, which promote the well being of LGBQ youth, is happening. Extending the emerging research on this shift, the present study investigated the role of supportive adults at school in predicting LGBQ youth sense of safety and belonging. Also, this study examined whether adult support moderated the relationship between sexual orientation victimization and skipping school for LGBQ youth separately. The participants in this study (N = 19,551) were students (grades 8 through 12) enrolled in high schools that took part in a district-wide survey in a large, ethnically and economically diverse urban school district in British Columbia. Results showed that perceptions of adult support played a significant role in predicting the safety and belonging of LGBQ youth. Adult support significantly moderated the relationship between sexual orientation victimization and skipping school for bisexual and questioning youth but not for lesbian/gay youth. The implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed in the last section of this thesis. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Fire retardant treated timber has been used in interior and exterior building structures to satisfy the legal flammability requirements. Dricon and NCX are two commercial phosphorus-based products sold by Arch Timber Protection. However, modifications to their formulation may be required due to their boron and formaldehyde contents, respectively. This research aimed to acquire an understanding of the effect of a number of phosphorus-based fire retardants on the decomposition, flammability and burning behaviour of timber, in order to aid their development. Materials have been investigated on a micro-, bench- and intermediate-scale, and evaluated for physical properties. Thermal decomposition has been studied using thermogravimetric analysis in both air and nitrogen, and simultaneous thermal analysis coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Flammability and burning behaviour has been studied using microscale combustion calorimetry and cone calorimetry. Residue analysis has been carried out using scanning electron microscopy coupled with electron dispersive x-ray analysis. Existing fire retardant timber treatments were applied to timber specimens. All three treatments operated in the condensed phase by reducing the onset temperature of timber pyrolysis, and promoting the formation of a stable char and water. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a barrier formation on the surface of Dricon treated char. All treatments increased the CO:CO2 ratio during burning in the cone calorimeter. This is attributed to reduced volatile gas production, enabling simultaneous glowing oxidation of the char surface. Depth of penetration studies showed that high concentrations of phosphorus on the surface of timber is sufficient to significantly reduce the fire growth rate index, but deeper penetration and increased overall phosphorus concentration is more effective at reducing the total heat released by the substrate. New phosphorus-based formulations were applied to timber and their effect on its flammability was assessed. All treatments reduced the total heat released, but not all were effective enough to be used commercially. Ammonium hypophosphite increased the residue yield of timber and was shown to operate via both condensed and gas phase fire retardancy mechanisms. A low melting glass formed a gel-like barrier on the surface of the char, but its melting point was too high to optimise the reduction in peak heat release rate. Both ammonium polyphosphate and guanidine/ammonium phosphate formulations promoted carbonisation of the timber structure. A coherent barrier layer was formed by the organoclay; however, the improvement was not effective enough to warrant further investigation. Combinations of nanometric oxides and phosphoric acid were effective. The oxides catalysed the phosphoric acid mechanism to promote the pyrolysis of timber and re-radiating mechanisms were proposed for the char. Further work is suggested to improve the effect. Layer by layer assembly does not provide a sufficient loading to effectively reduce the flammability of timber. Lastly, attempts were made to address the problems of scale-up between micro scale thermal decomposition, bench-scale burning and intermediate-scale regulatory fire tests. Three models for the prediction of Euroclass results have been compared and applied to the materials investigated within this thesis. A method is proposed for the prediction of the Euroclass of fire retarded timber products. Correlation coefficients between micro-, bench- and intermediate-scale flammability tests have been calculated and the results are discussed.

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.)