Prevalence of work-related occupational injuries and its risk factors among brickfield workers in West Bengal,India

The manual brick making process is a physically demanding job with a high risk of work-related injuries. Prevalence of work-related injuries (17.55%) occurs frequently in manual brick making activities due to inherently hazardous nature. This study analyzes 451 recordable incidents that occurred over a period of 7 years (2011–2017) among 220 male and 180 female workers in a different brickfield of West Bengal, India. The leading cause of brickfield injury was fall from heights, struck by objects, overexertion, lack of awareness, slippage of spade while mud collection etc. Carrying bricks and spading are two activities, in which the injuries occurred most among female and male brickfield workers respectively. Risk factors like MMH, prolonged working time, repetitiveness, awkward posture, lack of rotational task, overcrowded work, Lack of personal protective device, and lastly sleep disturbance and poor income are the key factor for work-related injuries. Sprain and strain, cut or laceration, abrasion, avulsion, and snake or insect bite are the main injuries among both groups of brickfield workers. Lower back and toes are the most affected parts of the body followed by ankle, feet, and hand. From this study, it was also observed that female brickfield workers are much more affected than male agricultural workers. The incident rate among male and female brickfield workers was 18.7 per 1000 workers per year and 21.2 per 1000 workers per year, respectively. So due to injuries in both groups of brickfield workers, their health, productivity and work performance were consequently affected.     

Assessment of the risk of occupational accidents using a “fuzzy” approach

This paper presents an assessment method of the risks of occupational accidents based on fuzzy logic. The purpose of this work was to create a methodological instrument that can semiquantitatively assess the risk of occupational accidents for different industrial and site activities and to identify the most efficient intervention measures that can be taken to reduce risks. This approach, which is new in the assessment of the risk of occupational accidents, allows qualitative, imprecise and in some cases contradictory data to be elaborated, as the data that describe an occupational accident usually are. The set-up analysis model therefore allows (1) an assessment to be made of the level of risk of a work phase and/or a work sector, (2) a verification and quantification to be made of the reduction of the risk after having adopted preventive and/or protective measures and (3) a priority of interventions to be established on the basis of the assessed risk levels. It can be seen how the method, here applied to a company producing industrial vehicle tyres, can be considered applicable for any type of company, with the only prerequisite of having a record of sufficient and homogeneous number of accidents so as to be able to correctly instruct the software and tune the reference parameters.     

Effects of personal,psychosocial and occupational factors on low back pain severity in workers

Low back pain (LBP) remains the most common work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD). While most of the LBP research has focused on occupational risk factors, other underlying causal mechanisms may exist since not all workers performing the same task develop an injury. Previous research has identified three primary risk factor categories for LBP (occupational, personal and psychosocial factors); however, few studies have investigated the impact of cross categorical risk factor interactions on LBP. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of occupational, personal and psychosocial factors, and their interactions, on LBP severity in a population of workers currently suffering from LBP. Sixty LBP patients recruited for the study through local physicians and local announcements, completed questionnaires relating to identified occupational, personal and psychosocial risk factors, and completed an Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Multiple regression models for predicting LBP severity were developed for each risk factor category and for a combined risk factor model (which included factors from all three risk factor categories) that included two-way interactions. Results showed that the final model consisted of both main effects and interaction terms between risk factor categories and had an adjusted R² value of 0.85, a significant improvement over models developed for the individual categories. These findings illustrate the need to consider all three broad categories of risk factors simultaneously in predicting injury status and in developing effective potential intervention efforts.     

Personal predictors of the longest episode of occupational sitting and their interaction with workplace support for health among workers in Accra: A cross-sectional analysis with sensitivity analyses

Many studies have identified personal factors associated with occupational sitting time, but none of them focused on the longest episode of occupational sitting (hereby referred to as continuous occupational sitting time) nor considered whether workplace support for health moderates the associations between these factors and continuous occupational sitting time. This study aimed to identify personal factors predicting continuous occupational sitting time and ascertained whether workplace support for health moderates the associations between these factors and continuous occupational sitting time. A cross-sectional design and an adapted hierarchical linear regression analysis was employed. The participants were 991 employees of public and private organizations in Accra, Ghana. Results were presented with hierarchical linear regression analysis. The ultimate predictors of continuous occupational sitting time at a minimum of p < 0.05 include age, job type, and job income. Workplace support for health significantly moderated the primary associations, which means that workplace support for health altered the strength of the associations between all predictors (except tenure) and continuous occupational sitting time. This study concludes that there are inequalities in continuous occupational sitting time between employee groups that can be modified by workplace support for health.     

An empirical study of occupational stress,attitudes and health among information systems personnel

This paper investigates occupational stress, Type A behavior pattern, work attitudes, health symptoms, and health behaviors among information systems personnel. Hundreds of research studies have been conducted on the stress associated with working in various occupations. Unfortunately, information systems is one occupation that has not been included in these stress studies. The present study investigated the stress, work attitudes, and health behaviors of 446 information systems personnel employed in 18 different organizations. Type A behavior pattern was found to be a significant moderator for some of the stressor-criterion associations. The findings suggest that more managerial understanding of person-environment fit in general and the individual employee's predisposition toward the Type A behavior pattern specifically may be beneficial in attempting to initiate, nurture, and sustain a productive and healthy work atmosphere.     

Work-related pains among the workers associated with pineapple peeling in small fruit processing units of North East India

The present study aimed at investigating work-related pain issues among the workers associated with pineapple peeling activity in small fruit processing units of North East India. The study also assessed the associated levels of ergonomic risk prevalent among the workers and identified ergonomic risk factors associated with pineapple peeling task. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using questionnaire-based interview, pain self-report and direct observation of the activities to understand the prevailing work conditions. Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) was used to assess the level of ergonomic risks involved. Prevalence of pain, in different body parts of the participants, was found evident with a higher percentage of participants reporting pain in shoulders (41.1%), upper arms (37.1%) and lower back (45.7%) while some had also reported of pain in neck (13.2%), lower arms (15.9%), wrists (12.6%) and palm (6%). For RULA, 89.4% of the participants had a grand score greater than equal to 5 which fell under action level 3 indicating for further investigation and changes soon. Hence, various risk factors influencing pain occurrences were identified using logistic regression, and factors like age, gender, hours of peeling, frequency of rest breaks, perceived work fatigue and years of experience, were found to be associated with risk of pain in at least one of the body parts. Identification of these risk factors laid down path for the future course of actions and improvements to address the work pain related issues among workers.Relevance to industryThe study established pain prevalence associated with manual pineapple peeling task and identified the potential risk factors, laying down basis for possible future actions to address work pain related issues and enhance productivity of the workers.     

Examining the relationship between job design and worker strain over time in a sample of office workers

This study examines relationships between job design variables and worker strain. Office workers from a public service organization participated in a three-year study. Once during each of the three years, the same questionnaire was handed out to the subjects to examine job design and worker strain. The results indicate that the bivariate relationships between job design and worker strain change over time. At round 1, quantitative workload, work pressure and supervisor social support were the most important predictors of the worker strain variables. At round 2, task clarity, supervisor social support, and job future ambiguity were the most important predictors of worker strain. At round 3, task clarity, attention, and job future ambiguity were the most consistent predictors of worker strain. The results of the canonical correlation analysis were relatively similar for rounds 1 and 3, but not for round 2. There appears to be some consistency in the overall underlying structure of the relationships between job design and worker strain, but there is also some inconsistency in terms of which specific job design factors are related to specific measures of worker strain.     

Analysis of occupational risk management tools for the film and television industry

Using the ISO 31000 and ISO 31010 standards as basic guidelines, this article's main objective is to identify, analyze and evaluate tools for management of occupational risks during the filming of soap operas, series and movies by a Brazilian media company. The relevance of the study is associated, first, with the provision of information to minimize and even eliminate the risks of work-related accidents and illnesses in the company examined; and second, the groundbreaking nature of workplace risk analysis in this field of activity. The study is based on interviews with experts with long professional experience in the film and television industry along with personal observation of the sets and filming. The result was the development of a tool for risk management that has essential characteristics to minimize the risks of accidents on sets.     

Estimation of the relative risks of musculoskeletal injuries in the Andalusian manufacturing sector

BackgroundHigher injury rates of workers with specific characteristics can show areas of interest for intervention. Worker characteristics can be a risk factor because there is a differential distribution of exposure or because a particular worker characteristic affects the worker's behavior and the effects of work in the musculoskeletal system.ObjectiveTo estimate the relative risk for the most frequent accident mechanisms and to present the usefulness of the information from the Continuous Sample of Working Lives for a better estimation of the relative risk based on epidemiological analysis of specific types of accident controlling for possible confounders.Materials and methodsThe most frequent accident mechanisms were identified by analyzing the official accident notifications. To estimate the exposed workers, the Continuous Sample of Working Lives dataset is used. The dataset contains employment variables such as occupational levels, sector of activity, contract type and duration of employment. It also includes relevant variables related to demographics such as location, age, sex and nationality.ResultsAdjusted relative risk confirms that female workers, foreign, non-manual and older workers have lower injury rates.ConclusionsThe use of the Continuous Sample of Working Lives is useful in the analysis of the risk factors for particular types of accidents and allows a better estimation of the relative risks of accident.     

An investigation of the economic perspective in modeling occupational risk

The existing approaches to modeling occupational risk assume that the goals of the enterprise and the worker are identical and that they are served through a mutually optimal performance level. This paper aims to challenge this assumption and indicate the implications in the absence of it. This discussion is conducted by focusing on the economic perspective through the application of utility analysis in workplace risk. Different cases of employment status are examined with special reference to rational and biased decision‐making under uncertainty. This analysis does not offer a new alternative to risk modeling on its own, but it can offer some important insight into this process. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Risk analysis for occupational safety and health in the textile industry: Integration of FMEA,FTA, and BIFPET methods

Identifying and managing health and safety risks that threaten personnel in production systems are vital for the continuity and success of organizations. Many tools are used to accurately analyze and assess risks. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is one of the most commonly used tools in different industries. However, the accuracy and reliability of FMEA method have been fairly criticized by many researchers in the field. In this study, an approach based on FMEA that integrates the advantages of the fault tree analysis (FTA) method and belief in fuzzy probability estimations of time (BIFPET) algorithm has been proposed in order to improve the performance of the FMEA method. In order to practically apply the proposed method to real life problems, it has been employed to analyze and assess the potential risks for a finishing process in the fabric dyeing department of a textile company. The performance of the proposed FMEA-FTA-BIFPET method has been compared to the results obtained by FMEA-FTA and FMEA-FTA-program evaluation and review technique (PERT) distribution integrated methods. The results of this study show that failure related to fabric trimming adjustment in the tenter has the highest risk priority number. The proposed approach can be used in various industry for risk analysis. In addition, results obtained by the study have indicated that the proposed approach can be implemented in practice to perform comprehensive risk assessment procedures as it reflects real-life dynamics to analyze and assess potential risk.     

An evaluation of EU legislation concerning risk assessment and preventive measures in occupational safety and health

The European Council Directive 89/391/EC of 12 June 1989 is concerned with the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the occupational safety and health. For example, it deals with risk assessment and preventive measures. The Finnish legislation enacts the risk assessment and prevention measures in a similar way as the EU Directive 89/391/EC. The aim of this study was to examine: 1) the implementation of risk assessment process as a part of OSH management, and 2) the effectiveness of the OSH legislation concerned with risk assessment. The quantitative method involved an online questionnaire. The respondents were employers (N = 1478), workers (N = 1416) and occupational care (OHC) professionals’ units (N = 469). Three quarters of the employer respondents and two thirds of the workers and OHC service providers felt that the EU legislative provisions have promoted the engagement of the management. According to the study, improvement is needed in ensuring the cooperation between employers and workers. The combined variables of Risk Assessment Process revealed positive impacts both on Cooperation and Management Measures and on the Concrete Preventive Measures among the employers and the workers. The combined variables of Use of Documents of Risk Assessments highlighted positive impacts on both the Exploiting of Results of Risk Assessments in Planning and Management and on the Exploiting of Results of Risk Assessment in Cooperation and Technology.     

Structural stability and reliability of the Swedish occupational fatigue inventory among Chinese VDT workers

The aim of the present study was to test the structural stability and reliability of the Swedish occupational fatigue inventory (SOFI) for use in a group of Chinese visual display terminal (VDT) workers. A qualified translator was recruited to translate the Chinese version of the SOFI (SOFI-C). The content validity was established with 12 bilingual practitioners and seven professional experts. The translated SOFI was administered to 104 sedentary workers on two occasions with an interval of 60 min. Most of them were female (80.8%) and they had a mean age of 34.5 years. Fifty-one percent of them reported using a VDT for 4h or more at work. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a five-factor solution, which was comparable to the original latent factors. Cronbach's alpha for the five-factor scales was between 0.88 and 0.95. The test-retest reliability was satisfactory with intra-class correlations ranging from 0.69 to 0.83. The workers who used a VDT for 4h or more had significantly higher SOFI scores than those who used one for less than 4 h (p = 0.007 - 0.046). The results indicated that the SOFI-C was valid and reliable for measuring fatigue among Chinese sedentary workers. The satisfactory structural stability suggested that cultural influences on the construct of fatigue were not strong. Its characteristics of discrimination of the sedentary workers who had high VDT exposure suggested that the SOFI-C would be a useful instrument for prevention and intervention programs designed for work-related injuries in the workplace.     

An examination of the relationship between cycle training,cycle accidents,attitudes and cycling behaviour among children

Around 40% of 10–11-year-old children receive cycle training every year in the UK, but concern has been expressed over the efficacy of training courses. One argument is that accidents occur too infrequently to be a viable evaluative criterion, and attitudes and behaviour have been suggested as alternatives. A questionnaire that measured a number of variables including accidents, attitudes, and behaviour was completed by 336 participants from two schools in the London Borough of Bromley. At least one cycling injury had been sustained by 58.3% of respondents, requiring hospital treatment in 19.1% of cases. Girls reported fewer accidents than boys. No relationship between training and accidents was found. A principal components analysis (PCA) of the attitudes items produced a ‘safe attitudes’ factor. Girls displayed ‘safer’ attitudes, but there was no evidence that training produced safer attitudes. A PCA of the cycling behaviour scales produced two factors, ‘safe cycling’ and ‘showing off’. Safe cyclists who obeyed basic safety rules were less likely to sustain cycle injuries, but showing off was not related to accidents. Girls were less likely to show off, but the safe behaviour gender difference did not reach significance. Training did not relate to either factor.     

An examination of the relationship between cycle training,cycle accidents,attitudes and cycling behaviour among children

Around 40% of 10-11-year-old children receive cycle training every year in the UK, but concern has been expressed over the efficacy of training courses. One argument is that accidents occur too infrequently to be a viable evaluative criterion, and attitudes and behaviour have been suggested as alternatives. A questionnaire that measured a number of variables including accidents, attitudes, and behaviour was completed by 336 participants from two schools in the London Borough of Bromley. At least one cycling injury had been sustained by 58.3% of respondents, requiring hospital treatment in 19.1% of cases. Girls reported fewer accidents than boys. No relationship between training and accidents was found. A principal components analysis (PCA) of the attitudes items produced a 'safe attitudes' factor. Girls displayed 'safer' attitudes, but there was no evidence that training produced safer attitudes. A PCA of the cycling behaviour scales produced two factors, 'safe cycling' and 'showing off'. Safe cyclists who obeyed basic safety rules were less likely to sustain cycle injuries, but showing off was not related to accidents. Girls were less likely to show off, but the safe behaviour gender difference did not reach significance. Training did not relate to either factor.     

Heavy load carrying and musculoskeletal health: An exploratory study of biomechanical risk factors among sand miners in Pokhara,Kaski District,Nepal

BackgroundTrends in urbanization contribute to the growing global demand for raw construction materials. The health effects of load carrying among occupational groups that mine and carry sand and stone used for construction of roads and buildings remains poorly understood.MethodsWe conducted an exploratory cross-sectional study among a convenience sample of sand miners working at an excavation site on the Seti River in Pokhara, Nepal. Load carrying weight, duration, and frequency were used to categorize miners as having “low” or “high” load-carrying exposures. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) were identified using self-reported symptoms of moderate to severe musculoskeletal pain, as well as physical examinations.ResultsThe average loads carried by female and male sand miners weighed 66 kg and 87 kg, respectively. Among all participants (N = 42), 45% reported moderate to severe musculoskeletal pain in at least one body region and 16 (38%) had MSDs identified using specified case criteria. The prevalence of MSDs was lower among miners carrying, on average, heavier loads compared to those carrying lighter loads (OR = 0.18; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.7), possibly indicative of the healthy worker survival effect. Miners carrying loads for longer durations had higher odds of MSDs compared with those carrying for shorter durations.ConclusionThis study has provided data on the extraordinary loads carried by sand miners in Nepal and preliminary evidence of health impacts associated with these loads. However, larger epidemiologic studies are needed to justify action to protect the health and safety of these unrecognized and understudied groups.     

An evaluation of methods assessing the physical demands of manual lifting in scaffolding

Four methods assessing the physical demands of manual lifting were compared. The scaffolding job was evaluated and three distinct scaffolding tasks were ranked using: (1) the revised NIOSH lifting equation (NIOSH method), (2) lifting guidelines for the Dutch construction industry (Arbouw method), (3) rapid appraisal of the NIOSH lifting equation (practitioners' method), and (4) systematic observations. For the three first-mentioned methods the same dataset was used; observation took place in a different setting in the same company. At job level, all methods indicated that ergonomic interventions are required to protect scaffolders from an increased risk for low back pain. The NIOSH, Arbouw and practitioners' method resulted in a similar ranking order of tasks (transport>construction>dismantlement). In contrast, the observational method gave transport the lowest ranking. The underlying cause was probably that the observational method is more sensitive to durations of tasks and lifting within tasks than the three other methods.     

Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDS) among primary school female teachers in Terengganu,Malaysia

BackgroundMusculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) has been a well-known occupational health issue for workers over recent years, and the prevalence among school teachers is particularly high. In Malaysia, few studies are focusing on MSDs and associated factors among school teachers, but in Terengganu, there is no data available for MSDs among school teachers. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of MSDs and associated risk factors among female teachers in Terengganu primary school. Methods: Data collection was carried out with a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 212 female school teachers participated in this study. Results: The findings show that the prevalence for any parts of the body was 40.1%. The most affected part of the body was feet, with 32.5% for the past 12-months and 36.8% for the past 7 days. The most significant risk factors that associated with body parts (lower back, thigh, calf, knee, and feet) were age, BMI, sports activity, shoe type, teaching hours, and standing hours during school. Conclusion: Female teachers in Terengganu's primary school had shown a significant prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. The most affected body parts were feet, followed by knee, upper back, and lower back. Related risk factors such as age, BMI, sports activity, type of shoe, teaching hours and standing hours were analysed. Hence, they are prone to have higher MSDs prevalence than current results due to significant risk factors if there is no measure taken to reduce MSDs prevalence among teachers.     

Good vacation and job rotation systems were beneficial for the hemoglobin level of workers at high altitude,a cross-sectional study along the Qinghai Tibet railway,China

Working and travelling in high-altitude regions have been associated with a variety of adverse health effects. The aim of this study was to explore a good vacation and job rotation system to prevent workers at high altitude from chronic altitude sickness. A total of 985 healthy male workers along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, aged from 21 to 58 years (mean age 37.7 ± 8.6 years), were included into this study. The subjects took different short–term vacations, with different ratios of rest and work days. Furthermore, job rotation in low altitude was implemented in 127 (12.9%) subjects, who were transferred to relatively low altitude areas after working in plateau areas for more than three months. The association between vacation type and low altitude job rotation with prevalence of hyperhemoglobin (hemoglobin >175 g/L) was analyzed. Results showed that the risk of hyperhemoglobin decreased significantly with the increase of ratio of rest and work days, after adjusting for other confounding variables (age, ethnicity, education, body mass index, etc.) using multivariable logistic regression analysis. Meanwhile, the prevalence of hyperhemoglobin in job rotated workers was significantly lower than that in non-rotated workers [OR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.84, p < 0.05]. Besides that, BMI, labor intensity, altitude at the workplace and frequency of oxygen supplementation were also closely related to the increase of hemoglobin level. We concluded that good vacation and job rotation system were effective means to prevent hyperhemoglobin and should be promoted in immigrants at high altitude for a long time.     

An intervention method for occupational safety in farming -- evaluation of the effect and process

In order to increase safety in Swedish farming an intervention methodology to influence attitudes and behaviour was tested. Eighty eight farmers and farm workers in nine groups gathered on seven occasions during 1 year. The basic concept was to create socially supportive networks and encourage discussions and reflection, focusing on risk manageability. Six of the groups made structured incident/accident analyses. Three of the latter groups also received information on risks and accident consequences. Effects were evaluated in a pre-post questionnaire using six-graded scales. A significant increase in safety activity and significant reduction in stress and risk acceptance was observed in the total sample. Risk perception and perceived risk manageability did not change. Analysing incidents/accidents, but not receiving information, showed a more positive outcome. Qualitative data indicated good feasibility and that the long duration of the intervention was perceived as necessary. The socially supportive network was reported as beneficial for the change process.