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PubMed1990

Chemical dependency and drug testing in the workplace.

Urine testing for drug use in the workplace is now widespread, with the prevalence of positive drug tests in the work force being 0% to 15%. The prevalence of marijuana use is highest, and this can be reliably tested. Though it is prudent to rid the workplace of drug use, there is little scientific study on the relationship of drug use and workplace outcomes, such as productivity and safety. Probable-cause testing and preemployment testing are the most common applications. Random testing has been less accepted owing to its higher costs, unresolved legal issues, and predictably poor test reliability. Legal issues have focused on the right to policy, discrimination, and the lack of due process. The legal cornerstone of a good program is a policy that is planned and agreed on by both labor and management, which serves both as a contract and as a procedure in which expectations and consequences are known. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is certifying laboratories doing employee drug testing. Testing methods when done correctly are less prone to error than in the past, but screening tests can be defeated by adulterants. Although the incidence of false-positive results is low, such tests are less reliable when the prevalence of drug abuse is also low.

Civil Rights↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Medical surveillance in the workplace: overview.

Medical surveillance in the workplace is the systematic collection and evaluation of employees' health data to identify specific instances of illness or health trends suggesting an adverse effect of workplace exposures on employees' health. This process is coupled with actions to reduce hazardous workplace exposures, as reviewed in this issue.

Environmental Monitoring↗

PubMed1990

EPA's intervention into workplace health and safety--the other OSHA.

Primarily but not exclusively through the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) and the Superfund Amendment Reauthorization Act Title III, EPA's involvement is significant because they are now a "key player" in providing regulatory direction to those responsible for workplace health and safety. A comparative matrix is presented as a database demonstration of the similarities and differences between OSHA and EPA in the standards setting, compliance, and public policy areas. This matrix demonstrates the impact that EPA now has on specific aspects of workplace health and safety and on the conduct of United States business activity. EPA's restrictive powers are clearly greater than those of OSHA. Conclusions derived from specific interventions of the EPA into workplace health and safety are (1) the industrial hygienist has no choice but to get involved in the compliance and regulatory process evolving from EPA. (2) Industrial hygiene professional societies must likewise become equally aware and involved. (3) There is a strong need for coordination and cooperation between OSHA and EPA leading to effective regulations and avoidance of redundancy. (4) National and global impacts must be optimized to enhance worker health and safety and not be barriers to technical and economic advances. (5) Private sector risk management functions must be integrated to avoid redundancies and omissions. (6) Finally, compliance initiatives can be leveraged to build strong relations with the public and employees.

Environmental Health↗

PubMed1989

Health promotion at the workplace.

Health promotion encompasses those activities undertaken to improve the quality of one's life, thereby moving the individual forward toward a state of wellness or optimal health. Occupational health nurses are in a prime position to impart knowledge and change attitudes and behaviors and thus are uniquely qualified to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate workplace health promotion programs. Employee health promotion programs are based on the theory that it costs less to educate workers about controllable lifestyle health risks than to pay for the cost of ill health. Comprehensive workplace health promotion programs should be targeted at three levels: awareness, lifestyle/behavior change, and supportive environments, if long-term success is to be achieved. Occupational health nurses may use the Model for Workplace Health Promotion to assist them in planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating programs that provide health and cost benefits for both employees and employers.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

PubMed1987

Evaluation of the workplace. An introduction.

To reduce and optimize the work load imposed on the musculoskeletal system in a given situation, three main areas of interest are work technique, workplace design, and the produced work itself. Ergonomically sound work techniques should be taught early and should be repeatedly evaluated and encouraged. Workplace and tool design must be adapted and modified according to the task performed at the workplace. The work produced has to be evaluated in terms of handling comfort and discomfort by the employee: the greater the comfort, the greater the productivity will be. Especially in the rehabilitation of patients with back injuries, these factors must always be considered to avoid recurrent episodes of pain and disability.

Back Pain↗

PubMed1988

Economic implications of workplace health promotion programs: review of the literature.

The conventional wisdom holds that workplace health promotion (HP) programs yield financial dividends, often generating cost savings. To examine the intellectual and empirical basis for this belief, we reviewed the literature on the economics of workplace HP programs. In general, in the literature published through early 1986, the claims of HP programs' profitability are based on anecdotal evidence or analyses seriously flawed in terms of assumptions, data, or methodology. Furthermore, certain aspects of the economics of HP programs have been virtually ignored. The dearth of sound evidence on the economic merits of workplace HP should not be interpreted as a negative assessment of the potential of such programs, however. Rather, it recommends a healthy skepticism in reading the literature and development of a new research-based body of understanding.

Back Injuries↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Smoking in the workplace: review of critical issues.

The relationship among various occupations, smoking, and disease has been studied extensively, but few investigators have looked closely at smoking in the workplace, particularly among blue-collar workers. The authors discuss the phenomenon of smoking in work settings and suggest reasons why tobacco use has been accepted on the job. The fate of heavy smokers in the wake of workplace smoking bans is considered. The authors discuss the relationship between smoking and work-related stress, particularly among blue-collar workers. The influences of job tasks, workflow, and employee social networks on smoking are examined. The authors suggest that, until recently, work settings have provided little support for cutting back and many opportunities that reinforced smoking habits. Worksite cessation is reviewed briefly, followed by suggestions for improving present worksite-based cessation strategies. The authors pose an agenda for future descriptive and applied research on smoking in the workplace.

Female↗

PubMed1984

The use of cytogenetic monitoring in the workplace: a position paper of the American Industrial Health Council.

Although tests to determine cytogenetic effects can be used to identify workers who have been exposed to certain agents, uncertainties remain. Tests to determine cytogenetic effects have not gained wide acceptance for routine monitoring in the workplace because of questions concerning their general applicability to detect exposure to a wide variety of agents and because of the lack of data showing a correlation between cytogenetic effects as detected in humans and adverse health effects. Unless those issues are resolved, the measurement of cytogenetic effects for workplace monitoring purposes should be regarded as experimental and such measurement is not likely to become a routine workplace exposure monitoring technique.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗

PubMed1994

[Autopsy analysis of 90 workers exposed to workplace dusts].

An analysis of 90 autopsy cases of workers exposed to workplace dusts showed that the older they were the higher the positive rate of pneumoconiosis and the more serious the pathological changes in the lungs. All the cases over 65 years of age were diagnosed with pneumoconiosis. The positive rate of pneumoconiosis diagnosed by pathology was associated with the duration of exposure to workplace dusts. The positive rate was 67.92% in cases exposed to workplace dusts for over 10 years and 93.3% in those exposed for over 30 years. 63.3% of all the autopsy cases reported here were given the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis after pathological examination, whereas only 13.3% were diagnosed clinically before they died. These data demonstrate the importance of autopsy in the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Environmental and biological monitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in coke plants and other workplaces.

The authors report the results obtained from environmental and biological monitoring of PAHs at different workplaces. Pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene were chosen as indicators of PAHs pollution and their concentrations were determined in the working environments. Two urinary metabolites of these hydrocarbons: 1-hydroxypyrene and 3-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene, were also studied. PAHs exposure was studied at the following workplaces: a coke plant, a pyrite mine, a railway tunnel and several earthenware factories. The results obtained at the coke plant showed pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene levels (area samplings) at the battery top in the range 1.42-26.57 micrograms/m3 and 0.39-12.85 micrograms/m3 respectively. At the other workplaces lower concentrations of these two compounds were recorded. In the exposed workers, the trend of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels was similar to the results of environmental monitoring. The geometric mean of 1-hydroxypyrene concentrations in the urine of coke plant workers was 5.76 micrograms/g creatinine, whereas in the other exposed subjects no geometric mean values higher than 0.60 microgram/g creatinine were obtained. In the case of occupational exposure to low pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene concentrations (pyrite mine, railway tunnel, earthenware factories) the urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels were similar to those observed in respectively smoking and non-smoking referents.

Coke↗

PubMed1976

[Smoking ban at the workplace--the order of the hour (author's transl)].

Smoking is by far the most important inhalation noxa at the workplace and is probably to be considered most harmful to the workers generally during working hours. Tobacco smoking at the workplace also endangers the health of non-smokers through passive smoking. From this it is deduced that a general ban on smoking at the workplace is to be considered the order of the hour and as the most important aim of occupational medicine and industrial legislation at the present time.

Germany, West↗

PubMed1993

Health hazards of nursing: identifying workplace hazards and reducing risks.

Nurses often work in settings in which they may be exposed to a wide array of psychosocial, chemical, biological, and physical hazards. The authors outline several ways in which occupational exposures occur and the general process for reducing or preventing workplace hazards. Several commonly encountered workplace hazards and their potential health risks are identified and discussed. Specific health hazards that are addressed include the chemical hazards of antineoplastic and antiviral drugs; the biological hazards of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B, herpes viruses, rubella, and tuberculosis; and the physical hazards of noise and ionizing and nonionizing radiation. The authors suggest specific preventive measures that nurses can take to make their workplaces safer.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Ergonomic evaluation and construction of a reference workplace in dental hygiene: a case study.

PURPOSE: In an earlier survey study, a high frequency of complaints from the neck and shoulder were found in dental hygienists employed by the National Dental Service in Jönköping, Sweden. As a consequence of these survey findings, a new in-depth study of the workplace of one Swedish dental hygienist was performed to identify critical factors causing work-related pain in the neck and shoulders. This also served as a pilot study for testing simple ergonomic methods suitable for field studies in dental hygiene. METHODS: Several workplace evaluation methods were used: time distribution study, posture targeting diagrams, biomechanical computations, serial photography, and videorecording. RESULTS: All methods showed the same general picture--fixed working postures, a sparse movement pattern, work within a very limited work space, and long-standing static load on the neck and shoulder muscles. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of these findings, a reference workplace was designed to provide an ergonomically desirable environment. The load was reduced by means of a specific horseshoe-shaped support for the patient chair and a special armrest for the operator chair.

Brachial Plexus Neuritis↗

PubMed1996

Alternative medicine in the workplace.

Workplace settings are ripe for the application of alternative medical interventions for a variety of reasons. Included among them are a shared interest in prevention by both the occupational and alternative medicine communities, economic incentives by corporations as major purchasers of healthcare to reduce healthcare costs and improve employee productivity, and the willingness of corporations to be differentially creative in their approach to delivering and purchasing healthcare. This paper describes the US workforce in transition, provides an overview of occupational medicine including current programs and emerging issues, describes the current applications of alternative medicine interventions in the workplace, and argues for future expanded application of alternative medicine in workplace settings.

Complementary Therapies↗

PubMed1997

Factors influencing effect of mammography screening in a university workplace.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between theoretically identified variables and participation in mammography screening in a university workplace. A sample of 1093 women 50 and over returned a questionnaire following the offer of a free workplace breast cancer screening. Anderson's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use identified factors predisposing and enabling women to have mammograms. Predisposing variables included attitudes and experience related to mammography. Enabling variables included income, willingness to pay for mammography, health insurance coverage, and regular source of health care. Comparisons were made among: (i) those who were screened in the workplace, (ii) those who were screened elsewhere, and (iii) those who were not screened. Differences in perceived barriers, perceived benefits, practice of breast self-examination (BSE), and education surfaced. Results indicated, among other things, that women who were older, had no more than 12 years of education, had a family member with breast cancer, and were proficient with breast self-examination were more likely to have participated in the university work-site screening.

Breast Neoplasms↗

PubMed1998

Legal liability and workplace violence.

Workplace violence is a growing social problem. Some of this growth may be perceptual, reflecting our new awareness of what constitutes violence in the workplace. Furthermore, much of what falls under its current rubric does not correspond to the classic image of worker-on-worker or worker-on-employer mayhem. Nevertheless, the total number of incidents is alarmingly large; the problem is real. It is natural to consider law (i.e., legal liability) as a potential solution. Aiming the liability threat at the employer may be the most effective and efficient strategy. There are ample theories to choose from: negligence (tort) law, agency law, contract, civil rights, and regulatory law. Judges and juries appear eager to hold employers accountable for violent incidents in the workplace, sometimes in the face of other, more logical constructions of the facts or theory. One's best hope is that the fear this strikes in the hearts of employers will make for maximum preventive results.

California↗

PubMed2026

A Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Intervention for Workplace Mental Health: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Work-related stress has been widely associated with an increased risk of various mental disorders and poor mental well-being. The fast-growing mobile health services industry has provided new opportunities for workplace mental health. OBJECTIVE: This randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of Neurum (Neurum Limited), a smartphone-based intervention tool featuring ecological momentary assessments and interventions that aims to reduce workplace stress in real-time and real-world settings. METHODS: A total of 201 working adults were recruited for a 4-week smartphone-based intervention that incorporated cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness exercises, and self-regulation exercises delivered on Neurum. A simple randomization procedure was used. Participants in the intervention group were encouraged to log mood journals, complete mental health exercises, and provide user feedback whenever applicable. The key outcome was measured by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 items (DASS-21; Cronbach α=0.87). RESULTS: The intervention group consisted of 102 participants, while the control group consisted of 99 participants. More participants dropped out from the intervention group (n=21) than from the control group (n=2; χ21=18.259; P<.001). The final sample consisted of 178 participants (male: 85/178, 47.8%; female: 93/178, 52.2%; mean age of 34.65, SD 7.67 y). Analyses revealed that after the 4-week intervention, the DASS-21 scores decreased in the intervention group (mean difference [MD]post-pre intervention=-14.518) but increased in the control group (MDpost-pre intervention=3.319; F1,176=59.358, P<.001; η2=0.252). This effect was largely led by stress reduction (F1,176=64.679, P<.001; for the intervention group, MDpost-pre intervention=-6.692, while for the control group, MDpost-pre intervention=2.000). On average, participants completed 6.27 (SD 9.4) exercises and provided 9.74 (SD 18.2) mood journal logs, with a daily engagement of 4.95 (SD 6.89) minutes. However, the associations between the changes in DASS-21 scores and the numbers of exercises or mood journal logs did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: This study primarily established the effectiveness of Neurum in alleviating depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms in noninstitutionalized working adults, with a satisfactory user retention rate. Despite potential health-related culture differences, Neurum contributed to evidence-based digital health in nonclinical settings for timely needs and general accessibility as an alternative to traditional, face-to-face, and high-cost mental health services. Future directions involving a personalized approach in online mental health services were discussed.

Humans↗

PubMed1996

Workplace organizational correlates of lost-time accident rates in manufacturing.

We report the results of a questionnaire survey of manufacturing workplaces related to the lost-time frequency rates (LTFR) for Workers' Compensation claims. Six types of industry were chosen.' metal articles, plastic articles, grain products, textile manufacturing, printing, and automobile manufacturing. LTFR were standardized by type of industry. Stratifying simultaneously by number of employees and LTFR category, we sampled 718 workplaces. A mail questionnaire to labor and management representatives provided at least some information on 58%. Response rates were similar across LTFR categories, and telephone interviews of non-responders showed little difference in their replies from those obtained in completed questionnaires. A large number of variables were examined. Apart from statistical significance, we looked for consistency in trends across LTFR categories and in patterns for similar questions. Significant associations grouped into several areas. Lower LTFR were associated with: concrete demonstration by management of its concern for the workforce; greater involvement of workers in general decision-making; greater willingness of the Joint Health and Safety Committee to solve problems internally; and greater experience of the workforce. Variables that were not significant included profitability and financial performance. A final stepwise multiple regression explained 19% of the variance in LTFR, although this analysis suffered from several limitations.

Absenteeism↗