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PubMed2003

I are we closer to developing threshold limit values for allergens in the workplace?

OBJECTIVE: To define threshold limit values and legally binding occupational exposure limits. DATA SOURCES: Review of suitable literature. STUDY SELECTION: Studies based on detailed descriptions and/or measurements of airborne allergenic dust, total allergens, or even key allergens were selected. RESULTS: Prevalences of IgE-mediated sensitization and occupational asthma are related to the aeroallergen load in workplaces. Data to set threshold limit values for flour, latex, a-amylase, and isocyanates are already sufficiently available. CONCLUSIONS: To optimize primary prevention in workplaces,health-based occupational exposure limits should be set for major occupational allergens.

Allergens↗
PubMed2003

Workplace irritant exposures: do they produce true occupational asthma?

OBJECTIVE: To describe the features of irritant-induced asthma and discuss the diagnosis in relation to differing workplace irritant exposures and symptomatic responses. DATA SOURCES: A review of MEDLINE articles on this topic from January 1, 1985, through December 31, 2001 was performed. STUDY SELECTION: The author selected relevant articles for inclusion in the review. RESULTS: Many reports indicate that unintentional high-level respiratory irritant exposures can induce the new onset of asthma. Cases that meet strict criteria for a syndrome of irritant-induced asthma, termed reactive airways dysfunction syndrome, can be diagnosed with relative certainty. Several reports of irritant-induced asthma, especially prevalence studies, have relied on historical data or have otherwise modified the reactive airways dysfunction syndrome criteria for diagnosis (eg, expanding the definition to include the symptom onset several days after exposure). Such modifications, or inclusion of cases with incomplete documentation, likely increase diagnostic sensitivity but may reduce the certainty of diagnosis for individual cases. Expanding exposure criteria to moderate or long-term low-level irritant exposures causes difficulty in excluding transient irritant exacerbation of underlying asthma or coincidental onset of asthma during working life. Although recent population studies suggest a greater relative risk of asthma in occupations with expected low-to-moderate respiratory irritant exposures, currently no objective laboratory tests exist to exclude coincidental asthma in such patients. CONCLUSIONS: Irritant-induced asthma can be produced by high-level unintentional respiratory irritant exposures at work or outside the workplace. Lower levels of exposure to respiratory irritants at work are more common, and additional studies are needed to determine the airway effects of such exposures.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

An investigation of reasonable workplace accommodations for people with psychiatric disabilities: quantitative findings from a multi-site study.

Despite the requirement of many employers to provide accommodations in the workplace for individuals with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the preponderance of accommodations that have been described in the literature concern physical rather than psychiatric disabilities. This study was an exploratory, descriptive, longitudinal, multi-site investigation of reasonable workplace accommodations for individuals with psychiatric disabilities involved in supported employment programs. We discuss the functional limitations and reasonable accommodations provided to 191 participants and the characteristics of 204 employers and 22 service provider organizations participating in the study. Implications for service providers and administrators in supported employment programs are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Effects of reinforcer magnitude on data-entry productivity in chronically unemployed drug abusers participating in a Therapeutic Workplace.

The Therapeutic Workplace is a substance abuse treatment wherein patients are hired and paid to work in a job contingent on daily drug-free urine samples. The present study examined data-entry productivity of 6 unemployed methadone patients who demonstrated relatively variable and low data-entry response rates. A within-subject reversal design was used to determine whether increasing reinforcement magnitude tenfold could increase response rates. Four of the 6 participants showed the highest rates of responding in the high magnitude reinforcement condition. Two participants, who had the lowest overall response rates, showed less robust changes to the magnitude manipulation. The results suggest that reinforcement magnitude can be used to improve productivity in Therapeutic Workplace participants.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Workplace anger and aggression: informing conceptual models with data from specific encounters.

Workplace aggression is typically assessed by reports of the frequency of aggressive behaviors aggregated across incidents. Relations tested using such assessments are limited in the information they can provide about the operation of aggression within the context of a specific encounter. Analysis of data from structured interviews and questionnaire reports of employee experiences of specific workplace aggression incidents (as the target and as the aggressor) examine a variety of perceived antecedents, aggressive behaviors, and outcomes. Results suggest a variety of organizational, job-related, and personal antecedents, such as job stress and conflicts, and job-related outcomes, such as dissatisfaction. These data provide insight into the patterning of aggressive behaviors within an encounter and suggest an escalatory pattern. Data suggest relations between the severity of an aggressive encounter and the negativity of employee outcomes.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Predictors and outcomes of openness to changes in a reorganizing workplace.

It is becoming increasingly important for employees to be able to cope with change in the workplace. This longitudinal study examined a set of individual differences and context-specific predictors of employee openness (i.e., change acceptance and positive view of changes) toward a set of workplace changes. Personal resilience (a composite of self-esteem, optimism, and perceived control) was related to higher levels of change acceptance. Three context-specific variables (information received about the changes, self-efficacy for coping with the changes, and participation in the change decision process) were predictive of higher levels of employee openness to the changes. Lower levels of change acceptance were associated with less job satisfaction, more work irritation, and stronger intentions to quit.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

Development of a measure of workplace deviance.

The purpose of this research was to develop broad, theoretically derived measure(s) of deviant behavior in the workplace. Two scales were developed: a 12-item scale of organizational deviance (deviant behaviors directly harmful to the organization) and a 7-item scale of interpersonal deviance (deviant behaviors directly harmful to other individuals within the organization). These scales were found to have internal reliabilities of .81 and .78, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis verified that a 2-factor structure had acceptable fit. Preliminary evidence of construct validity is also provided. The implications of this instrument for future empirical research on workplace deviance are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Workplace justice, citizenship behavior, and turnover intentions in a union context: examining the mediating role of perceived union support and union instrumentality.

This study examined the relationship between workplace justice afforded by the grievance system and the union outcomes of citizenship behavior and turnover intentions and the mechanisms that underpin these relationships. Respondents (N = 187) were members of a large public sector union in Singapore. Results revealed that perceived union support and union instrumentality fully mediated the relationship between the dimensions of workplace justice and citizenship behavior directed toward the union (OCBO) and citizenship behavior directed at other union members (OCBI). Union instrumentality partially mediated the procedural justice-turnover intentions relationship.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Interactive effects of personality and perceptions of the work situation on workplace deviance.

Previous research on workplace deviance has examined the relationship of either personality or employees' situational perceptions with deviant behavior. In this study, the authors focused on the joint relationship of personality and perceptions of the work situation with deviant behavior. Using 4 samples of employees and multiple operationalizations of the core constructs, the authors found support for the hypothesis that positive perceptions of the work situation are negatively related to workplace deviance. In addition, consistent with hypotheses, the personality traits of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness moderated this relationship. Specifically, the relationship between perceptions of the developmental environment and organizational deviance was stronger for employees low in conscientiousness or emotional stability, and the relationship between perceived organizational support and interpersonal deviance was stronger for employees low in agreeableness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Interpersonal mistreatment in the workplace: the interface and impact of general incivility and sexual harassment.

This article examined the relationships and outcomes of behaviors falling at the interface of general and sexual forms of interpersonal mistreatment in the workplace. Data were collected with surveys of two different female populations (Ns = 833 and 1,425) working within a large public-sector organization. Findings revealed that general incivility and sexual harassment were related constructs, with gender harassment bridging the two. Moreover, these behaviors tended to co-occur in organizations, and employee well-being declined with the addition of each type of mistreatment to the workplace experience. This behavior type (or behavior combination) effect remained significant even after controlling for behavior frequency. The findings are interpreted from perspectives on sexual aggression, social power, and multiple victimization.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Loving yourself abundantly: relationship of the narcissistic personality to self- and other perceptions of workplace deviance, leadership, and task and contextual performance.

The authors report results from 2 studies assessing the extent to which narcissism is related to self- and other ratings of leadership, workplace deviance, and task and contextual performance. Study 1 results revealed that narcissism was related to enhanced self-ratings of leadership, even when controlling for the Big Five traits. Study 2 results also revealed that narcissism was related to enhanced leadership self-perceptions; indeed, whereas narcissism was significantly positively correlated with self-ratings of leadership, it was significantly negatively related to other ratings of leadership. Study 2 also revealed that narcissism was related to more favorable self-ratings of workplace deviance and contextual performance compared to other (supervisor) ratings. Finally, as hypothesized, narcissism was more strongly negatively related to contextual performance than to task performance.

Achievement↗
PubMed2006

Workplace harassment from the victim's perspective: a theoretical model and meta-analysis.

Although workplace harassment affects the lives of many employees, until recently it has been relatively ignored in the organizational psychology literature. First, the authors introduced an attribution- and reciprocity-based model that explains the link between harassment and its potential causes and consequences. The authors then conducted a meta-analysis to examine the potential antecedents and consequences of workplace harassment. As shown by the meta-analysis, both environmental and individual difference factors potentially contributed to harassment and harassment was negatively related to the well-being of both individual employees and their employing organizations. Furthermore, harassment contributed to the variance in many outcomes, even after controlling for 2 of the most commonly studied occupational stressors, role ambiguity and role conflict.

Aggression↗
PubMed2006

Predicting and preventing supervisory workplace aggression.

The authors examined factors that lead to and prevent aggression toward supervisors at work using two samples: doctoral students and correctional service guards. The results supported that perceived interpersonal injustice mediates the relationship between perceptions of supervisory control over work performance and psychological aggression directed at supervisors, and further that psychological aggression toward supervisors is positively associated with physical acts of aggression directed at supervisors, supporting the notion of an escalation of aggressive workplace behaviors. Moreover, employees' perceptions of organizational sanctions (i.e., negative consequences for disobeying organizational policies) against aggression appear to play an important role in the prevention of workplace aggression by moderating the relationship between injustice and aggression targeting supervisors.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed2006

A workplace intervention to promote stair climbing: greater effects in the overweight.

OBJECTIVE: Stair climbing is a lifestyle physical activity that uses more calories per minute than jogging. This study tested an intervention designed to promote stair climbing in a workplace. Because previous studies provide only equivocal evidence of the effects of increased stair climbing in worksites, a formal comparison of the effects of the intervention on stair ascent and descent was made. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: In a five-story public sector building, a 2-week baseline was followed by 6 weeks of an intervention involving a 23(1/2)- x 16(1/2)-inch poster in the lobby, the same poster and six messages affixed to the stair risers between floors, and an 11(3/4)- x 8(1/4)-inch point-of-choice prompt at the elevators. Stair and elevator choices (n = 26,806) were videotaped throughout and subsequently coded for direction of travel, traveler's sex, and traveler's load. Weight status was coded using silhouettes beside the computer monitor. RESULTS: A significant effect of the intervention on stair climbing was greater in those coded as overweight (+5.4%; odds ratio = 1.33) than in individuals of normal weight (+2.5%; odds ratio = 1.12). Although stair descent was more common than ascent, the intervention had similar effects for both directions of travel. DISCUSSION: Stair climbing at work has few barriers and seems to be a type of physical activity that is acceptable to overweight individuals. The relatively weak effect of workplace interventions compared with results for public access staircases may reflect uncontrolled effects such as the immediate availability of the elevator for the traveler.

Elevators and Escalators↗
PubMed1998

Can a workplace preventive programme affect periodontal health?

AIM: To evaluate an oral health awareness campaign in an adult population. DESIGN/SETTING: Four workplaces in north-east London were selected, matched in two pairs and randomly allocated to test and control groups. Completion occurred in 1995. SUBJECTS: 98 volunteer employees in good general health. INTERVENTIONS: Two oral examinations were carried out, six weeks apart. The test group received the programme immediately after baseline examination and the controls after the second visit. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Gingival bleeding on probing (BOP) and probing depths (PD) were measured on each occasion using a controlled pressure probe. RESULTS: The mean percentage of sites with BOP per subject reduced from 56% to 25% in the test group, while remaining static in the control group at 46% to 48%. The mean percentage of sites probing 4 mm and above per subject reduced from 38% to 25% in the test group and from 28% to 25% in the control group. These differences between groups were statistically significant when submitted to analysis of covariance (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The study showed the clinical effectiveness of a workplace-based oral health awareness campaign, which is ideally suited to the skills and resources of the primary care dental team.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Validation of a standardized portable fluorescence method for determining trace beryllium in workplace air and wipe samples.

Beryllium is widely used in industry for its unique properties; however, occupational exposure to beryllium particles can cause potentially fatal disease. Consequently, exposure limits for beryllium particles in air and action levels on surfaces have been established to reduce exposure risks for workers. Field-portable monitoring methods for beryllium are desired in order to facilitate on-site measurement of beryllium in the workplace, so that immediate action can be taken to protect human health. In this work, a standardized, portable fluorescence method for the determination of trace beryllium in workplace samples, i.e., air filters and dust wipes, was validated through intra- and inter-laboratory testing. The procedure entails extraction of beryllium in 1% ammonium bifluoride (NH(4)HF(2), aqueous), followed by fluorescence measurement of the complex formed between beryllium ion and hydroxybenzoquinoline sulfonate (HBQS). The method detection limit was estimated to be less than 0.02 microg Be per air filter or wipe sample, with a dynamic range up to greater than 10 microg. The overall method accuracy was shown to satisfy the accuracy criterion (A< or = +/-25%) for analytical methods promulgated by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Interferences from numerous metals tested (in >400-fold excess concentration compared to that of beryllium) were negligible or minimal. The procedure was shown to be effective for the dissolution and quantitative detection of beryllium extracted from refractory beryllium oxide particles. An American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International voluntary consensus standard based on the methodology has recently been published.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed2002

Combining informal care and work: supporting carers in the workplace.

The UK Government is concerned that women and men who care for disabled or sick relatives, or elderly people, and who also wish to take part in paid work should have increased opportunities to do so. However, many informal carers find combining work and care difficult; some may 'choose' to give up paid employment completely. The present paper draws on the findings from two projects to explore the extent to which the needs of employees with caring responsibilities are supported in the workplace. The two projects examined evidence from a study of informal carers assessed under the 1995 Carers Act, identified the difficulties which they face in their workplace and observed the strategies which they developed to help sustain the two roles. From this, a model of support for working carers was developed which includes leave policies, carer-friendly working arrangements, access to a (private) telephone, and supportive line managers and co-workers. This support model was tested on the employment policies of 13 employers to see how 'carer-friendly' they were. Most of the organisations studied were able to provide appropriate support for carers identified in the model. Questions were then raised about different aspects of carer-friendly working arrangements, including whether carers should receive any special treatment that is not available to their colleagues, the role of line managers, and the relationship between seniority and opportunities to combine work and care.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Adequacy of support for new graduates during their transition into the workplace: a Queensland, Australia study.

In 2001, a study into issues of concern to assistant-in-nursing, registered and enrolled nurse members of the Queensland Nurses Union was undertaken. Approximately equal numbers of nurses from each of the aged care, acute private and acute public sectors were surveyed. Overall, 1477 nurses responded, representing a response rate of 53%. This article focuses on one aspect of the study-the perceived adequacy of support offered to new nursing graduates as they exit university and begin their transition into the workplace. In particular, responses from nurses are compared with professional level or current role designation, age, time spent in the workplace and health sector. Considerable divergence of opinion among the respondents, particularly across designation, age and years of experience, was found within the three sectors. For example, in the public and private employment sectors, older and more experienced nurses were more likely to perceive the support for new nurses as adequate compared to younger and less experienced nurses. Additionally, in the acute private sector, the more senior the nurse the more likely the perception that there was adequate preparation for new graduates entering the workforce.

Adaptation, Psychological↗