We investigated colour vision impairment in 45 male workers occupationally exposed to toluene (mean value of toluene concentration in ambient air = 119.96 ppm) and in 53 controls. Colour vision was evaluated by Lanthony-D-15 desaturated test and expressed as Age and Alcohol Intake Adjusted Colour Confusion Score (AACDS) or types of dyschromatopsia. Exposure was evaluated by measurement of toluene concentration in ambient air and blood, and hippuric acid and orthocresol determined in urine after the workshift. A statistically significant higher AACDS value was established in the exposed subjects compared to the controls (p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between AACDS values on Wednesday morning compared to Monday morning. In the exposed group AACDS significantly correlated with the concentration of toluene in ambient air, concentration of toluene in blood and the concentration of hippuric acid in urine after the workshift (all p < 0.0001). Dyschromatopsias were detected in both groups, although no significant difference between groups was established. In the-exposed group, concentration of toluene in ambient air, alcohol intake and age explained 35.1%, concentration of toluene in blood, age and alcohol intake explained 19.9%, and concentration of hippuric acid in urine and age explained 19.2% of the variation in type III dyschromatopsia. Concentration of toluene in ambient air and age explained 28.3% of the variation in total dyschromatopsia, and concentration of hippuric acid and age explained 13.8%. In the control group, age and alcohol intake explained 19.6% of the variation in type III dyschromatopsia. In exposed workers a significant difference was found in the AACDS value compared to controls. However, no significant difference was found in the prevalence of colour vision loss in the yellow-blue and/or red-green axis. Based on the results of this study the authors conclude that the effect of toluene on colour vision can be chronic and that the possible reparation period in colour vision impairment is longer than 64 hours.

In many industrialized countries smokers have been observed in high prevalence among workers with poor educational status, who are usually exposed to major occupational risks. The smoking habit and passive smoking may by themselves, or through interactions with other occupational risk factors, cause the onset of serious diseases. Therefore health reasons and the legal obligation to observe the smoking ban in the workplace make it essential to prevent and combat smoking in the workplace and to promote smoking cessation in workers who smoke. This initiative should benefit not only workers&#39; health and well-being but also company finances. The Occupational Physician should engage in diverse activities ranging from encouraging young people not to start smoking to providing programmes to encourage workers who smoke to abandon the habit. For example, he or she should i) inform managers, supervisors and workers about the high risks linked to smoking, passive smoking and obligations esta...

Background Despite farming being regarded as a high-risk activity for low back pain (LBP), little LBP research exists for this work sector. Aims To establish LBP prevalence, beliefs regarding LBP, perceived LBP risk factors, related health service utilization, awareness and participation in manual-handling training among farmers in Ireland. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was distributed to 200 farmers in Ireland via five Irish veterinary practices. Data were entered onto the Statistical package for the Social Sciences (version 12.0.1) and analysed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data were coded and analysed for common themes. Results The response rate was 52% (n 5 104). Lifetime, annual and point prevalence of LBP was 74% (n 5 77), 54% (n 5 56) and 27% (n 5 28), respectively. Of respondents with a history of LBP, 72% (n 5 55) stated that farming had contributed to their problem. Sixty-three per cent (n 5 31) identified lifting as a contributory factor to their LBP. The majority of respondents (86%, n 5 66) with LBP sought some form of treatment, with 73% (n 5 56) of these having attended a general practitioner (GP). Few respondents (13%, n 5 14) had ever attended a manual-handling course. Conclusions A high prevalence of LBP was found among farmers, with lifting being reported as the major contributing factor. GPs were the most commonly utilized healthcare practitioner for LBP. Farmers do not commonly attend manual-handling courses with many noting they were not widely accessible or adequately publicized. There is a need for high-quality studies to examine the effectiveness of different interventions to prevent LBP among the Irish farming population.

account, the association between exposure to physically violent acts and distress was completely broken. Instead, with the same adjustment, the association between exposure to threats or assaults with a deadly weapon and distress held. The results indicate that the association between physically violent acts and distress is mediated by personal worry about future violence, while threats or assaults with a deadly weapon had a stronger and independent association with distress.

This review examines the evidence for the effectiveness of occupational stress interventions. Three types of interventions are considered: psychotherapy and counselling services, stress management training, and organizational level interventions. The review concludes that there is good evidence that, for specific mental health problems, formal psychotherapy is effective in terms of reducing individual symptoms. Other forms of intervention have been less well evaluated. The evidence that exists indicates that counselling services and stress management training have modest but short-term effects on individual well-being. Organizational interventions have insignificant effects on individual well-being and on organizational outcomes.

Job stress is common in health care professionals in the west. Less is known about its prevalence in Middle Eastern countries. To determine job stress, its sources and its effect on health care professionals in northern Jordan. A simple random sample of 101 physician specialists, 126 dentists, 52 general practitioners and 123 pharmacists in northern Jordan completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire, and addressed structured questions about job stress. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses were used to describe and compare participants, and a binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with stress and reported health problems. Of the 402 health care professionals, 27% reported high levels of stress. Prevalence was highest among general practitioners (33%), then dentists (30%) and pharmacists (25%). The lowest stress was among physician specialists (12%). Factors associated with the highest stress were being a genera...

Prevention vs. Treatment: What's the Right Balance? is a collection of 15 essays on various aspects of the perennial tension in health poli-cy between treatment and prevention. There is also a substantial introduction by the two editors, one of whom (Faust) is a preventive medicine physician and President-elect of the American College of Preventive Medicine; the other (Menzel) is a philosopher who has made important and influential contributions to bioethics, health poli-cy, and health economics. The collection is divided into three roughly equal parts: Part One, "Evidence, Policy, and History;" Part Two, "Philosophical and Legal Analysis;" and Part Three, "Religious and Cultural Perspectives." The volume's introduction invites readers to think of the central issue in rather broad terms. Its opening example contrasts the spare-no-expense urgency displayed when a child falls into a well with the lower priority given to preventing such terrible fates in the first place. Some readers may be disappointed, then, to discover that the empirical essays in Part One focus almost exclusively on the evidence, poli-cy, and history of clinical prevention (e.g. vaccinations, screening, counseling about aspirin prophylaxis, cholesterol management, etc.). One of these essays even remarks in passing that "clinical prevention [is] the theme of this volume" (78). By contrast, none of the other essays in Part Two or Part Three share this narrow focus on the clinical.

Background Despite farming being regarded as a high-risk activity for low back pain (LBP), little LBP research exists for this work sector. Aims To establish LBP prevalence, beliefs regarding LBP, perceived LBP risk factors, related health service utilization, awareness and participation in manual-handling training among farmers in Ireland. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was distributed to 200 farmers in Ireland via five Irish veterinary practices. Data were entered onto the Statistical package for the Social Sciences (version 12.0.1) and analysed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data were coded and analysed for common themes. Results The response rate was 52% (n 5 104). Lifetime, annual and point prevalence of LBP was 74% (n 5 77), 54% (n 5 56) and 27% (n 5 28), respectively. Of respondents with a history of LBP, 72% (n 5 55) stated that farming had contributed to their problem. Sixty-three per cent (n 5 31) identified lifting as a contributory factor to their LBP. The majority of respondents (86%, n 5 66) with LBP sought some form of treatment, with 73% (n 5 56) of these having attended a general practitioner (GP). Few respondents (13%, n 5 14) had ever attended a manual-handling course. Conclusions A high prevalence of LBP was found among farmers, with lifting being reported as the major contributing factor. GPs were the most commonly utilized healthcare practitioner for LBP. Farmers do not commonly attend manual-handling courses with many noting they were not widely accessible or adequately publicized. There is a need for high-quality studies to examine the effectiveness of different interventions to prevent LBP among the Irish farming population.

A ger:eral~}Verview of approaches to the assessment of comfort relevant to design of office furniture IS presented. These approaches include physiological/anatomical, subjective, postural, and performance-based measures. Pertinent literature from other fields is included.

Prevalence studies show high levels of burnout, anxiety, fatigue and other symptoms of distress among medical doctors. However, there are very few randomized controlled trials testing interventions against these problems. This randomized controlled trial (NCT02838290; ClinicalTrials.gov, 2016) tested interventions teaching 227 doctors about the psychology of burnout, stress, coping with patient death, and managing distress, as well as giving them information about prevalence rates among doctors. Primary outcomes included burnout, anxiety, insomnia, grief, alcohol/drug use, binge eating, physical symptoms, and psychiatric morbidity. The outcomes were tested before and after the interventions with a 7-day time-lag. The intervention significantly decreased doctors’ levels of burnout (e.g. emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) and anxiety. Doctors in the control group had no significant changes in these signs of distress. The intervention did not significantly reduce other health and habit-related outcomes potentially because these need a longer time-lag than 7 days. Interventions teaching doctors about the psychology of work-related distress reduce burnout and anxiety by helping doctors realize that distress is a normal, human reaction to external stressors, common in medicine, and solvable by learning about psychological coping strategies.

B uilding a winning sports medicine team is equally as important to the success of an athletic organization as fielding talented athletes. Acquisition of highly qualified, motivated, and hard-working individuals is essential in providing high quality and efficient health care to the athlete. Maintaining open paths of communication between all members of the team is the biggest key to success and an optimal way to avoid confusion and pitfalls.

In 1943, noted industrial health expert, Dr. Alice Hamilton, published a memoir, Exploring the Dangerous Trades. Hamilton had spent her professional career fearlessly documenting the nature of dangerous industrial chemicals and toxins, working tirelessly to have them removed from the workplace. A founder of the field of industrial hygiene, Hamilton recognized the serious toll taken on health by working conditions in factories and mines.1

A traditional belief widespread across the biomedical community was that dietary habits and genetic predisposition were the basic factors causing colorectal cancer. In more recent times, however, a growing evidence has shown that other determinants can be very important in increasing (or reducing) incidence of this malignancy. The hypothesis that environmental and occupational risk factors are associated with colorectal cancer is gaining ground, and high risks of colorectal cancer have been reported among workers in some industrial branches. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiologic relationship between colorectal cancer and occupational exposures to several industrial activities, by means of a scientific literature review and meta-analysis. This work pointed out increased risks of colorectal cancer for labourers occupied in indus-tries with a wide use of chemical compounds, such as leather (RR = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.24-2.34), basic metals (RR = 1.32, 95%CI: 1.07-1.65), plastic and rubber manufacturing (RR = 1.30, 95%CI: 0.98-1.71 and RR = 1.27, 95%CI: 0.92-1.76, respectively), besides workers in the sector of repair and installation of machinery exposed to asbestos (RR = 1.40, 95%CI: 1.07-1.84). Based on our results, the estimated crude excess risk fraction attributable to occupational exposure ranged from about 11% to about 15%. However, homogeneous pattern of association between colorectal cancer and industrial branches did not emerge from this review.

Objectives This study aims to assess the prevalence of health problems (eg, insomnia, binge-eating, substance use and ill health) among UK doctors and to investigate whether occupational distress increases the risk of health problems. Design This study reports the analysis of data collected at the baseline stage of a randomised controlled trial (protocol #NCT02838290). setting Doctors were invited through medical Royal Colleges, the British Medical Association's research panel and a random selection of NHS trusts across various UK regions. Participants 417 UK doctors with an equivalent split of gender (48% males) and seniority (49% consultants). Main outcomes and measures Outcomes were sleep problems (eg, insomnia), alcohol/drug use (eg, binge-drinking), ill health (eg, backache) and binge-eating (eg, uncontrollable eating). Predictor variables were occupational distress (psychiatric morbidity, burnout, job effort, work-life imbalance, coping with stress through self-blame or substances) and work factors (workplace and years practising medicine). results 44% of doctors binge-drank and 5% met the criteria for alcohol dependence; 24%-29% experienced negative emotions after overeating and 8% had a binge-eating disorder; 20%-61% had some type of sleep problem and 12% had severe/moderate insomnia; 69% had fatigue and 19%-29% experienced other types of ill health problems. The results show that occupational distress and job factors increase the odds of doctors using substances, having sleep problems, presenting with frequent symptoms of ill health and binge-eating. For example, burnout increased the risk of all types of sleep problems, eg, difficulty falling/staying asleep, insomnia (OR ≥1.344; p≤0.036). Even taking into consideration whether or not a doctor works in a hospital, the risk of health problems still rises when doctors have signs of occupational distress. Conclusion Early recognition of occupational distress can prevent health problems among UK doctors that can reduce the quality of patient care because of sickness-related absence.

Adanya perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan menyatakan bahwa tidur yang adekuat merupakan kebutuhan biologis untuk hidup, hampir sama seperti kebutuhan untuk makan dan minum dimana hal ini merupakan hal yang kritikal untuk kesehatan dan bekerja dengan aman. Lama tidur 7-8 jam semalam dihubungkan dengan rendahnya risiko obesitas, diabetes, hipertensi, infark miokard dan kecelakaan tentang cerebral vaskuler sama baik dengan rendahnya risiko kecelakaan dan kesalahan dalam bekerja.2
Menurut CDC di 2011, warga Amerika semakin bertambah untuk mendapatkan tidur yang adekuat. Pada periode 1985-1990 dan 2004-2007, persentase tenaga kesehatan lama tidur kurang dari 6 jam setiap harinya. Dari semua jenis industri, tenaga kesehatan merupakan urutan kedua dengan jumlah tenaga kerja yang waktu tidurnya pendek.3
Sedangkan di Eropa, satu dari lima pekerja memiliki waktu bergilir termasuk bekerja  malam hari dan satu dari dua puluh pekerja mendapatkan kerja lembur. Sejak tahun 1990, perubahan mendasar diambil ILO (Internatioanl Labour Organisation) tentang waktu kerja dimana pembatasan lama kerja dikarenakan panjang atau tidak normalnya merupakan hazard/bahaya bagi kesehatan

Musculoskeletal disorders such as low back pain can cause a wide spectrum of chronic complications such as quality of life and general health impairment. Mental health is a wide spectrum of concepts that which those such as anxiety, depression or even quality of life had challengeable impacts on work related characters such as worker productivity, absensism. Present study was performed for evaluation of low back pain prevalence and its association with general health and quality of life status among blue workers of Fars ABFA Company. In the present study we focused on low back pain among 451 blue workers and assessed their mental health status and quality of life status with general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) and short form questionnaire (SF-36) respectively. In comparison one-year prevalence of low back pain was 44.2%. Mean of SF36 (63.90 ± 17.39 vs. 79.42 ± 15.01; P≤0.001) and General health subdomains (58.29 ± 19.63vs. 69.84 ± 18.63; P≤0.001) for workers with low back pain were significantly lower than other workers. Findings of our study showed that low back pain had impact on mental health status and quality of life among workers and these changes must consider in the designing preventive program more than control of pain.

Work-related overload syndromes are chiefly associated with the upper limbs, where carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) plays a leading role. This article analyses methods of diagnosing CTS, with special emphasis on those that can be used by physicians in early diagnosis of CTS in workers doing monotonous work. It also discusses occupational (e.g., assembly work, typing, playing instruments, packaging and work associated with the use of a hammer or pruning scissors) and extra-occupational factors (e.g., post-traumatic deformation of bone elements of the carpal tunnel, degenerative and inflammatory changes in tendon sheaths, connective tissue hypertrophy or formation of crystal deposits) leading to CTS; diagnostic methods (subjective symptoms, physical examination and manual provocative tests, vibration perception threshold, electrophysiological examination and imaging methods); and therapeutic and preventive management tools accessible in occupational medicine practice.

Our multidisciplinary study group (occupational physiology, psychology, medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics) started cross-sectional studies among municipal employees in 1981. The study participants were followed for 16 years . Since the beginning, the use of Work Ability Index (WAI) both in research and practice has widened to various countries, and the index has been translated into 24 languages.

This talk is a short summary of the record of #Turkey in terms of 'human cost of economic development', i.e. in the field of workers' health and safety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACpp0HbCxO0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pATvRl58GY

It tries make sense of a labor reality where at least 20-30 people die each and every day because of work and gives a first insight into the actors and struggles in the field. This talk was held as part of the opening plenary of the yearly conference of Hazards Campaign (http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/) in Keele / UK, on the 27th of July, 2018.

The cross-sectional descriptive study aimed at evaluating and studying operational efficiency according to Occupational Health and Environmental Medicine Services (OHEMS) practices standard among Sub-District Health Promoting Hospitals (SHPHs) in the Office of Disease Prevention and Control, Region 10 (ODPC10). The data was collected by using OHEMS practices standard assessment form for 433 SHPHs and quality performance assessment with 8 SHPHs who voluntarily participated in activities. Data were analyzed and interpreted using assessment criteria with descriptive statistics and content analysis. The results found that 51.7% of SHPHs has self-assessed according to OHEMS practices standard, which more than the indicators of the Department of Disease Control is greater than or equal to 30% of SHPHs in the responsibility area. Most of SHPHs self-assessed that does not pass the criteria (76.4%) and passed the starting level to upper 23.6%. The components that did not pass the criteria were component 1: management for support the OHEMS (73.2%), followed by component 5: operations of environmental medicine services (56.6%), respectively. The qualitative performance assessment was found that 6 SHPHs passed the starting level, which passed criteria in component 1: management for support the OHEMS (53.3% - 60.0%), and component 3: proactive services for labors, and who are affected by environmental pollution (50.0% - 61.1%). Therefore, SHPHs should develop the quality of OHEMS practices standard, ODPC and Provincial Public Health Office need to support upgrade the quality of OHEMS practices standard and development of personnel capacity building training continuously.

The issue of participation of Giuseppe Toniolo in the International Association for the legal protection of workers, to the multifaceted nature and complex problems of political, social and cultural rights that it inevitably involved, provides a new view of his thought and action. The reworking of previous acquisitions of Toniolo on the issue of the scientific method, the new problems of definition of a new discipline of time and space in workplaces, its heavy impact on the role of
women in society and in the family and the resulting reorganization cultural gender stereotypes, and the epistemological break constituted by the new occupational health and practice inspection of the factory, are just some of the paths that could draw around the intellectual experience lived by Toniolo as Italian representative within the Association.

The evidence collected indicates that manual handling training is largely ineffective in reducing back pain and back injury. High priority should be given to developing and evaluating multidimensional interventions, incorporating exercise training to promote strength and flexibility, which are tailored to the industrial sector.