Fatigued for safety? Supply chain occupational health and safety initiatives in shipping
by Lijun Tang
Bhattacharya, S. & Tang, L. in Economic & Industrial Democracy
This article investigates impacts of supply chain occupational health and safety initiatives, utilizing the case of... more
This article investigates impacts of supply chain occupational health and safety initiatives, utilizing the case of Oil Majors’ involvement in inspecting/regulating shipboard health and safety. It reveals that while supply chain pressure has made a contribution in improving ship safety, seafarers are denied participation in the management of occupational health and safety. Instead, Oil Majors effectively pass their pressure through ship managers down to seafarers and force them to silently comply. Among the consequences are work intensification and fatigue leading to a skewed impact on seafarers’ health and safety. This article suggests that supply chain pressure cannot be an adequate substitute for what an organized workforce can achieve through effective participation in the management of workplace health and safety.
To Protect and Serve: The Effects of Occupational Stress Hazards on Law Enforcement Officers
Co-authored with Newton Howard (MIT). Published in Law Enforcement Executive Forum, March 2007
Law enforcement officials are well aware of the effects of stress; both on themselves and others that they deal with... more Law enforcement officials are well aware of the effects of stress; both on themselves and others that they deal with during the course of their working day. However, few individuals are trained to recognize the warning signs and the impact that personal stress has on their day to day activities. Untreated simple stressors can build up to form post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While there are programs designed to help the law enforcement community, they are few and far between. More attention needs to be paid to this problem in order to ensure a healthy protective layer for our community.
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The teaching of occupational and environmental medicine to medical students in Australia and New Zealand.
by Liz Farmer
Shanahan EM, Murray AM, Lillington T, Farmer EA. Occup Med (Lond). 2000 May;50(4):246-50.
All the medical schools in Australia and New Zealand were surveyed in order to determine the amount of teaching... more All the medical schools in Australia and New Zealand were surveyed in order to determine the amount of teaching devoted to occupational and environmental medicine in the medical courses in 1998. A 100% response rate was achieved. The results showed that the number of hours devoted to these topics varied widely, but averaged 12.8 h and 10.5 topics. The most significant factor accounting for the variability was the presence on the universities' teaching staff of individuals trained in the practice of occupational medicine. While our findings show a greater time devoted to these topics than those of similar studies in the United States and Britain, the absolute time remains small when compared with the prevalence of occupational medicine problems in the community. There is little congruence in terms of both content and assessment processes between schools.
A Survey of Safety and Health at Work in Greece
Co-authored with A. Economou and K. Grimani
published in International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol.5, No.1, 2012.
The subject of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is increasingly gaining the interest of policy makers and... more The subject of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is increasingly gaining the interest of policy makers and researchers in European countries given that the economic and social losses from work-related injuries and diseases are quite substantial. Under this light, this paper will present an overview of the Greek legislation framework regarding OSH issues, and the current status of empirical research on the subject in Greece. In addition, the paper identifies the knowledge gaps and methodological shortcomings of the existing literature in order to contribute towards future research in the OSH field in Greece.
Personal exposure to static and time-varying magnetic fields during MRI system test procedures
J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009 Nov;30(5):1223-8.
PURPOSE: To assess personal time-weighted average (TWA) static magnetic field and time-varying magnetic field exposure... more PURPOSE: To assess personal time-weighted average (TWA) static magnetic field and time-varying magnetic field exposure for several system testing tasks routinely conducted by engineers at an MRI manufacturing plant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Personal exposure was measured using a personal dosimeter that measured B and dB/dt in all three orthogonal directions with a 1 Hz frequency. TWA exposure was calculated and random effects and linear mixed effects models were used to assess exposure levels and variability. RESULTS: Whereas full-body peak (2T) and TWA (200 mT/8 h) exposure limits for the static magnetic field originally proposed by ICNIRP were not exceeded, time-varying magnetic field peaks (dB/dt) did exceed the proposed threshold value (767.9 mT/s) suggested by IEEE on several occasions at the 3.0 Tesla (T) whole-body cylindrical system. CONCLUSION: TWA exposure levels are well below the proposed limit values, but peak exposure limits are exceeded during certain procedures performed on 1.0T to 3.0T systems.
Urinary DAP metabolite levels in Thai farmers and their families and exposure to pesticides from agricultural pesticide spraying.
Hanchenlaksh C, Povey A, O'Brien S, de Vocht F.
Introduction We conducted a biomarker study to characterise exposure to pesticides among farmers and their families in... more Introduction We conducted a biomarker study to characterise exposure to pesticides among farmers and their families in Thailand to assess the relative importance of the dermal exposure route and to identify important factors that determine exposure levels within farmers' families. Methods Sixteen farmers' families (eight vegetable and eight fruit farmers) participated in the study. Three morning spot urine samples were collected during a pesticide spraying week. Spot samples were grouped by individual and analysed for dialkylphosphate (DAP) metabolites and creatinine. Additional information on exposure and lifestyle was collected by means of questionnaires. Dermal exposure was assessed using a semi-quantitative observational method (DREAM). Results Urinary DAP levels varied 20-fold between farmers, with average (geometric mean) levels of 51.1 μg/g for vegetable and 122.2 μg/g for fruit farmers. A moderate correlation (r(s)∼0.45) was found between log(e)-transformed DREAM scores and DAP levels. Farmers' urinary metabolite levels were not correlated with those of their spouses (r(s)∼-0.30) or children (r(s)∼-0.00) collected on the same days. Detectable spouses' DAP levels were on average (geometric mean) 13.0 μg/g and those of children 7.6 μg/g. Discussion Farmers in Thailand as well as their families are exposed to pesticides in the spraying season and dermal exposure is an important route. The main route of exposure for farmers' families seems to be through transfer from the farmer to family members or contamination of the home environment, rather than family members helping or playing on the farm. Showering or washing immediately after pesticide spraying greatly reduces the potential exposure of family members to pesticide residues.
Exposure to rubber process dust and fume since 1970s in the United Kingdom; influence of origin of measurement data.
Agostini M, de Vocht F, van Tongeren M, Cherrie JW, Galea KS, Kromhout H.
The objective of this study was to compare measured concentrations of rubber process dust and rubber fume originating... more
The objective of this study was to compare measured concentrations of rubber process dust and rubber fume originating from different sources in the British rubber manufacturing industry. Almost 8000 exposure measurements were obtained from industry-based survey results collected by the British Rubber Manufacturers' Association (BRMA), and covering the years 1977 to 2002, and from a series of small surveys contained in the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) National Exposure Database (HSE-NEDB) from 1980 to 2002. The analysis investigated temporal trends in the exposure concentrations and the underlying main factors responsible for these changes. Analyses were carried out using hierarchical linear mixed effects models. Average personal exposures to rubber process dust and rubber fumes were respectively a factor 2 and 4 higher for the HSE-NEDB data when compared to data originating from the industry (BRMA data). Personal exposure to rubber process dust decreased on average by 4.1% (95% CI 4.7-3.6) annually for the BRMA data and slightly less at 2.3% (95% CI 5.2-0.7%) per annum for the HSE-NEDB data. Personal exposure to rubber fume also showed a downward temporal trend of 2.9% (95% CI 3.6-2.3%) and 4.8% (95% CI 7.4-2.1%) annually for the BRMA and HSE-NEDB data, respectively. These trends differed considerably between departments. No major changes in the estimated temporal trends in exposure concentrations were observed after including the presence of local exhaust ventilation in the models for any department in the BRMA and HSE-NEDB datasets. Lack of information on the quality and status of the local exhaust ventilation is the most likely explanation for this. In conclusion, even though there were relatively similar downward time trends in both rubber process dust and fume concentrations in both datasets, the source of exposure data was an important determinant of average exposure concentrations present in the British rubber manufacturing industry. Lack of detailed auxiliary information on company size, reason for sampling, measurement strategy and other potentially important determinants of exposure prevented an explanation for the observed differences in exposure level.
Assessment of dermal exposure to bitumen condensate among road paving and mastic crews with an observational method.
Agostini M, Fransman W, Vocht FD, Joode BV, Kromhout H.
To assess dermal exposure to bitumen condensate among road pavers and indoor mastic workers in multiple crews using a... more
To assess dermal exposure to bitumen condensate among road pavers and indoor mastic workers in multiple crews using a semi-quantitative observational method [DeRmal Exposure Assessment Method (DREAM)].
METHODS:
Two skilled observers assessed dermal exposure to bitumen condensate among 85 asphalt workers from 12 crews from nine companies active within four European countries using the DREAM methodology, which produces an estimate of exposure expressed in dimensionless DREAM units. Both observers independently evaluated each crew member's job (N = 14 jobs) for road paving and mastic applications. Potential and actual dermal exposures were estimated for hands and for the rest of the body separately, taking into account the effect of protective clothing. To evaluate the reproducibility of the observational method intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) were estimated. The exposures in DREAM units were modelled using linear mixed models to estimate average relative scores for each job. Correlations between dermal exposure parameters were evaluated by estimating Pearson correlation coefficients.
RESULTS:
A total of 170 observations were completed by two observers independently (n = 118 and n = 52 for 59 road pavers and 26 mastic workers, respectively) in 11 days. The mean ICCs (for potential and actual exposure in DREAM units) varied between 0.74 and 0.80 with values for actual units being slightly higher. Geometric mean potential dermal exposure units of mastic workers were higher than for road pavers (factor 3 for hands and factor 4 for rest of the body). Differences for actual dermal exposure units were smaller for hands (factor 2) and larger for actual exposure units of rest of the body (factor 5). Differences in dermal exposure at the hands between jobs within a paving crew were much larger than between jobs within a mastic crew. Within paving crews, a consistent pattern for all exposure units emerged with 'screed man' and 'raker' as the two highest exposed jobs. Within mastic crews, 'driver dumper truck' and 'spreader of mastic' were scored as the two jobs with the highest exposure units. Potential and actual exposure units were highly correlated. Hands were more profoundly exposed than the rest of the body, with transfer from contaminated surface to the hands as the most important route.
CONCLUSIONS:
DREAM observations were reproducible and showed a consistent dermal exposure pattern among the observed crews. The study provided a clear picture of dermal exposure among road pavers and indoor mastic workers, with the mastic workers being considerably more highly exposed. The most important route of exposure appeared to be transferred from contaminated surfaces to the hands.