Day :
Keynote Forum
Renato Lagana
Renato Lagana, Mediterranean University, Italy
Keynote: Training of teachers about construction safety in schools
Time : 10:10-10:50
Biography:
Renato Lagana is working as an Associate Professor at Department of Architecture and Environment of the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria in technology and production building. He has lectured at universities and has taught national and international masters. Since 2002, he has been co-ordinating with the activities of the Team-D, which conduct research on safety aspects in construction sites. He has been an invited speaker at international congress in the field of Health and Safety. He is author of numerous scientific publications, published in Italy and in other country.
Abstract:
On several occasions, we recently dealt with the safety managers’ training. We’d like to propose you our experience made during internship activities for secondary-school teachers, which our University run in the last year. The training project was carried out complying with the guidelines provided by the Ministerial decree no. 357/2013 published on August 11, 1998 within the framework of the progressive implementation of the provisions contained in the Consolidated law on Education (no. 297/1994). The initiative launched by the Italian Ministry for Education had two important phases: Activities in schools carried out by would-be teachers in secondary school classrooms and; Teachers’ training in universities by qualified lecturers. Here are the experiences of two participants who chose to deal with safety in building sites for surveyor training (subject A016 – Constructions, construction technology and technical drawing). In their graduation thesis they analysed two themes: Trenching and excavation safety within the building site and; Safety in road construction sites. The originality of those contributions is characterised by the implementation of new teaching methods involving the use of the cutting-edge IT tools, by the techniques adopted to involve students and by the straightforward experience in building or road construction sites. They are going to enable would-be surveyors to achieve a good qualification level thus impacting positively on companies operating in the building sector.
- Occupational Disease and Human Health, Women and Occupational Health, Epidemiology & Infectious Diseases, Chronic Health, Industrial Food Safety and Management, Occupational Medicine and Therapy
Session Introduction
Won-Jun
Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Korea
Title: Blood cadmium is associated with osteoporosis in obese males but not in non-obese males
Biography:
Won-Jun Choia, Sang-Hwan Hana, Soyoung Hongb aDepartment of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea bDepartment of Environmental Health Research, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Korea
Abstract:
Osteoporosis in males is becoming an important health concern in an aging society. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between cadmium exposure and osteoporosis by considering the effect of obesity in aged males using a representative sample of the Korean population. Using the fourth and fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, 1,098 males over 50 years of age were analyzed. The blood cadmium concentration was measured. The bone mineral density in the total hip, femur neck and lumbar spine was measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. T-scores to determine the presence of osteoporosis were calculated using a Korean reference. Subjects were stratified into two groups according to obesity status (body mass index <25 kg/m2 and ≥25 kg/m2). In comparison with obese subjects with blood cadmium <1.00 μg/L, those with blood cadmium >1.50 μg/L had odds ratios of 4.57 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.49-14.01) and 5.71 (95% CI 1.99-16.38) at the femur neck and any site, respectively, after adjusting for potential confounders such as age, serum creatinine, vitamin D deficiency, smoking, alcohol drinking and physical activity level. However, this association was not significant in non-obese males. In conclusion, the effect of cadmium on osteoporosis was different by obesity status in aged males.
Michael Silva
SEK International University, Ecuador
Title: Design of the questionnaire on occupational safety and health for Ecuador
Biography:
Doctor en Prevención de Riesgos Laborales - Sobresaliente Cum Laude - por la Universidad de Málaga (UMA), MaestrÃas en Seguridad en el Trabajo, Higiene Industrial, ErgonomÃa y PsicosociologÃa. En la actualidad es profesor-investigador de la Facultad de Ciencias del Trabajo y Comportamiento Humano de la Universidad Internacional SEK, autor de diferentes artÃculos de investigación en revistas indexadas, ponente en jornadas, seminarios y congresos, tanto nacionales como internacionales.
Abstract:
Background: In recent years, Latin-American countries and other countries worldwide have been conducting surveys on working conditions and occupational health. Collecting relevant information to formulate public policy and to set lines of priority on scientific research in this field has been done. In the case of Ecuador, there is no survey focused on this subject, except for the Survey of Living Conditions (ECV), aimed at studying the economic impact and the living conditions of the Ecuadorian Population and the National Survey of Health and Nutrition (ENSANUT), from a public health perspective. Objective: The School of Labor and Human Behavior Sciences of SEK International University - Ecuador--as a university committed to research, has designed a survey based on the conditions of Occupational Safety and Health--Ecuador (CSSO-E), with the aim to propose a model for gathering information to know the occupational risk factors present in the workplace and their impact on the health of the Ecuadorian working population. Method: The survey was design, in collaboration with other universities of Ecuador and Colombia, and professional experts of private companies, was designed following the standards and recommendations of European, Spanish and Latin American surveys, documentary research and exhaustive bibliographic reviews of others works, in order to fit it to the Ecuadorian national context, and in the future to allow comparison of its results with other international surveys. Results: The construction and design of the questionnaire was carried out in different phases. By consensus, the group of university experts determined seven dimensions: sociodemographic and labor, conditions of employment, occupational safety, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, psychosocial and occupational health. It was also divided up into 24 sub-dimensions: personal protective equipment, physical and chemical hazard, manual handling, repetitive movements, psychosocial intra and extra-occupational factors, occupational accidents, occupational diseases, etc. Finally, 67 variables (questions) related with worker-perception of occupational risk factors and health hazards. Conclusions: The present survey model on safety and occupational health aims to contribute modestly to other studies and surveys conducted in Latin America and its results can be compared with others internationally.
Shu Yu
National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan
Title: Nurses Perceived Emotional Labour , Safety Climate, and Their Relationships with
Biography:
Shu Yu has completed her PhD in 1996 from National Taiwan University School of Public Health. She is a Professor and the Dean of School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan. She has published many papers in scientific journals and international conferences.
Abstract:
Job pressure has been explored in previous studies. However there is a room to understand nurses’ emotional labor and safety climate. The aim of this study was to examine nurse’s perceived emotional labor and safety climate in hospital, and then their relationships with health status. We adopted a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire to collect data. A purposive randomly selected sample of 445 full-time nurses participated in this study. We found that nurses had a moderate level of emotional labor (92.17 27.33; total scores ranging 26-156) and safety climate (106.99 12.52; total scores ranging from 60 to 146). Overall, emotional labor had no significant correlation with health status, whereas safety climate revealed a significant correlation with health status. Among three dimensions of emotional labor, only controlling negative emotion revealed a significant correlation with health status. Among six dimensions of safety climate, except working conditions, the other five dimensions (including team work climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition, and perceptions of management) revealed significant correlation with health status. Our study supported that safety climate is a key factor for nurses’ health status whereas the influence from emotional labour is not so significant except controlling negative emotion. Health care organizations and administrators should pay more attention in building a better climate, increasing job satisfaction, improving stress management skill, and adopting a humanistic management to increase safety climate. Encouraging nurses to adopt more effective strategies to handle their negative emotion and expressing positive emotions are also recommended.
Thomas patitucci
Psychotherapeutic Services, USA
Title: Methods of Ensuing Worker Safety in the Provision of In-Home Services
Biography:
Thomas Patitucci holds a MSW from Fordham University and is licensed clinical social worker. He possesses 37 years’ experience in managing Mental Health, Assertive Community Treatment, Case Management, Supervised Housing, Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Substance Abuse Services. He has offered consultation and training across the US and Canada; has presented in over 25 natioanal conferences with respect to behavioral health treatment and rehabilitation. He formerly was a Visiting Instructor at the Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work.
Abstract:
The point of service for the health care sector has become increasing home based. Funders and policy makers are purposefully driving services away from hospitals and clinics to the homes of the patients. This trend is particularly prevalent in the mental health field. As this direction expands, the risk posed to mental health practitioners providing these services have concomitantly increased both from the patients being treated and the environments many of persons with mental illness reside. As a result, a need for safety conscious worker force, comprehensive worker training and organizational safety strategies are extremely important in the process of managing the risk and provide quality care in home services. The presenter will describe that exposure to violence is a common place experience in many of the urban and suburban areas given the low socio-economic areas most of the patients reside. Discuss how exposure to the threat of violence and crime, is common place and that violence is prevalent both for practitioners and patient stand point. The presenter will describe that risk for practitioners is further exacerbated due to the fact; they face unstable and unpredictable patients and or roommates alone. Therefore, providers and healthcare leaders will need to have comprehensive strategies to manage the risk to practitioners providing in home mental health intervention. The presentation will include individual practitioner field based safety tips and a discussion of the overall needs for risk management strategies for healthcare leaders and what elements these may include.
Josthna Penchalaneni
Sri Padmavathi Mahila University, India
Title: Basella rubra a Natural Chemopreventive Agent Against Colon Cancer: An Outbreak
Biography:
Dr.P.Josthna is Assistant Professor at Sri Padmavathi Mahila University, Tirupati, India.
Abstract:
The present study deals with the exploration of traditionally used plant (Basella rubra) against colon cancer. Aqueous leaf extract of Basella rubra were studied for chemotherapeutic potential against chemically induced carcinogenesis model. Chemopreventive effect of BRAE (Basella rubra aqueous extract) is evidenced by the decreased incidence and distribution of tumors along the colon with reduction in number of ACF and AgNOR count. Immunohistochemistry findings demonstrated that BRAE significantly inhibited the growth of cancer cells by inhibiting cell proliferation and by inducing apoptosis through activation of apoptosis pathway which is cleared by the increased expression of apoptosis markers (p53 & Caspase-3) and decreased expression of cell proliferation markers (PCNA & Ki67). Plants are known to be rich in a number of bioactive compounds, which have demonstrated to possess numerous therapeutical activities. This research arose from the interest to identify the potential active anti-carcinogenic compounds and characterize their effects on proliferation and cell death in colon cancer (HT-29) cell lines. This makes the isolation, identification of bioactive compounds for a specific biological activity and structural determination of active compound. Bioactive compound (BR-1) was identified by MTT assay and the compound (BR-1) was identified as flavonoid group of compound by chemical screening. Based on the results from spectral analysis (UV, IR, MS and NMR) the active compound (BR-1) was tentatively identified as isovitexin with the molecular formula was coined as C21H20O10. The effect of isovitexin on the anti-proliferative and cytotoxic effects against HT-29 human colon cancer (HT-29) cells was assessed by the MTT and LDH assay. A significant decrease in cell viability and increased in cell death was observed with increasing concentrations of isovitexin. The results showed that IC50 of isovitexin was found to be 21.44 µg/ml concentrations on HT-29 cell line. Induction of apoptosis by isovitexin was supported with evidence of DNA fragmentation. At the same time, apoptosis-related proteins such as Bax, Bcl-2, pro-caspase-3, and active caspase-3 expression were determined by Western blot analysis. The HT-29 cells were treated with isovitexin for 0-24 h. An increase in expression of the Bax, which led to an activation of caspases- -3 and a decrease in expression of the anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 were observed in a time-dependent manner. Isovitexin could also down-regulate the expression of pro-caspase-3 in a time-dependent manner. Our results evaluating the molecular mechanism that isovitexin induced apoptosis cell death in HT-29 cells may occur via caspase-3, through mitochondrial dependent pathway. Hence, these findings support and strengthen the anticancer activity possessed by the isovitexin and it might be used as a good chemotherapeutic approach against colon cancer. Thus overall study reports the potential usefulness of B.rubra as a chemopreventive agent.
Chung-Hey Chen
National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
Title: Effectiveness of Aerobic Gymnastic Exercise on Stress, Fatigue, and Sleep Quality
Biography:
Chung-Hey Chen completed her PhD from University of Pittsburgh, USA in 1994. Her research has focused for the past 35 years on peri-natal depression, stressfulness of childbearing and complementary/alternative therapy. She has published more than 140 articles in the field of health care. Her research findings not only contribute to the clinical practice in terms of establishing the women health care model in Taiwan, but also motivating the graduate students to extend her research focus on women health, nursing education and illness management. She has been serving as a section editor of repute.
Abstract:
“Doing the month†is Taiwan-specific socio-cultural system, women usually decrease their exercising during their postpartum periods. A growing body of evidence suggests that exercise is important contributor to maternal health and thus is beneficial to infants. Gymnastics is a preferable safe exercise for postnatal women performing regularly. To determine the effectiveness of aerobic gymnastic exercise in health promotion during postpartum, a total of 140 postnatal women without contraindications were systematically assigned, with a random start to experimental (n=70) or a control (n=70) group. Participants in the gymnastic exercise group were instructed to engage in aerobic gymnastic exercise at least 3 times (15 minutes per section) a week in addition to receiving general postnatal care similar to that in the control group for 3 months. Outcome measures include Perceived Stress Scale, Postpartum Fatigue Scale, Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Sixty-four women in experimental and 65 in control group completed the 4-week post-tests; 60 in the experimental group and 62 in control group completed the 12-week post-tests. Paired t-tests revealed that aerobic gymnastic exercise participants had improved significantly in perceived stress and fatigue after 4 weeks gymnastic exercise; these positive effects extended to the 12-week posttests. In addition, the physical symptoms-related sleep inefficiency of participants showed significant improvements in the aerobic gymnastic exercise group than in the control group at the 12-week posttest. The results contribute to the further study of exercises and compact disc multimedia health education programs for postnatal women.
Gisele Marquini
Federal University of Uberlandia/MG, Brazil
Title: Cesarean delivery: Is it possible to decrease or readjust our rates?
Biography:
Gisele Vissoci Marquini, Bachelor’s in Medicine, Specialization Medical Residence in Gynecology and Obstetrics, M aster's in Health’s Sciences by Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU), MG Brazil, place where she has been working as a doctor and a researcher of Nucleus of Health Assistance to the Worker, for twelve years. She has published papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute. Studies continuing medical education at the Federal University of São Paulo Brazil.medical organization of credibility that promotes safe vaginal delivery and the careful assessment of indications for cesarean delivery. FEBRASGO has developed the guideline Cesarean Indications, which includes recommendations on indications for cesarean delivery and could promote a reduction in these rates of this procedure. It has carried out a study, in Brazil, specifically at the Federal University of Uberlandia, that was to evaluate how to readjust indications for cesarean delivery by using of this guideline with its evidence based medicine with health workers. According to this study, protocols could enable and encourage physicians to perform vaginal delivery. It was possible to identify barriers to change this paradigm. Stimulation of team members to develop standardized and updated obstetrics can improve indications for cesarean delivery in low risk pregnancies.
Abstract:
Brazil has been cited as a country with one of the highest rates of cesarean delivery in the world: approximately 36% of births are by cesarean. Statistics from private hospitals show an even higher frequency, reaching 8090%. Despite the importance of cesarean sections, the concern of the international scientific community is directed toward a possible abuse in the procedure. The Brazilian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Societies (FEBRASGO) is a nationwide medical organization of credibility that promotes safe vaginal delivery and the careful assessment of indications for cesarean delivery. FEBRASGO has developed the guideline Cesarean Indications, which includes recommendations on indications for cesarean delivery and could promote a reduction in these rates of this procedure. It has carried out a study, in Brazil, specifically at the Federal University of Uberlandia, that was to evaluate how to readjust indications for cesarean delivery by using of this guideline with its evidence based medicine with health workers. According to this study, protocols could enable and encourage physicians to perform vaginal delivery. It was possible to identify barriers to change this paradigm. Stimulation of team members to develop standardized and updated obstetrics can improve indications for cesarean delivery in low risk pregnancies.
Biography:
Daniel Woodard is pursuing his Master's degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the school of Mechanical Engineering. He received his undergraduate degree from UAB, which included coursework focused on HVAC applications and computer simulations. He has been a member of ASHRAE since 2010.
Abstract:
Indoor air quality is an important factor to consider when designing HVAC systems. The health and safety of those who occupy the space within any structure could be significantly affected by the air handling system inadvertently recirculating dirty exhaust air, or capturing exhaust from neighboring structures. And thus, the design and placement of intake and exhaust structures on building rooftops must be thoroughly evaluated. When evaluating the intake and exhaust structures on building rooftops, it is important to collect and consider as much information as possible. This may include building dimensions, structures on the rooftop, the dimensions of neighboring buildings in addition to their ventilation specifications, and environmental factors such as temperature and wind direction. This paper reviews the concept of using simulation software to model the likelihood of exhaust gases recirculating through intake structures on building rooftops. Each of the simulations consisted of a rectangular building with an intake structure and exhaust stack in various positions on the roof. ASHRAE stack design guidance, provided in chapter 45 of the 2011 ASHRAE Handbook, was used to develop these cases. Exhaust gas of various velocities is simulated to identify whether modeling techniques can serve as an adequate replacement or alternative to traditional ASHARE based hand calculations. A properly designed exhaust structure would result in minimal exhaust gas recirculation. In other words, a case in which the exhaust gas travels over the recirculation zone that is adjacent to the intake structure and is carried beyond the building.
Biography:
Lansing, Michigan Area - ‎Mental Health Care Professional
Abstract:
Uniformed officers working with the Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) of Singapore are part of the Home Team Officers (including Police officers, Prison officers and Fire Fighters) serving under the Ministry of Home Affairs. This paper aims to explore the occupational and organizational stress among immigration officers in ICA. While immigration officers are facing similar stressors as those by Police officers (E.g. shift work, dealing with members of public and difficulty transiting between work and personal life), limited research has been done on stressors and the mental wellness of immigration officers. This study focuses on investigating the challenges and psychological service needs of ICA officers to aid in the shaping of in-house mental wellness services to maintain and enhance the mental resiliency of these guardians of our borders. This study includes a review of existing literature, observation and feedback made during ground visits to ICA work premises and a self-reporting survey by the officers. Findings are reported in this paper followed by recommendations to meet the identified gaps.
Arif Ali Chishti
University of Karachi , Pakistan
Title: Comprehensive needs assessment of COPD patients residing in east-central Indiana and west-central Ohio
Biography:
Arif Ali Chishti has completed his MSc from Univesity of Applied Sciences, Germany and PhD from University of Bonn, Germnay and now working as Assistant Prof. at The Karachi Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), Karachi Pakistan. He has 2 papers in reputed journals. He is currently doing research in occupational health and safety of radiation workers.
Abstract:
Exposure to ionizing radiation occurs from natural sources (e.g. cosmic or terrestrial radiation) or man-made sources (e.g. radiation used in diagnosis and radiotherapy). Ionizing radiation being used in diagnostic procedures (X-ray or computed tomography) can increase the risk of development of ionizing radiation induced cancer even at low doses. A better understanding of biological effects and cellular responses to ionizing radiation will lead to efficient use in radiotherapy and better protection. Up to now, it is not clear to what extent the different NF-ï«B target genes are activated in response to different doses and qualities of ionizing radiation. Therefore, the effect of heavy ions of a broad LET range (ï¾ 0.3 - 9674 keV/µm) on cellular survival and activation of NF-ï«B were investigated. The biological relevance of the recently discovered LET dependency of NF-ï«B activation is also unknown, especially the resulting profile of NF-ï«B target gene expression. This study clearly demonstrates that NF-ï«B activation and NF-ï«B-dependent gene expression by heavy ions are highest in the LET range ofï¾50-200 keV/μm. The up-regulated chemokines and cytokines (CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL10, IL-8 and TNF) might be important for cell-cell communication among hit as well as unhit cells (bystander effect). Hence, the expression profile was determined in this work. The results clearly show the role of LET in modulating radiation induced NF-ï«B activation and NF-ï«B dependent gene expression by ionizing radiation of different LET.
Eduard HanslÃk
T.G.Masaryk Water Research Institute, Czech Republic
Title: Occupation health at drinking water treatment plant using ground water with elevated concentrations of radon 222, radium 226 and radium 228
Biography:
HanslÃk completed his studies at Department of Water Technology and Environment of the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague in 1969 and successfully concluded his postgraduate research in 1981 at the same university. He completed the UNESCO Hydrological Course at Lomonosov University in Moscow. He focused on behavior of radioactive substances in the aquatic environment and possibilities of removal of radioactive substances, including radon-222 gas, during water treatment. He is an expert guarantor of national conferences e.g. „Radionuclides and ionizing radiation in water management“ (1978–2016).
Abstract:
The content of radionuclides in ground water, as raw water for drinking water treatment, can vary in a wide range. In the case of high content of the natural radionuclides, especially content of radium 226 and radium 228, the most often used process of their removing is aeration followed by the filtration on gravity or pressure filters filled with sand covered with iron and manganic oxides, eventually with other medium as Birm or Greensand. These procedures had been used for the water treatment before the radioactive substances content in water and their ingestion risk were known. During the water treatment process, the radioisotopes of radium 226 and radium 228 are retained in the filter media together with iron and manganese. Retained radium 226 generates its daughter radionuclide - gaseous radon 222. During the filters washing, radon 222 is released into the air of the water treatment plant hall.This will be shown on an example, when the radon 222 concentration in raw ground water is low but it gets into the treated water during the treatment process. When the filters are being washed, the radon 222 concentration in the air of the plant significantly increases. The dependence of radon concentration in the air on the radium 226 activity in the sand of the particular filters was assessed. The inhalation dose rates due to radon 222 and dose rates from filter media for the operating personnel were evaluated.
Anyanwu
National Industrial Safety Council of Nigeria, Nigeria
Title: New standadrs for occupational safety and health management and recognition of occupational diseases
Biography:
DR. REGINALD CHIDIEBERE ANYANWU holds Ph.D in Occupational Health. He is a fellow, Chartered Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria. He is Chairman Board of Trust and President, Foundation for Occupational Accidents Victims. DR. ANYANWU lectures Occupational health at M.Sc and Ph.D level of centre for Occupational Health Safety and Environment University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria and University Of Benin, Nigeria. He is the CEO National Industrial Safety council of Nigeria. Inspectorate Division federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity. He has published several Research works and Author of a book Principles And Application of Health and Safety at work 2011.Amongst others.
Abstract:
International Labour Organization and World Health Organization committee aims at the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social of well being of workers in all occupations. A study was carried in Lagos metropolitan, the largest city in West Africa, Employee Survey findings about workplace stress as result of increased workload, new technology at work, new business environment meeting deadlines, overdependence on targets, Gender insensitivity, extended work hours, conflict resolution. The findings reveals that 80% of the working hours is spent at work, 1/3 reported high level of stress, 1/4 reported their jobs as number 1 stressor in their life above family and financial pressure. ¾ believe more on the job stress than a generation ago. As results an alternative to reduce stress is employed by metropolitan residence in Lagos State in Nigeria to ease off stress as result of work stress. Lagosians spend Nib (USD 6.25m) per day on social parties (annual expenditure of N365 Billion) just to reduce stress. Some Occupational Diseases includes Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), Low Back Pain, Hepatitis B, HIV, Mental Disorder, Leukemia, Zoonosis, Pneumoconiosis (Silicosis and Asbestosis) Pesticides Poisoning, Skin Disorder, Noise included Hearing loss, Musculo-skeletal Disorder, Cancer etc. Recommendations for Health promotion in a work place are creation of strong leadership for prevention of Non Communicable Diseases (NCD), strong support from management/employers, strong support from employees unions, stakeholder involvement, ensure availability of facilities for physical activity such as gyms, promotion of physical activity among employees including games and sports (6000 steps/week or 2000minutes/week) encourage use of stairs instead of lifts at work places, ensure availability of healthy foods at work. SUMMARY/CONCLUSION These occupational diseases are largely preventable and so the society will be better off with structures to mitigate those waiting disaster. Work place health and safety is a business of all as the society benefits therefrom.
Suman Bahadur
School of Public Health and Community medicine, Nepal
Title: Respiratory disorders among dust exposed workers in eastern Nepal
Biography:
Dr. Suman Bahadur Singh, Associate Professor, has completed his MD (Community Medicine) in 2008 from B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal and is working in the same institution since then. He has professional experience as leader in outreach occupational health services, coordinator in residency program in community medicine and guide and co-guide in thesis. His career objective is to promote wellness at work by working in a multidisciplinary approach to establish Occupational Safety and Health at national level in Nepal. He has published about ten papers in peer reviewed journal.
Abstract:
Exposure to dusts is common in developing industrialized countries. Chronic respiratory illness has been reported from jute and textile industry. This study compared respiratory problem among the workers of jute and textile industry. A cross-sectional study enrolled 315 workers from each of the industries. Almost all the workers were selected from the textile industry while the workers from the jute industry were selected from dust prone areas. Workers were interviewed by using pretested questionnaires. Measurement of height and weight and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) was done by appropriate tools and techniques. Majority of workers were non smokers in both the industries (73% vs. 70.8%). Most of the workers had the working experience of less than five years in both the industries (42.5% vs. 57.1%). Upper respiratory disorder was found among more than one fifth of workers in the jute industry and around one twentieth of workers in the textile industry. One and two worker suffered from chronic bronchitis in the jute and the textile industry respectively. Chest tightness was reported by 1.3% and 5.4% workers in the jute and textile industry respectively. Higher proportion of workers (27.3%) in the jute industry suffered from cough symptom than the workers (8.3%) in the textile industry which was statistically very significant (p<0.001). Mean score of PEFR of workers in jute mill was lower than the workers of textile industry, which was statistically significant (p-value < 0.001). Chronic respiratory problem did not appear to be alarming in both the industries.
Josthna Penchalaneni
Sri Venkateswara University, India
Title: Basella rubra a natural chemopreventive agent against Colon cancer: An outbreak in Health care
Biography:
Josthna Penchalaneni Department of Biotechnology, Sri Padmavathi Mahila University, Tirupati-517502. A.P. INDIA 2 DST PURSE Centre, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati-517502 .A.P. INDIA
Abstract:
The present study deals with the exploration of traditionally used plant (Basella rubra) against colon cancer. Aqueous leaf extract of Basella rubra were studied for chemotherapeutic potential against chemically induced carcinogenesis model. Chemopreventive effect of BRAE (Basella rubra aqueous extract) is evidenced by the decreased incidence and distribution of tumors along the colon with reduction in number of ACF and AgNOR count. Immunohistochemistry findings demonstrated that BRAE significantly inhibited the growth of cancer cells by inhibiting cell proliferation and by inducing apoptosis through activation of apoptosis pathway which is cleared by the increased expression of apoptosis markers (p53 & Caspase-3) and decreased expression of cell proliferation markers (PCNA & Ki67). Plants are known to be rich in a number of bioactive compounds, which have demonstrated to possess numerous therapeutical activities. This research arose from the interest to identify the potential active anti-carcinogenic compounds and characterize their effects on proliferation and cell death in colon cancer (HT-29) cell lines. This makes the isolation, identification of bioactive compounds for a specific biological activity and structural determination of active compound. Bioactive compound (BR-1) was identified by MTT assay and the compound (BR-1) was identified as flavonoid group of compound by chemical screening. Based on the results from spectral analysis (UV, IR, MS and NMR) the active compound (BR-1) was tentatively identified as isovitexin with the molecular formula was coined as C21H20O10. The effect of isovitexin on the anti-proliferative and cytotoxic effects against HT-29 human colon cancer (HT-29) cells was assessed by the MTT and LDH assay. A significant decrease in cell viability and increased in cell death was observed with increasing concentrations of isovitexin. The results showed that IC50 of isovitexin was found to be 21.44 µg/ml concentrations on HT-29 cell line. Induction of apoptosis by isovitexin was supported with evidence of DNA fragmentation. At the same time, apoptosis-related proteins such as Bax, Bcl-2, pro-caspase-3, and active caspase-3 expression were determined by Western blot analysis. The HT-29 cells were treated with isovitexin for 0-24 h. An increase in expression of the Bax, which led to an activation of caspases- -3 and a decrease in expression of the anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 were observed in a time-dependent manner. Isovitexin could also down-regulate the expression of pro-caspase-3 in a time-dependent manner. Our results evaluating the molecular mechanism that isovitexin induced apoptosis cell death in HT-29 cells may occur via caspase-3, through mitochondrial dependent pathway. Hence, these findings support and strengthen the anticancer activity possessed by the isovitexin and it might be used as a good chemotherapeutic approach against colon cancer. Thus overall study reports the potential usefulness of B.rubra as a chemopreventive agent.
Thomas Patitucci
Development Officer, USA
Title: Methods of Ensuing Worker Safety in the Provision of In-Home
Biography:
Holds a MSW from Fordham University and is license clinical social worker. He possesses 37 years’ experience in managing Mental Health, Assertive Community Treatment, Case Management, Supervised Housing, Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Substance Abuse Services. He has offered consultation and training across the US and Canada; has presented in over 25 natioanal conferences with respect to behavioral health treatment and rehabilitation. Formerly was a Visiting Instructor at the Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work.
Abstract:
The point of service for the health care sector has become increasing home based. Funders and policy makers are purposefully driving services away from hospitals and clinics to the homes of the patients. This trend is particularly prevalent in the mental health field. As this direction expands, the risk posed to mental health practitioners providing these services have concomitantly increased both from the patients being treated and the environments many of persons with mental illness reside. As a result, a need for safety conscious worker force, comprehensive worker training and organizational safety strategies are extremely important in the process of managing the risk and provide quality care in home services. The presenter will describe that exposure to violence is a common place experience in many of the urban and suburban areas given the low socio-economic areas most of the patients reside. Discuss how exposure to the threat of violence and crime, is common place and that violence is prevalent both for practitioners and patient stand point. The presenter will describe that risk for practitioners is further exacerbated due to the fact; they face unstable and unpredictable patients and or roommates alone. Therefore, providers and healthcare leaders will need to have comprehensive strategies to manage the risk to practitioners providing in home mental health intervention. The presentation will include individual practitioner field based safety tips and a discussion of the overall needs for risk management strategies for healthcare leaders and what elements these may include.
Chung-Hey Chen
National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
Title: Effectiveness of Aerobic Gymnastic Exercise on Stress, Fatigue, and Sleep Quality during Postpartum
Biography:
Chung-Hey Chen completed her PhD from University of Pittsburgh, USA in 1994. Her research has focused for the past 35 years on peri-natal depression, stressfulness of childbearing and complementary/alternative therapy. She has published more than 140 articles in the field of health care. Her research findings not only contribute to the clinical practice in terms of establishing the women health care model in Taiwan, but also motivating the graduate students to extend her research focus on women health, nursing education and illness management. She has been serving as a section editor of repute.
Abstract:
“Doing the month†is Taiwan-specific socio-cultural system, women usually decrease their exercising during their postpartum periods. A growing body of evidence suggests that exercise is important contributor to maternal health and thus is beneficial to infants. Gymnastics is a preferable safe exercise for postnatal women performing regularly. To determine the effectiveness of aerobic gymnastic exercise in health promotion during postpartum, a total of 140 postnatal women without contraindications were systematically assigned, with a random start to experimental (nï¼70) or a control (nï¼70) group. Participants in the gymnastic exercise group were instructed to engage in aerobic gymnastic exercise at least three times (15 minutes per section) a week in addition to receiving general postnatal care similar to that in the control group for three months. Outcome measures include Perceived Stress Scale, Postpartum Fatigue Scale, Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Sixty-four women in experimental and 65 in control group completed the 4-week post-tests; 60 in the experimental group and 62 in control group completed the 12-week post-tests. Paired t-tests revealed that aerobic gymnastic exercise participants had improved significantly in perceived stress and fatigue after 4 weeks gymnastic exercise; these positive effects extended to the 12-week posttests. In addition, the physical symptoms-related sleep inefficiency of participants showed significantly improvements in the aerobic gymnastic exercise group than in the control group at the 12-week posttest. The results contribute to the further study of exercises and compact disc multimedia health education programs for postnatal women.
Gisele Marquini
Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU), Brazil
Title: Cesarean delivery: Is it possible to decrease or readjust our rates?
Biography:
Gisele Vissoci Marquini, Bachelor’s in Medicine, Specialization-Medical Residence in Gynecology and Obstetrics, Master's in Health’s Sciences by Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU), MG Brazil, place where she has been working as a doctor and a researcher of Nucleus of Health Assistance to the Worker, for twelve years. Member of Santa Clara Hospital and Maternity (Brazil), a premier service organization, has completed her post graduation at the age of 35 years. She has published papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute. Studies continuing medical education at the Federal University of São Paulo Brazil.
Abstract:
Brazil has been cited as a country with one of the highest rates of cesarean delivery in the world: approximately 36% of births are by cesarean. Statistics from private hospitals show an even higher frequency, reaching 80-90%. Despite the importance of cesarean sections, the concern of the international scientific community is directed toward a possible abuse in the procedure. The Brazilian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Societies (FEBRASGO) is a nationwide medical organization of credibility that promotes safe vaginal delivery and the careful assessment of indications for cesarean delivery. It adapts recommendations of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) for application in Brazil. FEBRASGO has developed the guideline Cesarean-Indications, which includes recommendations on indications for cesarean delivery and could promote a reduction in these rates of this procedure It has carried out a study, in Brazil, specifically at the Federal University of Uberlandia, that was to evaluate how to readjust indications for cesarean delivery by using of this guideline with its evidence-based medicine. According to this study, protocols could enable and encourage physicians to perform vaginal delivery. Frequent meetings with discussions on the applicability of the recommended protocols in local practice are valid. Stimulation of team members to develop standardized and updated obstetrics can improve indications for cesarean delivery in low- risk pregnancies.
Lindiwe Zungu
University of South Africa, South Africa
Title: Occupational exposures to patients’ body fluids among health care workers in a university hospital in Ethiopia
Biography:
Professor Lindiwe Zungu completed her PhD at the age of 32 from the University of Zululand in South Africa. She is a research professor in Occupational Health at the University of South Africa and a National Research Foundation (NRF) C3-rated researcher. She has produced over 35 articles in peer reviewed scientific local and international journals; and supervised to graduation a sizeable number of Masters and PhD candidates within the discipline of Health Sciences. She has been recognised for her innovative and unique scientific contributions to research and scholarship, as evidenced by several research grants and awards since 2007.
Abstract:
Globally, exposures to patients’ body fluids (BFs) are common occupational hazards among health care workers (HCWs); and over 90% of such occupational exposures occur in developing countries such as Ethiopia. However, there is paucity of data to quantify the magnitude and circumstances around the occurrence of these occupational exposures among HCWs in Ethiopia. The study aimed at describing the patterns of exposure to patients’ BFs among HCWs at a tertiary hospital in Ethiopia. A contextual descriptive cross-sectional design was used for this study and self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. The one year and professional life prevalence of occupational exposures to patients’ BFs among HCWs was 33.5% and 66.5% respectively. Circumstances that led to participants’ exposures to patients’ BFs include needle stick injuries to fingers and splashes to the eyes (82.4%); conducting procedures including withdrawal of blood (10.8%) and inserting intravenous infusions (8.1%) as well as recapping of used needles (12.2%). Findings of this study generally indicated that occupational exposures to patients’ BFs of different types and circumstances were common among all categories of HCWs in the study site. This high finding of BFs exposures should not be over looked. HCWs should be encouraged to adhere to universal precautionary measures to prevent the exposures to patients’ BFs. Furthermore, availability of and compliance with post-exposure prophylaxis should be strengthened
Renato Lagana
Mediterranean University, Italy
Title: Training of teachers of construction safety in schools
Biography:
Associate professor, Department DARTE, Mediterranean University, Reggio Calabria, Italy
Abstract:
On several occasions we recently dealt with the safety managers’ training. We’d like to propose you our experience made during internship activities for secondary-school teachers, which our University run in the last year. The training project is carried out complying with the guidelines provided by the Ministerial decree no. 357/2013 published on August 11, 1998 within the framework of the progressive implementation of the provisions contained in the Consolidated law on Education (no. 297/1994). The initiative launched by the Italian Ministry for Education had two important phases: - Activities in schools carried out by would-be teachers in secondary school classrooms; - Teachers’ training in universities by qualified lecturers. Here are the experiences of two participants who chose to deal with safety in building sites for surveyor training (subject A016 – Constructions, construction technology and technical drawing). In their graduation thesis they analysed two themes: 1) Trenching and excavation safety within the building site; 2) Safety in road construction sites. The originality of those contributions is characterised by the implementation of new teaching methods involving the use of the cutting-edge IT tools, by the techniques adopted to involve students and by the straightforward experience in building or road construction sites. They are going to enable would-be surveyors to achieve a good qualification level thus impacting positively on companies operating in the building sector.
- Women and Occupational Health, Women Healthcare, Health promotion of workers, Construction and Ergonomics, Agricultural & Environmental Safety
Session Introduction
Sucheta
GBPUAT, India
Title: Poor health of women in homestead occupations and its remedial measures
Biography:
Sucheta Singh has completed her PhD at the age of 25 years from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and technology Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar, Uttarakhand, India She is the associate professor. She has published papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
Women carry about 15-35 kg. or more weight on head, on shoulders, on back or in hands hanging in sides either in erect standing, standing-cum-bending or bending posture. They travel 8-10 kms. and generally work more than 15 hours a day attending to the agriculture system, cattle, collection of fuel, fodder and water as well as normal duties at home. In performance of most of the activities, the long hours of standing and standing-cum-bending posture and long walking distances in kaccha roads; uphill and downhill leads to the various musculoskeletal disorders and related health problems. The present research study was carried out for Identification of physiological and postural stress in different methods of carrying loads on the basis of physiological responses of rural women and to find out the remedial measures for delineating poor effects of carrying load on the health of rural women. The activities fetching of fuel, fodder and water; milling, storing and threshing of grains, applying manure, disposing off crop residue, delivering milk and vegetables, washing of clothes, involves the factor of transport and are load carrying. The experiences of the sample women shows that approx. 58.46% women felt fatigue often while performance of Household, farm and livestock related activities. While doing the daily activities 57.08% women felt limb pain, during the seasonal activities 88.33% women suffered from backache and in performance occasional activities 79.15% women were affected by backache. Besides, musculoskeletal disorders lifting heavy weights and carrying heavy loads on head by women leads to various gynecological consequences such as menstrual disorders, uterine prolapse, miscarriages and backaches causing serious long-term repercussions. To help rural hill women small booklet titled “workload on rural women and remedial measures†was compiled with enough information and distributed among Anganwadi workers, Village level workers and literate villagers so that they can made use of this information to improve quality of work, reduce drudgery and to improve health status.
Shalini Agarwal
GBPUAT, India
Title: Occupational Discomort Faced By Women Working In Unorganized Sector
Biography:
Shalini Agarwal has completed her PhD at the age of 25 years from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and technology Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar, Uttarakhand, India She is working as assisstant professor. She has published papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
Work is an important task of human life. It is the expression of the basic need to accomplish, to create and to feel meaningful. Work area is the place where we spend most of our working hours and energy, we judge ourselves and measure our self-worth by the work we do. Rewarding work is an important and positive part of our lives but when work denies people an opportunity to utilize their creativity, intelligence and decision making ability it cause stress discomfort. The present study was conducted to study the occupational postural discomfort among workers. Research design for the present study was cross sectional cum experimental in nature. Women respondent working in different unorganized sectors were selected for the study. The sample size was 120. Purposive random sampling technique was used to select the sample using self constructed and pre-tested interview schedule along with Body Mapping Scale. Results showed that irrespective of their occupation main reasons of postural discomfort were sitting without back support, excessive pressure on the shoulders, bending of knees for long time, keeping back straight for long hours, pain in legs due to standing posture for longs. Results collected from body map showed that most of the females complained of pain in most of the body parts. Regarding type of postural discomfort, most of the respondents reported pain in neck, shoulder, muscles, joints, knee, arms, fatigue and even burning sensation in feet.The results of the findings imply that the informal sector is understood to imply the use of labour-intensive working methods as all were self-employed. The results could help in understanding postural discomfort among workers who work in unorganized sector and will also help researchers in designing comfortable work station for the workers working in these sectors which include sectors like beauty parlour, convenience stores, pottery making and many more.
Shu Yu
National Yang-Ming University , Tiwan
Title: Nurses Perceived Emotional Labour , Safety Climate
Biography:
Shu Yu has completed her PhD in 1996 from National Taiwan University School of Public Health. She is a professor and the dean of School of nursing, National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan. Hui-yu Linag is the director of Nursing Department, National Yang-Ming University Hospital. Besides, she is a PhD candidate of National Yang-Ming University School of Nursing now. Both of them have published many parpers in sciencifticjournals and international conferences.
Abstract:
Job pressure has been explored in previous studies. However there is a room to understand nurses’ emotional labour and safety climate. The aim of this study was to examine nurse’s perceived emotional labour and safety climate in hospital, and then their relationships with health status. We adopted a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire to collect data. A purposive randomly selected sample, 425 full-time nurses participated in this study. We found that nurses had a moderate level of emotional labour (92.17  27.33; total scores ranging 26-156) and safety climate (106.99  12.52; total scares ranging from 60 to 146). Overall, emotional labour had no significant correlation with health status, whereas safety climate revealed a significantly negative correlation with health status. Among three dimensions of emotional labour, only controlling negative emotion revealed a significantly negative correlation with health status. Among six dimensions of safety climate, except working conditions, the other five dimensions (including team work climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition, and perceptions of management) indicated significantly negative correlation with health status. Our study supported that safety climate is a key factor for nurses’ health status whereas the influence from emotional labour is not so significant except controlling negative emotion. Health care organizations and administrators should pay more attention in building a better climate, increasing job satisfaction, improving stress management skill, and adopting a humanistic management to increase safety climate. Encouraging nurses adopt more effective strategies to handle their negative emotion and expressing positive emotions are also recommended.
Aouatef
Orebro University, Sweden
Title: Predictive factors to surgical treatment of occupational carpal tunnel syndrome
Biography:
Laboratory of Occupational Medicine and Ergonomics. University of Medicine of Monastir- Tunisia.
Abstract:
Objective: to study the predictive factors to a surgical treatment of a professional carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Patients and methods: A cross sectional study of subjects with occupational CTS identified in Occupational Diseases at the University Hospital of Mahdia over a period of 8 years (2005-2013). Data collection was based on the description of socio-professional characteristics, medical and professional future of the participants. A statistical significance level (p < 0.005) was considered. Results: We identified 106 cases of occupational CTS, that have had the profile of a female labor worker on sewing-machine, 42 years old, married and with a mean length service of 20.6 ±6.8 years. Most of our patients had benefited from a surgical treatment (61.3%). The study of predictors for surgical treatment of occupational SCC was significantly correlated with preexisting diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, functional signs of the disease (muscle weakness, pain irradiation and painful discomfort hand of the forearm or arm) and atrophy of the thenar muscles. As for the professional future of employees operated, 50.7% remained in the same position, 15.3% received a post layout and 33.8% received a job change in the same company. The professional future of these employees was related to their qualifications and type of sensory impairment and / or motor median nerve EMG. Conclusion: A better understanding of factors which influence the gravity of CTS can help to identify susceptible patients to benefit from a surgical treatment in an appropriate way.
Biography:
Professor Isabel
Abstract:
Studies on the association between sitting time and musculoskeletal pain have found contrasting results. The aim of this study is investigate the association between sitting time (daily total, and occupational and leisure-time periods) and musculoskeletal pain in different body regions among workers by blue-collar and white. Methods: The sample comprised 205 workers. Musculoskeletal pain and related symptoms was assessed with the Nordic Questionnaire of Osteoarticular Symptoms, and the sitting time was assessed with IPAQ – Short Version. The association of sitting time and musculoskeletal pain and related symptoms was analyzed with logistic regression, adjusted for BMI, age, gender and Moderate to Vigorous Physical activity. Results: The white collars participants had lower level of moderate to vigorous Physical Activity than Blue collars. The participants were more likely to have less musculoskeletal pain and related symptoms in the ankles/feets with higher sitting time (odds ratio [OR] = 0.995, p = .032). Conclusion: Sitting time is negatively associated with musculoskeletal pain in the ankles/feets intensity only among white collars workers. Future studies using a prospective design with objective measures of sitting time are recommended. Our results emphasize the need of worksite interventions to prevent musculoskeletal pain and related symptoms. Keywords: physical activity; musculoskeletal pain; workers; Blue and white collars; Sitting time
Dusadee
Eastern Asia University, Thailand
Title: Small Business and Universal Health Care Coverage (UHC) in Thailand
Biography:
Dusadee Charoensuk has completed her Ph.D from Mahidol University in Thailand. She is the editor in chief of EAU Heritage Journal, serving as editor board member of AJPOR Journal, member of Rajprachasamasai Foundation under The Royal Patronage committees, member of research committee of EAU.
Abstract:
This qualitative research is aimed to study the impact of work and work place of small business towards their quality of life with the UHC in Thailand. The research method used in-depth interview, participatory observation with more than 50 street food sellers in Bangkok. The results revealed : Most of them (more than70 %) were female, less than high school education, middle age (30-60 years old) with children in the family and were in crucial debt that they had to pay daily/monthly average of 20 % of interest with principle. They invested with small amount of money and borrowed some from illegal loan. Because they had no credit or any bank accounts. Their work places were along the street in downtown or crowded communities. The impact of work places were air pollution from near by motorcycle queues, dusty streets, sometime road accidents, noisy places, and heat. Sometimes, they moved to the other places and carrying heavy food containers with the thought that may be, it could make more money. They got up very early in the morning to buy raw materials from the markets, prepared food and spending time to sell their food products almost the whole day with little time to rest. The impact to their quality of life; 1) physical health, back and knee pain, skin irritation from cooking food and heat etc, 2) emotional health, stress, worried about financial support and daily payment in the family, future strain, 3) social health, no social security, family disparities, because of no time to take care children., some of their partners were heavy drinkers, their children have to leave the schools and some were drug abused, etc. Universal health coverage in Thailand had been set up since 2001 from the concept of “Health for Allâ€. As of now, 99 % of the Thai population is covered through a comprehensive healthcare package that ranges from health prevention and primary care, to hospitalization due to traffic accidents to renal replacement therapy and access to ART treatment for HIV. This UHC has help people who have no security insurance to become more secure in their life. The suggestion of the research are to sustain the UHC policy along with good strategies of health prevention and health promotion to these group of people and create the finance support systems for them to stop the “shark loan†and vicious cycle of their life. Keywords: Small business, UHC,
Muhammad Masood
Aga Khan University, Pakistan
Title: Knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding pesticide use and their health effects among the farmers of a rural district of Pakistan
Biography:
Dr. Muhammad Masood Kadir is a Professor of Public Health, He has a MPH from University of Hawaii USA and Masters in Occupational Health and Safety from University of Adelaide Australia/ He has research interest in occupational and environmental health.
Abstract:
Pesticides are widely used in developing countries. There is paucity of literature about the unsafe use of pesticide in countries like Pakistan. We studied the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding pesticides use and their health effects in an agricultural community of a rural district of Pakistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a pre-tested questionnaire. A sample of 778 farm workers aged ≥15 years old we interviewed. The average age of the studied population was 33.3 years with a low level of education (illiterate or <5 years of school, 65.7%). Majority of the farmers were cultivating their own land (99.6%) with average land size of 6.0 acres. About 96.5% of the interviewed farmers had personally worked with pesticides Over 85% of the farmers reported using the organophosphorous and methamidophos insecticide. A great majority 83.5% believed that pesticides are harmful for human health, but less than 13% used any form of personal protective equipment (PPE). The reasons for not using PPE were equipments were not easily available (23.4%), lack of knowledge about protective equipments (21%), cost of protective equipments (18%) and perception that exposure from pesticides can not cause any adverse health effect (8%). Almost all (99%) reported one or more toxic symptoms and 47.4% of them had sought some kind of medical treatment after pesticides exposure. Differences in toxicity symptoms between those with and without PPE use were unremarkable. About 97% of the farmers asked for training for proper and safe use of pesticides. These results indicate that unsafe use of pesticide in common. Special educational programs and legislation promoting the safe use of pesticides, and availability of personal protective equipments are necessary to decrease the pesticide exposure of farmers in Pakistan.
Arnaud
Montreal University, Canada
Title: Effective interventions to maintain and improve mental health of primary
Biography:
Arnaud Duhoux has completed his PhD in public health from Montreal University and postdoctoral studies from University of Ottawa. He is a profesor in Nursing program at Montreal University. The work of Arnaud Duhoux focus on measuring and improving the performance of primary care health services using epidemiological methods. He is interested in determinants of mental health at the individual, organizational and environmental levels.
Abstract:
Nurses are at elevated risk for workplace stress, psychological distress, burnout, depression and anxiety. Studies examining interventions to improve nurses’ mental health have been conducted largely in hospital, but it is currently unclear what interventions are most effective in primary care (PC). We aimed to systematically review the literature to assess the effectiveness of interventions designed to maintain or improve nurse’s mental health in PC. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO and Cinahl to find intervention studies published in English or French between 2000 and October 2015. The final research strategy combined four keywords: nurse, mental health, occupational health and intervention. Additional articles were also identified through a manual search. Interventions at the organisational level, the individual level or both levels are included. The outcomes considered include but are not limited to depression, anxiety, burnout, psychological distress, and absenteeism. Results: This review is in progress, 13 804 relevant articles were identified through the search strategy. After initial screening, 13 265 articles were excluded due to duplications or exclusion criteria. The final number of articles to be included will be known by the end of february 2016. No previous systematic literature review focused on effective interventions to improve or to maintain mental health for nurses working in a PC was found. Conclusion: The results of the review will be presented. The following points will be discussed 1) the implications for nursing practice in PC and 2) the implications for workplace improvement and 3) suggestions for future intervention studies.
Mozhdeh Tahghighi
Registered Nurse , Australia
Title: Health care nurses: A systematic literature review
Biography:
Mozhdeh Tahghighi has a Bachelor of Nursing, and has completed her Master of Nursing from the University of Western Australia. She is a PhD candidate in Psychology (third year) at Curtin University. She is working on resilience of nurses working shift work in Australia, which is a first Australian study. Also, she is Registered Nurse in this country.
Abstract:
The adverse effects of occupational stressors on nurses in regard to their turnover, productivity, costs, and effects on quality of care are well known. Shift work that involves disruption of circadian rhythm is considered a probable carcinogen. The aim was to investigate the impact of shift work on resilience in nurses and to determine whether nurses who work shifts have different mental health/professional quality of life outcomes compared to those who work regular hours. This study examined data collected from Registered and Enrolled Nurses (n=1495) as part of a 2013 online self-report study among employed nurses who were members of the Queensland Nurses’ Union. Generalised Linear Mixed Model analysis revealed shift workers had significantly lower scores on the compassion satisfaction measure; however, this was a very small effect. There were no significant differences between shift and non-shift workers on depression, anxiety, stress, resilience, Secondary Traumatic Stress and burnout. Nurses working shifts showed significantly lower levels of compassion satisfaction compared to non-shift worker nurses; however, they did not indicate they will leave the profession compared to non-shift worker counterparts.
Ahmed
Cairo university, Egypt
Title: Awareness Among Cardiac Catheterization Health Care Team Members Regarding Occupational
Biography:
Ahmed Abd Alrahman Hassan has completed his Master at the age of 28 years from cairo University and. He is assistant lectural at faculty of nursing cairo university, He has published one book and one paper papers in reputed journals
Abstract:
The aim of the study was to assess cardiac catheterization health care team member's awareness regarding occupational health hazards and safety practices in Cairo University Hospitals. A descriptive, comparative design was utilized. The study was conducted at all cardiac catheterization units in Cairo University Hospitals. Convenient sample of all health care team members (80) who divided into physicians (12), bachelor nurses (11), technical nurses (27), radiologists (16), and nurses aid (14). Two tools were developed by the investigator utilized for data collection. Finding of this study indicated the physicians had the highest total mean awareness score towards occupational hazards while, the lowest total mean score of awareness for nurses aids. The New Kaser Elaine catheterization unit had got the highest mean score of safety measures while; Emmanuel University catheterization unit had gotten the lowest total mean score. All health care team members had got a moderate level of awareness toward occupational health hazards. The physicians were the most aware group of health team members with occupation health hazards while, the nurses' aids group was the lowest aware group with occupational health hazards and all cardiac catheterization units had a low level of safety practices. The study recommended that a training program can be conducted to improve knowledge on occupational health hazardsand periodic medical checkup and checkup for radiation level.
Biography:
Renato Lagana is associated professor at Department of Architecture and Environment of the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria in technology and production building. He has lectured at universities and has taught at national and international masters. Since 2002 co-ordinates the activities of the Team-D which conduct research on safety aspects in construction sites. He has been an invited speaker at international congress in the field of Health and Safety. He is author of numerous scientific publications, published in Italy and in other country.
Abstract:
Workplaces, offices and construction sites, located in seismic areas, should considered in the Emergency Plan also the possibility of preservation behaviors related to occupational health and safety. In this framework, the Consolidated Safety Legislation, adopted in Italy in 2008 transposing the European Directives, frames the emergencies in the work place. It not considers the site as a possible place for the practical implementation of preventive measures. More recent experience in countries around the world has clearly expressed the need to open new scenarios on the terms of the prevention and reduction of risk at construction sites in operation in case of earthquake. Such measures must then be adapted to the activities of ruin removal of and to the reconstruction sites. In Italy, after the recent destructive earthquakes in L’Aquila town and in the Emilia region, finally these issues have become topical. Specific procedures have been started to be taken in the workplace in general and also specifically for temporary workplaces. The research activites carried out at the Department DARTE, which is located in a city with high seismic area in the Straits of Messina in Southern Italy, had significant approaches in recent international conference (C.I.B. – Lunf 2014). They are performed with I.N.A.I.L. (National Institute for Insurance against Accident at Work) and have as objective the reduction of risk in different situation. They take account of the experience acquired in the most sensitive countries to seismic risk (USA, Japan, Greece, etc.)
Molly Finster
Argonne National Laboratory, USA
Title: Recycling Mercury-Impacted Scrap Metal: Key Issues and Research Needs
Biography:
Molly E Finster is an Environmental Health Systems Scientist in the Risk and Infrastructure Science Center within the Global Security Sciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory. She has worked on a variety of national programs and technical projects to solve complex environmental challenges, assure regulatory compliance, and achieve project success. With a background in Environmental and Chemical Engineering, she has conducted laboratory research, field studies, plant floor investigations, and computer-based modeling to advance both research and practice. Current research includes: chemical risk/exposure assessment; environmental impact analyses; resource management; multimedia contaminant fate and transport; site investigation; environmental compliance; and asset management.
Abstract:
The recycling of mercury-impacted scrap metal can emit measurable amounts of mercury; however, existing characterization data are insufficient to fully understand the origin, key sources, and concentrations of mercury within scrap metal and the recycling process. Currently, industry-specific mercury emissions guidance values exist for many known anthropogenic mercury sources (e.g., coal-fired utility plants and waste incinerators), but are largely nonexistent for scrap metal processing and recycling facilities. Given the lack of significant guidance for recycling mercury-impacted scrap metal, these other values can provide a useful framework to potentially guide the development of mercury acceptance and release criteria/limits for recycling facilities. Of particular importance to occupational health and safety professionals, additional information on the origin, source, nature, and extent of mercury-impacted metal in scrap is important for assessing measures to protect scrap metal recycling workers from potential health and safety hazards that might be posed by the processing and melting of mercury-impacted metal.
Andrew Neo
Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore
Title: Unique Challenges of Border Security Officers in Singapore
Biography:
A Senior Psychologist with the Immigration & Checkpoint Authority of Singapore, which recently housed a new psychological branch to provide psychological services to border security officers. Andrew focus primarily on pioneering work that includes setting up psychological services such as counselling services and mental resilience support. Andrew has also worked within other Home Team departments in related field. He was a Correctional Psychologist for 6 years with the Singapore Prison Service (SPS). He was also a National Service Police Inspector (NSI) with the Police Psychological Services Division (PPSD), serving as a Psychological Support Officer (PSO) since 2010. His field of work with Prison also include rehabilitation work for the violent offender population, violent risk assessments, training delivery and crisis management.
Abstract:
This paper explores the unique challenges faced by the border security officers of Singapore with limited prior research of similar nature in this geographical region. One thousand and six participants working in the border security agency provided data using a questionnaire completed anonymously. The scales used in the questionnaires includes measures of mental wellness and of challenges faced at work (Occupational and Organizational Stress). Findings from the study found similar challenges faced by these border security officers as to police officers as well as challenges unique to border security. These include shift-work, long working hours and inadequate rest, exposure to danger and hazards, threat-avoidant vigilant activity, job demands, contact with public and critical incidents. This study also provides recommendations to support the mental resiliency of these Guardians of the Borders.
Jerome Ofato
Jimma University, Ethiopia
Title: Traditional Youth Hangout Places Contribution to Risky Sexual Behaviour
Biography:
Jerome Ofato has done masters in Public Health in Jimma University
Abstract:
Background:A substantial proportion of the adult and youth population are engaged in risky sexual behavior. The potential negative outcomes of young people practicing unsafe sexual practices are contracting STIs including HIV. Studies conducted in Ethiopia on risky sexual behavior show a gap and the need for urgent comprehensive health education as an intervention method .In Gambella region Ethiopia, HIV prevalence is four times higher than the national rate andthe region is characterized by a relatively higher magnitude of risky sexual behavior than any other region. Method: The study was conducted in Gambella town Ethiopia. A grounded theory research design was used to attain the objective.Data was collected by an in-depth interview for 10 individuals from those youth that participate in thesehangout places and participant observation was also held for 23 days. The sample consisted of youth that attend this event until data was saturated with relevant information.Ethical considerations were addressed by ethical clearance paper, anonymity, confidentiality and voluntary participation. Results: Findings from the study show that risky sexual activities are being held in these youth hangout places. The risky sexual activities held included multiple sexual partnerships, trans-generational sex, intercourse with a stranger, transactional sex and no/inconsistent condom use. Conclusion: Participants in the study confirmed that risky sexual activities are being held in this youth hangout places .Activities associated with risky sexual behavior have been uncovered in this research project and these activities may contribute to the spread of HIV infection in the region. Recommendation:The researcher recommends the city administration and the regional health bureau to intervene on these traditional youth hangout places by offering education on safe sex and offering condoms at these places.