From ‘preventing accidents’ to ‘creating safety’: a maverick approach to the challenges of workplace safety

This Context Statement places central emphasis on my experiential learning and the consequences of my interventions. Through a blend of auto-ethnographical research and reflective practice I analyse, critique and reconceptualise the dominant perceptions and approaches to workplace safety around the world, and the development of my approach to creating the public works which have encouraged, facilitated and supported changes in public perspectives, influenced the evolution of my profession, and developed my personal practice. Academic research does not always reach the stakeholders that need it most and so I act as a ‘translator’ to decode the theory to provide practical and meaningful insight to provoke thought, build communities of practice, and galvanise the safety profession with operational leadership. At the core of my works is a new philosophy and model of workplace safety - ‘Creating Safety’ - set in sharp contrast to the conventional approaches which tend to be compliance driven and focus on the prevention of accidents. Yet the absence of accidents does not equal the existence of safety. The pursuit of ‘zero harm’ emanates from poor integration of safety leadership and I argue that a more strategic (and more ‘maverick’ or provocative) approach is required. Cognisant of the need to resonate with the cultural contexts in which I work this Context Statement explores how I consider audience needs, preferences, and language, as I reframe safety as good business leadership, placing exemplary leadership and effective employee engagement at the heart of the approach. Through this hybrid of applied practice and science, I’m able to reframe what safety means to people, and using a blend of humble inquiry, sensemaking, storytelling and adaptive moves nudge stakeholders towards a mindset shift. This philosophy has evolved over time, with learning, interaction and experience from a range of disciplines and fields of practice including law, organisational behaviour and positive psychology. It is the golden thread running through my practice, and is shown through critical reflections on my public works in occupational health and safety, including a series of published works (eight books – of which four are included in thus D.Prof analysis and submission - and over 200 professional journal articles regularly reaching more than 80,000 readers), public speaking and teaching, and senior roles within my professional bodies. This Context Statement supports my own development as a practitioner, further increases the credibility of the ‘Creating Safety’ philosophy and contributes to the positive development of workplace safety leadership globally

Levels and distribution of self-rated health in the Kazakh population: results from the Kazakhstan household health survey 2012

BACKGROUND: The high and fluctuating mortality and rising health inequalities in post-Soviet countries have attracted considerable attention. However, there are very few individual-level data on distribution of health outcomes in Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union. We analysed socioeconomic predictors of two self-rated health outcomes in a national survey in Kazakhstan. METHODS: We used data from the 2012 Kazakhstan Household Health Survey on 12,560 respondents aged 15+. Self-rated health, self-reported worsening of health, and a range of socio-demographic variables were collected in an interview. The self-rated health outcomes were dichotomized and logistic regression was used to estimate their associations with education, income, ownership of a car, second house and computer, marital status, ethnicity and urban/rural residence. RESULTS: The prevalence of poor/very poor self-rated health was 5.3%, and 11.0% of participants reported worse health compared to 1 year ago. After controlling for age, sex and region, all socio-demographic factors were related to self-rated health. After adjusting for all variables, education and car ownership showed the most consistent effects; the odds ratio of poor health and worsening of health were 0.43 (95% confidence interval 0.32-0.58) and 0.54 (0.44-0.68) for university vs. primary education, respectively, and 0.64 (0.51-0.82) and 0.68 (0.58-0.80) for car ownership, respectively. Unmarried persons, ethnic Russians and urban residents also had increased prevalence of poor health in multivariable models. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limitations of using subjective health measures, these data suggest strong associations between two measures of self-rated health and a number of socioeconomic characteristics. Future studies and health policy initiatives in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries should take social determinants of health into account

Examining the role of the occupational safety and health professional in supporting the control of the risks of multiple psychosocial stressors generated during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: COVID-19 created challenges at work with increased risks of multiple interrelated psychosocial stressors, surfacing as a comorbidity of COVID-19. The roles of many Occupational Safety and Health Practitioners (OSHPs) included helping to recognise, prevent and mitigate these risks, especially for essential and front-line workers. The rationale for this study was to investigate potential competency gaps amongst OSHPs on their lack of priority or inability to understand the scope of the negative synergistic effects of these stressors and provide support where and when appropriate. Drawing on the International Labour Office (ILO) SOLVE methodology, eight psychosocial stressors were identified and a seminar was developed to raise the awareness of the comorbidity of COVID-19 and psychosocial stressors with the target audience of OSHPs, who would potentially further disseminate this information to a broader workforce. The membership network of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) was used to implement the intervention through organising Zoom-based seminars globally. Participants were followed-up with during the seminar and through a one-year post-seminar survey to determine retention of the presented material and to what extent it was put to use. An information sheet was designed and made available to participants for further dissemination. The information sheet can be used by all industries at all levels as a tool to raise awareness and to signpost participants on where to seek help if needed. Twenty-five seminars were held with 2483 participants. Feedback revealed that participants grasped the presented concepts as many of the questions raised during and after the session focused on the implementation of the presented measures. We concluded that, given the correct knowledge, OHSPs are an invaluable resource to lead workforce engagement in this area. Due to UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), there were difficulties undertaking the follow-up survey. Those who could be contacted indicated that where they could influence an intervention, there were improvements in the workplace. It is recommended that participant data be controlled by the research team with qualitative data recorded. Further studies are needed to review both competencies and existing job descriptions of OSHPs and the challenges around expanding responsibilities to lead psychosocial interventions at work

Sleep promotes offline enhancement of an explicitly learned discrete but not an explicitly learned continuous task

Catherine F Siengsukon, Alham Al-SharmanDepartment of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USABackground: Healthy young individuals benefit from sleep to promote offline enhancement of a variety of explicitly learned discrete motor tasks. It remains unknown if sleep will promote learning of other types of explicit tasks. The purpose of this study is to verify the role of sleep in learning an explicitly instructed discrete motor task and to determine if participants who practice an explicitly instructed continuous tracking task demonstrate sleep-dependent offline learning of this task.Methods: In experiment 1, 28 healthy young adults (mean age 25.6 ± 3.8 years) practiced a serial reaction time (SRT) task at either 8 am (SRT no-sleep group) or 8 pm (SRT sleep group) and underwent retention testing 12 ± 1 hours later. In experiment 2, 20 healthy young individuals (mean age 25.6 ± 3.3 years) practiced a continuous tracking task and were similarly divided into a no-sleep (continuous tracking no-sleep group) or sleep group (continuous tracking sleep group). Individuals in both experiments were provided with explicit instruction on the presence of a sequence in their respective task prior to practice.Results: Individuals in the SRT sleep group demonstrated a significant offline reduction in reaction time whereas the SRT no-sleep group did not. Results for experiment 1 provide concurrent evidence that explicitly learned discrete tasks undergo sleep-dependent offline enhancement. Individuals in the continuous tracking sleep group failed to demonstrate a significant offline reduction in tracking error. However, the continuous tracking no-sleep group did demonstrate a significant offline improvement in performance. Results for experiment 2 indicate that sleep is not critical for offline enhancement of an explicit learned continuous task.Conclusion: The findings that individuals who practiced an explicitly instructed discrete task experienced sleep-dependent offline learning while those individuals who practiced an explicitly instructed continuous task did not may be due to the difference in motor control or level of complexity between discrete and continuous tasks.Keywords: sleep, motor learning, discrete task, continuous tas

How today's despots and kleptocrats hide their stolen wealth

International watchdogs and scholarly writings tend to suggest that corruption is a national, bordered phenomenon best assessed and countered on a state-by-state basis. This is wrong. We argue that the conventional understanding of grand corruption is badly flawed and complacent. The real fight is against cross-border flows of tainted money and Western financial centers, which launder corrupt money and help people spend it. Instead of drawing a dichotomy between corrupt and clean countries, we should look at the role of transnational networks, which create a symbiotic relationship between the source countries of grand corruption and the destination host or haven countries that receive the loot

Utilisation of intranets for knowledge sharing : a socio-technical study

Although intranets appear to be ideal environments for employees to share knowledge quickly and efficiently, usage in practice appears limited. We report findings from two case studies that highlight three key issues limiting intranet utilisation for knowledge sharing: organisational structures and strategies, the impact of the receiver on sharer choices, and the availability of alternative channels for knowledge sharing. This study suggests that for companies to obtain more effective intranets, they need to better align organisational structures and strategies with intranet objectives, develop a comprehensive corporate communication plan, and find new ways to better link sharers with receivers&rsquo; knowledge needs.<br /

Studies on the in vivo secretion and metabolism of the steroid hormones of the adrenal cortex

This thesis consists of publications describing experiments in which the secretion of steroid hormones by the adrenal cortex was studied. The venous effluent from the adrenal glands of several mammalian species was collected under anaesthesia. Chemical methods were developed which allow the simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis of most steroid hormones synthesized by the adrenal cortex. These methods were applied to blood and tissue extracts. Because of the observation (paper 1) that a large proportion of the steroids in the blood is loosely associated with blood cells, whole blood samples were extracted instead of plasma alone. The experiments have given information on the type of steroids secreted by the adrenal cortex and on factors which influence the rate at which they are secreted.One group of papers is concerned with the control of aldosterone secretion in the dog (papers 2, J and 4). A detailed study of the factors which cause a rise in aldosterone secretion following acute haemorrhage (paper 2) led to the conclusion, that acute blood loss stimulates the release of hormones from the pituitary gland and the kidney. These hormones in turn cause increased aldosterone secretion. In this respect the two organs can replace each other. In dogs which prior to the experiment had been maintained for long periods of time on either very low or very high dietary sodium intake it was usually not possible to observe the aldosterone rise after blood loss.The aldosterone stimulating substance released from the pituitary gland is in all probability ACTH. This is strongly supported by a quantitative study in which aldosterone secretion was measured in the same dog before and after hypophysectomy and during subsequent infusions of ACTH (paper 3). The increase in aldosterone secretion was found to depend on the dose of ACTH, provided aldosterone secretion was not maximally stimulated by factors not of pituitary origin. In the same experiments information was obtained on the rate at which ACTH was secreted during anaesthesia and operative stress, by comparing glucocorticoid secretion rates before hypophysectomy with those after hypophysectomy, when ACTH was infused at different ratesThe condition of the circulation before and after haemorrhage was found to be important for the ability of a dog to respond to blood loss with a rise in aldosterone secretion. The occurrence of a certain type of blood pressure waves (Mayer waves) is indicative of circulatoryA second group of papers (5 - 13) is concerned with a class of corticosteroids which has so far not been studied in a systematic and quantitative manner, mainly because they are only secreted in small quantities and methods for their estimation had not been available. The papers describe the development and adaptation of paper and gaschromatographic techniques for the purpose of a qualitative and quantitative study of these steroids.Pregnenolone, progesterone, 17αOH-progesterone, 11ßOH-progesterone and the three so called adrenal androgens androstenedione, adrenosterone and 11 SOH-androstenedione were consistently found to be present in the extracts of adrenal venous blood of dogs and young pigs in concentrations similar to or higher than those of aldosterone. Hypophysectomy caused a fall in the secretion of these steroids, similar to that of the glucocorticoids (papers 6, 8 and 9) but their secretion did not cease completely, indicating that these steroids are not only secreted by an overactive gland under conditions of stress "but also under resting conditions. In addition to the above steroids, l6αOH-progesterone was found to be secreted by the adrenal gland of the young pig). Certain experimental conditions modified the secretion of pregnenolone and 11ßOH-androstenedione in a different way from that of other steroids (paper 10). Studies of this type may eventually help to explain certain clinical signs of adrenal deficiency and overactivity which cannot fully be attributed to the lack or excess of glucocorticoids or aldosterone.The quantities of progesterone secreted by the adrenal gland of the pig (papers 5, 6 and 10) and the rat (paper 11) can be of the same order as those secreted by the ovaries of the same species (paper 12) under similar experimental conditions.A comparison between the rates at which steroids are secreted with the concentrations in which they are present in the adrenal tissue of one and the same animal provides some information on the rates of steroid synthesis in vivo (papers 9 and 10). The quantity of a given steroid present in the adrenal of a pig or dog was found to correspond to the amount secreted within 0.5 to five minutes. Pregnenolone and progesterone were exceptions to this rule. Assuming that these two steroids are the most important precursors of all the steroids secreted by the adrenal, it can be calculated, that the amounts at which they are present in the adrenal will be utilized within 1-5 minutes. Any stimulus leading to an increased secretion of adrenal steroids must therefore effect an increase in the rate at which pregnenolone is formed. In accordance with this, it was found that in the rat (paper 13) stress does not only cause a rise in the adrenal concentration of corticosterone but also of pregnenolone and progesterone.The papers 10, 14 and 15 contain information on the possible use of drugs to prevent the release of ACTH caused by anaesthesia and the operative procedures required for adrenal vein cannulation. Chlorpromazine and morphine were not able to overcome this severe stress in the rat (papers 14 and 15). In dogs anaesthetised with sodium pentobarbitone in which the left adrenal vein had been cannulated, a-ethyltryptamine had an effect on steroid secretion similar to that of hypophysectomy. However it lacked this effect in dogs anaesthetised with chloralose and in dogs which had been eviscerated(paper 10).The last paper (16) deals with the mechanism by which 17α-methylandrostenediol inhibits corticosterone production by the rat adrenal.1. Holzbauer, M. and Vogt, M. 1961. Corticosteroids in plasma and cells of adrenal venous blood. J. Physiol. 157. 137 - 156. || 2. Holzbauer, M. and Vogt, M. 1966. Investigations into the causes of the rise in aldosterone secretion during haemorrhage. Parts I and II. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, 250. 243 - 310. || 3. Holzbauer, M. 1964. The part played by ACTH in determining the rate of aldosterone secretion during operative stress. J. Physiol. 172. 138 - 149. || 4. Holzbauer, M. and Vogt, M. 1964. Observations on slow rhythmic blood pressure waves (Mayer waves) in the dog. J. Physiol. 172, 5 - 7P. || 5. Heap, R. B. and Holzbauer, M. 1965. Gas chromatography of androgens, progesterone and progesterone derivatives in adrenal venous blood of pigs and dogs. J. Physiol. 183. 11 P. || 6. Heap, R. B., Holzbauer, M. and Newport, H. M. 1966. Adrenal secretion rates of C-19 and C-21 steroids before and after hypophysectomy in the pig and the dog. J. Endocr. 56. 159 - 176. || 7. Holzbauer, M. and Newport, H. M. 1967. Evidence for the presence of l6α-hydroxypregn-4-ene-3,2C-dione in adrenal venous blood of young pigs. J. Physiol. 191. 691 - 697. || 8. Holzbauer, M. and Newport, H. M. 1968. Secretion of 5P~ hydroxypregn-5-en-20-one (pregnenolone) by the adrenal gland. Nature, 217, 967 - 968. || 9. Holzbauer, M. and Newport, H. M. 1968. Quantitative estimation of 17α-hydroxypregn-4-ene-3, 20-dione (l7αOH-progesterone) in adrenal venous blood and adrenal glands. J. Physiol. 198, 91 - 102. || 10. Holzbauer, M. and Newport, H. M. 1969. Adrenal secretion rates and adrenal tissue concentrations of pregnenolone, progesterone, 11ßOH-androstenedione and some other steroids in young pigs and dogs. J. Physiol. 200, 821 - 848. || 11. Holzbauer, M., Newport, H. K., Birmingham, M. K. and Traikov, H. 1969. Secretion of pregn-4-ene-3,20-dione (progesterone) in vivo by the adrenal gland of the rat. Nature, 221. 572 - 573. || 12. Fajer, A. B. and Holzbauer, M. 1968. Pregnenolone, progesterone and 20-dihydroprogesterone in rat ovarian blood and ovaries during the oestrous cycle. J. Physiol. 196. 99 - 101P. || 13. Holzbauer, M, and Newport, H. M. 1967. The effect of stress on the concentration of 3ß-hydroxypregn-5-en-20-one (pregnenolone) and pregn-4-ene-3,20-dione (progesterone) in the adrenal gland of the rat. J. Physiol. 193. 131 - 140. || 14. Holzbauer, M. and Vogt, M. 1954. The action of chlorpromazine on diencephalic sympathetic activity and on the release of adrenocorticotrophic hormone. Br. J. Pharmac. Chemother. 2, 402 - 407. || 15. Holzbauer, M. and Vogt, M. 1958. The release of corticotrophin during severe stress in the rat treated with pentobarbitone and morphine. Acta Endocrinologica 29. 231 - 237. || 16. Rembeisa, H., Holzbauer, M., Young, P. C. M., Birmingham, M, K. and Saffran, M, 1967. Metabolism of 17a-methylandrostenediol and 17ß-methyltestosterone by the rat adrenal gland in vitro. Endocrinology, 81, 1278 - 128