The Association between Exposure to Residential Indoor Volatile Organic Compounds and Measures of Central Arterial Stiffness in Healthy Middle-Aged Men and Women

It is well reported that individuals spend up to 90% of their daily time indoors, with between 60% to 90% of this time being spent in the home. Using a cross-sectional study design in a population of 111 healthy adults (mean age: 52.3 ± 9.9 years; 65% women), we investigated the association between exposure to total volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor residential environments and measures of central arterial stiffness, known to be related to cardiovascular risk. Indoor VOC concentrations were measured along with ambulatory measures of pulse pressure (cPP), augmentation index (cAIx) and cAIx normalized for heart rate (cAIx75 ), over a continuous 24-h period. Pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) was determined during clinical assessment. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between measures of arterial stiffness and VOCs after adjusting for covariates. Higher 24-h, daytime and night-time cAIx was associated with an interquartile range increase in VOCs. Similar effects were shown with cAIx75 . No significant effects were observed between exposure to VOCs and cPP or cfPWV. After stratifying for sex and age (≤50 years; >50 years), effect estimates were observed to be greater and significant for 24-h and daytime cAIx in men, when compared to women. No significant effect differences were seen between age groups with any measure of arterial stiffness. In this study, we demonstrated that residential indoor VOCs exposure was adversely associated with some measures of central arterial stiffness, and effects were different between men and women. Although mechanistic pathways remain unclear, these findings provide a possible link between domestic VOCs exposure and unfavourable impacts on individual-level cardiovascular disease risk

Residential indoor exposure to fine and ultrafine particulate air pollution in association with blood pressure and subclinical central haemodynamic markers of cardiovascular risk among healthy adults living in Perth, Western Australia

Despite that large percentages of individual daily time is spent in the home, few studies have examined the relationship between indoor particulate matter (PM) exposure in residential settings with subclinical indicators of cardiovascular risk. This cross-sectional study investigated associations between exposure to fine (PM2.5) and ultrafine (UFP) PM in domestic indoor environments, with central blood pressure (BP) and component BP measures (pulse pressure, augmented pressure [AP], augmentation index [AIx], mean arterial pressure, pulse wave velocity [PWV]) in 40 non-smoking, otherwise healthy adults (58% women) living in Perth, Western Australia. Overall, in adjusted models, an interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 was associated with a 3.2 mmHg (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.99, 5.45) higher diastolic BP, and a 1.8 mmHg lower AP (95%CI: − 3.63, − 0.01) and 0.4 m/s PWV (95%CI: − 0.80, − 0.08), respectively. For the UFP fraction, an IQR increase was associated with a 5.2% higher AIx (95%CI: 0.51, 9.97) and a 0.6 m/s lower PWV (95%CI: − 1.00, − 0.11). When stratified by sex, higher UFP concentrations were associated with higher DBP and lower PWV among women. Among men, higher UFP concentrations were associated with lower AP. Exposure to domestic indoor fine and ultrafine PM was associated with preclinical indicators of cardiovascular risk and some of these relationships were affected by sex. These findings contribute important evidence linking low-level residential indoor PM exposure with measurable impacts on cardiovascular physiology and may inform preventative recommendations as part of risk profiles for susceptible individuals

Assessing employees perception on health and safety management in public hospitals

This article examined the perception of employees regarding the management of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) in public hospital in Malaysia.418 employees from three state hospitals in the northern region of Malaysia participated in this study and that gave a response rate of 43.15%. Data was collected using a set of questionnaires which consists of variables including safety satisfaction and feedback, safety communication, role of supervisor, work pressure, training and competence, management commitment, safety involvement, safety objectives, safety reporting, and leadership style.Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple regressions.Findings showed that employees perceived safety reporting as the most important dimension and work pressure as the least important component in the OHS practices in their workplaces.Empirical evidence indicated that there was no significant difference in safety satisfaction and feedback between male and female workers but there was a significant difference among these employees in safety involvement.In addition, results also showed that there was a significant difference in safety satisfaction faced by job position like nurse but there was no significant difference between employees with job tenure comprise of less than 1 year, 2 to 15 years, and 16 years and above.Findings suggested that there was a significant positive correlation between safety satisfaction and feedback and safety communication, safety involvement, training and competence, safety reporting, work pressure, safety objectives, management commitment, role of supervisors, and leadership style.Regression analysis revealed approximately 54.5% (R2 = 0.545) of variance in safety satisfaction and feedback, that was simultaneously explained by five independent variables including safety involvement, safety reporting, work pressure, management commitment, and safety objectives

Validity and reliability of the safety climate measurement in Malaysia

Organizations started giving attention to organizational and management impact on safety performance particularly the function of safety climate.Inconsistency concerning the appropriate elements that should be in safety climate scale has called for an assessment of the safety climate construct.The purpose of this study was to develop a measure of attitudes and perceptions of safety that are related to safety climate in the workplace.The Safety Climate Assessment Scale(SCAS) was administered to 372 employees ranging from physician to support staff.Analysis of data was done using statistical analysis from the SPSS version twelve. Safety experts reviewed the content validity of the safety climate measurement. Construct validity was analyzed by the exploratory factor analysis, and concurrent validity was examined by correlations.Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure internal consistency reliability.The results revealed acceptable internal consistency reliability, content validity, construct validity and concurrent validity for the SCAS. The SCAS scores had acceptable overall internal consistency reliability (r = .950). The correlation analysis indicated that scores on the 10 dimension scales of safety climate were moderately dependable

Occupational safety and health management in Malaysia: An overview

In today’s economy, globalization has shown tremendous impact on companies. Global competition increases safety and health risks and companies incurred additional cost on safety. To meet the challenges posed by these changes, revamping safety and health practices through strategies to improve performance is critical so as to motivate workforce in creating a safe and healthy environment that lead to decrease work-related accidents and ill-health in the workplace. Although work-related accidents and ill-health are preventable, there is a need for collaboration at the international, regional, national and enterprise levels to accomplish this mission with a positive commitment amongst all concerned. Due to that fact, companies need to focus on continual improvement of their performance in order to survive in the marketplace. One of the mean to encourage employers to achieve a higher standard of safety and health in the workplace is through effective occupational safety and health management

Noise Exposure on Mixed Grain and Livestock Farms in Western Australia.

Noise presents an ongoing occupational health and safety issue, which despite numerous studies still presents a significant risk in agriculture with high exposures prevalent. In this study, we measured noise exposures associated with significant activities on 42 mixed grain and livestock farms in Western Australia. Employing a mixture of personal noise measurements using dosimeters, noise measurements using sound level meters, and a validated survey, we identified that 32% of farm workers were exposed to noise levels above the LAeq,8h 85 dB(A) limit, before considering extended shifts. We also noted that extended shift lengths, of up to 16 h in some cases, were possible. In addition, we found that 37% of workers were exposed to noise peak of 140 dB(C) or greater. It was further noted that hearing protection is not typically worn for the duration of an activity and is only for a small number of tasks. However we did find some evidence that farmers had begun to implement some form of noise management practice, usually in the form of buying quieter equipment or separating noisy tasks from quiet tasks. Improved education for farmer and farm workers in terms of the risks posed by noise, identifying noisy tasks, is recommended, as well as a programme to encourage better and consistent use of hearing protection