National hazard exposure worker surveillance: exposure to biomechanical demands, pain and fatigue symptoms and the provision of controls in Australian workplaces

Biomechanical demands such as repetitive hand or arm movements, lifting heavy loads or working in awkward postures contribute to the development or worsening of inflammatory or degenerative musculoskeletal disorders. However, little is known about patterns of exposure to different biomechanical demands and how they relate to the demographic and employment characteristics of Australian workers. To address this, in 2008 the National Hazard Exposure Worker Surveillance [NHEWS] survey collected information on 4500 Australian workers’ exposure to nine biomechanical demands, pain and fatigue symptoms and the provision of various risk controls. Almost all workers reported some level of exposure to the biomechanical demands surveyed and 22 per cent were deemed to have high overall (composite) biomechanical demand exposure. In particular, young workers, male workers, night workers and lower skilled workers were most likely to report exposure and had the highest overall biomechanical demand exposure. The reporting of pain and fatigue symptoms was highly related to the level of biomechanical demand exposure. Workplace size (number of workers at a site) and the overall level of biomechanical demand exposure were the best predictors of control provision: workers from large workplaces and those with high exposure were most likely to be provided with biomechanical demand controls. This report presents detailed findings of the NHEWS survey and discusses the implications of these findings for work health and safety policy

Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar.

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions

Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar.

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions

Mainstreaming mental health in occupational health and safety : an exploration of benchmark dose modelling to regulate job demands and job control

The move to service and knowledge industries in industrialised countries means that workers are now less exposed to physical hazards. However, exposure to psychosocial hazards remains widespread. These psychosocial hazards are related to the way work is designed and managed (for example, heavy workloads) and are associated with an increased risk of common mental disorders. Psychosocial hazards are usually regulated as part of the general duty requirements of occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation. To date, there are no specific regulations for psychosocial hazards that delineate the acceptable level of exposure to these hazards. Nevertheless, acceptable exposure levels, based on critical exposure levels, are a part of OHS regulatory framework for many occupational exposures. The lack of such regulatory guidelines for psychosocial hazards makes it difficult for risk assessment and risk management of these hazards. This research sought to adapt the benchmark dose (BMD) method to identify critical exposure levels for psychosocial hazards and mental health. It included a series of studies that addressed three key challenges: 1) the multifactorial nature of mental health, 2) self-report assessment of exposure and mental health and 3) curvilinear dose{u00AD}response relationships. The analyses were based on two waves of the Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life study (N = 4004), which collects data every four years from age cohorts living in south-eastern Australia. I chose job demands and job control as exposure variables because they are employer modifiable and have a well{u00AD}established association with poor mental health. Poor mental health was measured as depression and anxiety symptoms, the most common mental disorders in the workforce. A sequenced approach to BMD analysis was undertaken by first conducting unadjusted BMD analysis, which is the conventional BMD analysis. This was then extended by conducting adjusted analysis, taking into account other risk factors for poor mental health (previous mental health status, personality and socio-demographic factors). Based on the 15-item measure of job control, adjusted analyses showed that workers needed to report they 'often' or 'sometimes' have control over many (nine out of 15) aspects of their job to reduce the risk of poor mental health. For job demands, keeping heavy workload demands to a medium level is best for reducing the risk of poor mental health. This translates to workers saying they 'often' or 'sometimes' have heavy workload demands to two out of four different aspects of job demands measured in this study. Adjusted analyses with a second depression and anxiety scale produced similar results, suggesting that critical exposure levels are comparable between different measurements of mental health. The current study contributes to the field in three ways. First, this study extends the concept of the critical exposure level approach to psychosocial hazards. Second, it provides an adapted BMD method to enable identification of critical exposure levels for psychosocial hazards, which can be used in future BMD studies. Third, critical exposure levels, such as those identified in this thesis, can be used to develop acceptable exposure levels and health-based risk assessment tools for psychosocial hazards

Are people with disability at risk at work? A review of the evidence

This report shows that workers with a disability are not an increased occupational health and safety risk. The research findings suggest that workers with a disability have on average, a lower number of OHS incidents and have lower workers’ compensation costs, in comparison to other employees. Contrary to common perceptions by employers that people with disability pose an increased OHS risk in their workplace, this research shows that the opposite is true.  The Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) undertook research in response to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission\u27s WORKability1:Barriers report as part of its comprehensive research programme

Asbestos exposure and compliance study of construction and maintenance workers

  The use of asbestos has been banned in Australia since 2003. However, as a result of the widespread use of asbestos in the past, there remains a large amount of asbestos containing materials (ACMs) in older buildings. These ACMs include asbestos cement sheet walls, asbestos cement pipes and asbestos containing electrical switchboards. Construction and maintenance workers are likely to be involved in work tasks that may disturb ACMs. Therefore, there is a substantial risk of potential exposure to asbestos in these workers unless occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements on the management and control of asbestos are followed. To date, little research has been undertaken on these tradespersons and their awareness and compliance with OHS regulations relating to asbestos. The aims of the current study were to determine in construction and maintenance workers: • current levels of awareness of the risk of exposure to asbestos • current levels of compliance with OHS legislative requirements for working with ACMs • key perceptions, attitudes and motivations that act as barriers and enablers to compliance, and • current level of exposure to asbestos in selected construction and maintenance work activities. This study was conducted in five stages: 1) literature review; 2) focus groups with workers, employer organisations, unions and OHS authorities; 3) telephone survey of workers; 4) face-to-face interviews; and 5) atmospheric sampling. Four trades were selected as target occupations for this study: electricians, plumbers, carpenters and painters. Authors: Barry Pratt (Barry Pratt & Associates), Fleur de Crespigny and Su Mon Kyaw-Myint (Safe Work Australia). Image: greenforall.org / flick