The Persistence Behaviour of Registered Apprentices: Who Continues, Quits, or Completes Programs?

We utilize a multinomial probit model and the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) to investigate the persistence behaviour of individuals enrolled in apprenticeship programs. These behaviours include continuing, discontinuing (or quitting) and completing programs. The NAS contains detailed demographic data as well as other data regarding respondents’ backgrounds and apprenticeship characteristics. Our results show that program completion is positively related to being married, having fewer children, being non-Aboriginal and not a visible minority, not being disabled and having a higher level of education before the beginning of the program. Completion is negatively related to time in the program (beyond the normal program length) and the number of employers. Type of technical training and having a journeyperson always present enhance the probability of completion. The regional unemployment rate has little effect on completion. There are also large provincial and trade group differences that are generally consistent with the sparse literature on this topic. Males and females have similar completion probabilities when we control for other influences.Apprenticeship Training, Completion Outcomes, Canada

Is Workers' Compensation Disguised Unemployment Insurance?

This paper examines how yhe Workers' Compensation (WC) and the Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs interact to influence the duration of claims due to workplace accidents. We use longitudinal WC administrative micro-data on more than 30,000 workers in the Quebec construction industry for the period 1976-1986. Our results show that a reduction in the UI wage replacement ratio is associated with an increase in the duration of claims due to serve accidents that are difficult to diagnose (this category includes severe back-related problems). Also, an increase in the WC replacement ratio leads to an increase in the average duration of claims due to minor accidents that are difficult to diagnose (this category includes minor low-back injuries). Moreover, there seems to be an important seasonal effect in the duration of claims; i.e., the average duration of spells on WC is estimated to be 21.2% higher when an accident occurs in December rather than in July. Ce texte examine comment l'assurance contre les lésions professionnelles (ALP) et l'assurance-chômage (AC) interagissent pour influencer la durée des réclamations pour lésions professionnelles. Nous utilisons des micro-données administratives longitudinales couvrant plus de 30 000 travailleurs du secteur de la construction pour la période 1976-1986. Nos résultats montrent qu'une réduction du taux de remplacement salarial de l'assurance-chômage est associée à une augmentation de la durée des accidents majeurs difficiles à diagnostiquer (cette catégorie inclut les maux de dos majeurs). De plus, un accroissement du taux de remplacement salarial de l'ALP entraîne un accroissement de la durée des accidents mineurs difficiles à diagnostiquer (cette catégorie inclut les lombalgies). Enfin, il semble y avoir un effet saisonnier lié à la durée des périodes d'indemnisation est plus élevée de 21.2% lorsqu'un accident survient en1101 plutôt qu'en0701.duration, worplace accidents, construction, worker's compensation, unemployment insurance, hazard, durée, accidents du travail, lésions professionnelles, assurance-chômage, construction, hazard

The completion behavior of registered apprentices in Canada: who continues, who quits, and who completes programs?

Sherpa Romeo green journal: open accessBackground: The number of registered apprentices in Canada more than doubled between 1995 and 2007, yet successful completion of apprenticeship programs increased by only about one-third as much. Uncovering the factors related to low completion rates is a necessary first step to ensuring that today’s skilled labour is replaced in the future. Methods: This study utilizes a series of multinomial probit models and the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) to investigate the completion behaviour of individuals enrolled in apprenticeship programs. These behaviours include continuing, discontinuing (or quitting), and completing programs. The NAS contains detailed demographic information regarding respondents’ backgrounds and the characteristics of apprenticeship programs. Results: Program completion is positively related to a variety of demographic characteristics, including being married and having completed at least a high school education prior to beginning an apprenticeship. Males and females have similar completion probabilities. Completion is negatively related to time in the apprenticeship program (beyond the normal program length) and the number of employers during training. Type of technical training and having a journeyperson always present enhance the probability of completion. The regional unemployment rate has little effect on whether an individual completes an apprenticeship program or not. There are also large provincial and trade group differences. Conclusions: Although this research has identified a number of factors correlated with apprenticeship completion, further research could address the benefits of completion such as wages and probability of employment. A more detailed examination of the variety of obstacles encountered by apprentices during training may also be useful in redesigning programs to enhance completion.Ye

Certification, completion, and the wages of Canadian registered apprentices

Stats Canada Open License AgreementUsing the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS), this research paper estimates the earnings functions of individuals who completed or discontinued a registered apprenticeship program. Controlling for observed demographic, labour market, and employer characteristics correlated with the two apprenticeship states, it finds earnings differences of approximately 20%. The paper also disaggregates apprentices into four groups on the basis of program completion and certification in order to refine the wage comparisons.Ye

ICPBR-Working Group Risks posed by dusts: overview of the area and recommendations

Background: In 2008 the poisoning of about 12000 bee colonies was reported from Germany. These poisonings were caused by the drift of dust particles containing the insecticidal substance clothianidin following the seeding of maize seeds, inadequately treated with the insecticide Poncho Pro. Results: Investigations were done on the dust load contained in seed packages of different crops, on the experimental abrasion of dust from treated seeds using the Heubach-Dustmeter as well as on the actual dust drift during the sowing operation of treated seeds with different machinery under field conditions. Resistance to abrasion of treated seeds and subsequent dust drift during sowing operations differ significantly between crops, coating recipes and facilities. Furthermore dust drift depends on particle size, sowing technology as well as on environmental conditions (e.g. wind speed, soil humidity). Conclusions: The drift of dust from treated seeds may pose a risk to honeybees, which needs to be appropriately considered within the authorization process of pesticides. The total quantity of abraded dust as well as the actual emission of dust during the sowing operation can be significantly reduced by technical means (e.g. coating recipe and facility equipment, deflector technology) and by additional mitigation measures (e.g. maximum wind speed). Keywords: honeybee, poisoning, risk, seed treatment, dust, drif

Portable Raman Spectrometer for in situ analysis of asbestos and fibrous minerals

Asbestos inhalation is associated with fatal respiratory diseases and raises concerns from the perspective of workplace safety and environmental impacts. Asbestos and asbestos-like minerals naturally occur in rocks and may become airborne when outcrops or soils are disturbed by anthropic activities. In situ detection of these minerals is a crucial step for the risk evaluation of natural sites. We assess here whether a portable Raman spectrometer (pRS) may be used in the identification of asbestos and asbestos-like minerals at the mining front during exploitation. pRS performance was tested at three geologically different mining sites in Italy and New Caledonia and compared with a high-resolution micro-Raman spectrometer (HRS). About 80% of the overall in situ analyses at the mining front were successfully identified by pRS, even when intermixed phases or strongly disaggregated and altered samples were analyzed. Chrysotile and tremolite asbestos, asbestos-like antigorite, and balangeroite were correctly detected during surveys. The major difficulties faced during in situ pRS measurements were fluorescence emission and focussing the laser beam on non-cohesive bundles of fibers. pRS is adequate for discriminating asbestos and asbestos-like minerals in situ. pRS may support risk assessment of mining sites to better protect workers and environmen

Inactivating the lipid kinase activity of PI3KC2β is sufficient to rescue myotubular myopathy in mice

Phosphoinositides (PI) are membrane lipids that regulate signal transduction and vesicular trafficking. X-linked centronuclear myopathy (XLCNM), also called myotubular myopathy, results from loss-of-function mutations in the Mtm1 gene, which encodes the myotubularin phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns3P) lipid phosphatase. No therapy for this disease is currently available. Previous studies showed that loss of expression of the class II phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) PI3K-C2β protein improved the phenotypes of a XLCNM mouse model. PI3Ks are well known to have extensive scaffolding functions and the importance of the catalytic activity of this PI3K for rescue remains unclear. Here, using PI3K-C2β kinase-dead mice, we show that the selective inactivation of PI3K-C2β kinase activity is sufficient to fully prevent muscle atrophy and weakness, histopathology, and sarcomere and triad disorganization in Mtm1 knockout mice. This rescue correlates with normalization of PtdIns3P level and mTORC1 activity, a key regulator of protein synthesis and autophagy. Conversely, lack of PI3K-C2β kinase activity did not rescue the histopathology of the BIN1 autosomal centronuclear myopathy mouse model. Overall, these findings support the development of specific PI3K-C2β kinase inhibitors to cure myotubular myopathy