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Health risk appraisals (HRA) are a common type of workplace health promotion programme offered by American employers. In the United Kingdom, evidence of their effectiveness for promoting health behaviour change remains inconclusive. This randomized controlled trial examined the effects of two HRA interventions on lifestyle parameters, mental health and work ability in a UK context. A total of 180 employees were randomized into one of three groups: Group A (HRA augmented with health promotion and education activities), Group B (HRA only) and Group C (control, no intervention). After 12 months, changes in mean scoring in 10 lifestyle, mental health and work ability indices were compared, Groups A and B demonstrated non-significant improvements in 70% and 80%, respectively, compared with controls (40%). Odds ratios revealed that, compared with the control group, Group A was 29.2 (95% CI: 9.22-92.27) times more likely to report a perceived change in lifestyle behaviour; Group B 4.4 times (95% CI: 1.65-11.44). In conclusion, participation in the HRA was associated with a higher likelihood of perceived lifestyle behaviour change which was further increased in the augmented HRA group, thereby providing preliminary evidence that HRA and augmented HRA in particular may help UK employees make positive healthy lifestyle changes.

Background: Respiratory physicians are likely to encounter occupational lung disease (OLD) in their daily practice. Aims: To assess the profile of cases being encountered by general respiratory physicians in Northern Ireland (NI) and determine satisfaction with training, confidence in diagnosis and management of OLD. Methods: An online survey of all consultant respiratory physicians currently practising in NI. Questions assessed the numbers of new cases seen over the preceding year, case type, satisfaction with specialist registrar training in OLD and degree of confidence in the diagnosis and management of these conditions. Results: Of the 40 consultants identified, the response rate was 80% (n = 32) with 94% of respondents (n = 30) indicating they had dealt with patients suspected of having occupation-related respiratory symptoms. The most commonly encountered OLDs were pleural plaques (91% of respondents), occupational asthma (88%), asbestosis (84%), non-asbestosis pulmonary fibrosis (76%), hypersensitivity pneumonitis (67%) and mesothelioma (66%). Just over one third of consultants (36%, n = 10) indicated a lack of confidence in diagnosis and management of OLD with almost half (48%) dissatisfied with OLD training as a registrar and a further 78% (n = 25) indicating they would value additional training in OLD as a consultant. Conclusions: The majority of respiratory consultants in NI encountered OLD in their day to day practice and half were dissatisfied with their specialist registrar training in OLD and express a lack of confidence in the diagnosis and management of these conditions. This highlights the need for additional training at both registrar and consultant level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthy workplaces help to prevent occupational disease and injury as well as promoting positive healthy lifestyle behaviours. The concept of creating healthy workplaces through workplace health promotion has been identified as a legitimate area of activity for public health policy in Northern Ireland, supporting as it does, the settings approach as a means of improving the health and well-being of the population at large. Benefits accrue to businesses, organizations and individuals from the enhancement of positive healthy lifestyle messages in addition to reinforcing the principles of good occupational health practices. Developing a framework for the creation of healthy workplaces is part of a joint initiative between the Northern Ireland Health Promotion and Health and Safety Agencies. Commitment to delivering the concept is required from all the key players who include: employers, employees, trade union groups and health and safety professionals. A healthy workplace model needs to be created which is flexible and adaptable to suit all types of business and in particular the needs of small businesses which predominate in Northern Ireland. The principles underpinning the Business Excellence Model may be a useful vehicle for delivering workplace health promotion onto an organization's agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To be successful in today's climate an occupational health provider needs well-trained and motivated staff who are both professional and focused on delivering quality services that meet the needs of their customers. Achieving this goal is facilitated by having a clear sense of mission with systems in place within the organization of the department that support this and encourage continuous improvement. Good communication, performance measures and teamwork are identified as key elements in realizing the goal of a quality department. This article, in sharing the experiences of addressing quality and teamwork, discusses important issues relevant to many occupational health departments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The injuries sustained during one season by players at an Ulster Senior Rugby Club were documented with reference to time of injury, phase of play, team position, and nature of injury. The overall injury pattern in Irish rugby as found in this study is broadly comparable with that in similar studies in England and Scotland. Eighty-four players were injured in total. Three of these had fractures of which one required hospital admission for open reduction of a fractured wrist. The remaining eighty-one players had various types and grades of soft-tissue damage. The tackle accounted for approximately one-third of all injuries. There were few serious injuries and none involving the spine. Injuries to forwards made up almost sixty per cent of the total. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing Interests: None declared

Background: There is a dearth of literature on how different domains of sitting time relate to other health behaviours. Therefore, this study aimed to explore these associations in a sample of office workers., Methods: 7170 Northern Irish Civil Servants completed an online survey which included information on workday and non-workday sitting time in five domains (travel, work, TV, computer-use, leisure-time), physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking. An unhealthy behaviour score was calculated by summing the number of health behaviours which did not meet the current guidelines. Multinomial regressions examined associations between unhealthy behaviour score and each domain of sitting time., Results: ≥7 hours sitting at work and ≥2 hours TV viewing on a workday both more than doubled the odds of partaking in ≥3 unhealthy behaviours [Odds ratio, OR = 2.03, 95% CI, (1.59-2.61); OR = 2.19 (1.71-2.80)] and ≥3 hours of TV viewing on a non-workday nearly tripled the odds [OR = 2.96 (2.32-3.77)]., Conclusions: High sitting time at work and TV viewing on a workday and non-workday are associated with increased odds of partaking in multiple unhealthy behaviours. Interventions need to focus on these domains and public health policy should consider sitting time as an important health behaviour., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health.)

Background: Given links between sedentary behaviour and unfavourable health outcomes, there is a need to understand the influence of socio-demographic factors on sedentary behaviour to inform effective interventions. This study examined domain-specific sitting times reported across socio-demographic groups of office workers., Methods: The analyses are cross-sectional and based on a survey conducted within the Stormont Study, which is tracking employees in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. Participants self-reported their daily sitting times across multiple domains (work, TV, travel, PC use and leisure) on workdays and non-workdays, along with their physical activity and socio-demographic variables (sex, age, marital status, BMI, educational attainment and work pattern). Total and domain-specific sitting on workdays and non-workdays were compared across socio-demographic groups using multivariate analyses of covariance., Results: Completed responses were obtained from 4436 participants. For the whole sample, total daily sitting times were higher on workdays in comparison to non-workdays (625 ± 168 versus 469 ± 210 min/day, P < 0.001). On workdays and non-workdays, higher sitting times were reported by individuals aged 18-29 years, obese individuals, full-time workers and single/divorced/widowed individuals (P < 0.001)., Conclusions: Interventions are needed to combat the high levels of sedentary behaviour observed in office workers, particularly among the highlighted demographic groups. Interventions should target workplace and leisure-time sitting., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Evidence suggests that poor health outcomes and poor work-related health outcomes such as sickness presenteeism are associated with excessive sitting at work. Studies have yet to investigate the relationship between work engagement and occupational sitting. Work engagement is considered to be an important predictor of work-related well-being. We investigated the relationship between and self-reported work engagement and high occupational sitting time in Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) office-based workers., Method: A cohort of 4436 NICS office-workers (1945 men and 2491 women) completed a questionnaire measuring work engagement and occupational sitting time. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the associations between work engagement and occupational sitting times., Results: Compared to women, men reported lower mean occupational sitting time (385.7 minutes/day; s.d. = 1.9; versus 362.4 minutes/day; s.d. =2.5; p < .0001). After adjusting for confounding variables, men with high work engagement of vigor (OR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.34-0.98) and dedication (OR 0.68 95% CI 0.47-0.98) were less likely to have prolonged sitting time. Women with high work engagement of vigor (OR = 0.62, 95% CI 0.45-0.84) were also less likely to have prolonged occupational sitting times. In contrast, women with high absorption (OR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.01-1.65) were more likely to have prolonged sitting times., Conclusions: Being actively engaged in one's work is associated with lower occupational sitting times for men (vigor and dedication) and to a limited extent for women (vigor only). This suggests that interventions such as introducing sit-stand workstations to reduce sitting times, may be beneficial for work engagement.

The Management Standards Indicator Tool (MSIT) is a 35-item self-report measure of the psychosocial work environment designed to assist organizations with psychosocial risk assessment. It is also used in work environment research. Edwards and Webster presented a 25-item version of the MSIT based on the deletion of items having a factor loading of < .65. Stress theory and research suggest that psychosocial hazard exposures may result in harm to the health of workers. Thus, using data collected from three UK organizations ( N = 20,406) we compared the concurrent validity of the brief and full versions of the MSIT by exploring the strength of association between each version of the instrument and a measure of psychological wellbeing (GHQ-12 and Maslach Burnout Inventory). Analyses revealed that the brief instrument offered similar but not always equal validity to that of the full version. The results indicate that use of the brief instrument, which would be less disruptive for employees, would not elevate the risk of false negative or false positive findings in risk assessment.

Background: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is developing rapidly, with many foreign construction, farm and industrial workers., Aims: To assess the epidemiology of occupational injury hospitalizations using a trauma registry., Methods: Surgical admissions from March 2003 to April 2005 were recorded in the registry at the main trauma hospital in Al Ain city (population 348,000). Prevention-related variables were analysed using SPSS and severity was quantified by injury severity scores (ISS)., Results: There were 614 occupational injury hospitalizations, an incidence of approximately 136/100,000 workers/year. Males accounted for 98% of injuries, the 25-44 age group for 69% and non-nationals for 96%. External causes included falls 51%, falling objects 15%, powered machines 11%, animal-related 7% and burns 6%. Median ISS was 4 for all six main external causes. Extremities were most frequently injured, followed by chest, head and neck, abdomen and face. Mean hospitalization duration was 9.4 days, with 36% hospitalized for >1 week., Conclusions: The main external causes were proportionately much more frequent than in industrialized countries. Effective countermeasures are needed to reduce the incidence and severity of occupational injury among vulnerable migrant workers in the UAE.

The use that general practitioners made of the mobile coronary care unit operating from a district general hospital was monitored. Over half of the patients referred by their general practitioners to hospital with suspected acute myocardial infarction were removed by the mobile unit rather than by an ordinary ambulance. However, general practitioner selection of the more compromised patient for admission via the mobile unit indicated that the chance of this category of patient being admitted by the proven best means could be improved. Of the definite cases of infarcts removed to hospital by whatever means, the high proportion which were uncomplicated raises the question whether the general practitioner is attempting to select such patients for home rather than hospital care. The figures for the use of the mobile coronary care unit also indicate that education of the public remains an important task.