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• Safety is a competency, rooted in interactions and embedded in everyday practices. • Standardized and non-contextualized OHS-management tend to lead to unsafe practices. • Developing a safety culture at work requires a responsive leadership style. Introduction: Organizations place strong emphasis on the standardized occupational health and safety procedures to reduce work-related illnesses and workplace accidents. However, standardized procedures are not always followed up in daily work practices. Organizations must cope with the differences between standardized procedures and local adaptation by employees. Methods: This ethnographic field study at an industrial workplace in the Netherlands provides insights into employees' everyday work practices, how these work practices are shaped, and how they relate to local occupational health and safety procedures. Acknowledging safety as a competency embedded in work practices, as introduced by Gherardi and Nicolini (2002), offers a theoretical point of view for looking beyond the dichotomy of standardization and local adaptations. Results: The results show that a standardized and noncontextualized occupational health and safety management system that focuses on accident-free days and compliance actually leads to ignorance of practical and tacit competences of workers and no learning and improvement of safety procedures can take place. However, our findings also illustrate how employees in their informal everyday work practices reduce the risks produced by the safety system itself. Conclusion: Overall, the results indicate that social interactions among employees, leaders, and management within the organization play an important role in workplace safety. The analysis highlights the value of vulnerability and trust in relationships at work to be able to learn and develop safety procedures that align with local demands. Practical applications: This study emphasizes the need for participatory approaches in creating safer and healthier workplaces. The cocreation of occupational health and safety (OHS) rules and procedures, however, can only function if they are combined with a responsive leadership style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the authors present their study and recommendations for hospital-based physical therapy for managing patients with coronavirus diseas based on the suggestions from physical therapists working with COVID-19 patients in Dutch hospitals.

Empirical research conducted by education researchers over a period of approximately 20 years confirms that uncertainty exists whether the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) apply to technology workshops at academic, technical and special schools; whether compliance with the safety provisions of the OHSA is lacking; and whether serious injuries at technology workshops at schools occur from time to time. A comparative study of foreign law regarding occupational safety at technology workshops at high schools confirms that many countries have national or federal occupational safety and health statutes that apply to workplaces as well as public schools, although some have specific statutes or regulations addressing occupational safety at public schools. Countries like Germany, the Netherlands and some states of the United States of America define school-going children and students as "workers" in terms of their occupational safety legislation. Germany includes all school-going children in its statutory accident insurance scheme to provide for faultless compensation in case of injury. In determining whether the OHSA applies to technical workshops at high schools, the fundamental rights, as well as its spirit and purport, must be considered through the prism of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Applying the traditional literalist-cumintentionalist approach to the interpretation of the OHSA, the conclusion is that this Act does indeed apply to technology workshops at schools. In terms of section 60(1)(a) of the South African Schools Act state liability for damages occurring as a result of school activities does provide essential legal protection. However, the South African Schools Act, school safety policies and school infrastructure regulations do not make explicit provision for the application of health and safety standards at school premises that use potentially dangerous machinery and equipment in places such as technical workshops and science laboratories. It is therefore recommended that the OHSA, the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, the Schools Act and the School Infrastructure Regulations be amended to provide legal certainty in respect of the application of occupational safety to technical workshops at high schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine if clustering of root causes of sentinel events (SEs) can contribute to organisational improvement of healthcare and patient safety by providing insight into organisational risk factors, patterns and trends.Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional review of SEs from a hospital database reported to the Board of directors in 2016.Setting: A regional teaching hospital in the Netherlands.Intervention(s): Clustering of characteristics and variables of SEs to establish vulnerabilities and patterns of failure factors of the organisation.Main Outcome Measure(s): Characteristics and contributory causes of failure of SEs identified via root cause analysis (RCA). Outcomes reported using descriptive statistics.Results: A total of 21 events were included involving 21 patients. Mean age was 56.7 years (SD 24.4), 71.4% were above 50 years of age. In 81.8%, the care was multi-disciplinary and in 76.2% the event resulted in permanent harm or injury. Of the 132 identified contributory root causes, most were related to human factors (53.8%) and organisational factors (40.2%). Technical and patient-related factors were identified in 3.0%. Organisational improvement strategies focused on the care of elderly patients, patients subjected to multi-disciplinary care and on improving knowledge, protocols and coordination of care.Conclusion: Clustering variables of SEs and contributory factors of failure through RCA helps to delineate a hospital-specific profile by providing a detailed insight into risk factors, patterns and trends in an organisation and to determine the best strategies for improvement by drawing lessons across events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saussurea esthonica Baer ex Rupr. is a species of the genus Saussurea that is found in Estonia, Latvia and the Leningrad region in Russia. Only two populations have been identified in Latvia, and it is protected at the national level. The taxonomic relationships within this genus are unclear, and the majority of phylogenetic studies of this genus have been undertaken on species found in Asia. The relationship of S. esthonica to the other Saussurea species is equally unclear, with some suggestions that this species should be regarded as a subspecies of S. alpina. Two different molecular marker techniques, iPBS and ITS sequencing, were utilised to investigate the phylogeny of S. esthonica and its relationship with other Saussurea species, including three European species: S. alpina, S. pygmaea and S. discolor. The phylogeny obtained with the iPBS markers was similar to that obtained with the ITS sequences. The phylogenies obtained were broadly consistent with previous morphological classification, with S. alpina, S. esthonica and S. discolor clustering together. S. pulchella, S. albescens and S. candicans also formed one discrete cluster. The taxonomic status of S. esthonica was not unambiguously determined, with Norwegian and Italian S. alpina populations clustering with Latvian and Estonian S. esthonica populations, and the Austrian S. alpina populations clustering with Austrian S. discolor populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between 11 patient safety culture dimensions and the implementation of 7 organizational patient safety defences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: To make proper evaluation of prevention policies possible, data on the incidence and associated medical costs of occupational blood exposure accidents in the Netherlands are needed. Methods: Descriptive analysis of blood exposure accidents and risk estimates for occupational groups. Costs of handling accidents were calculated. Results: Each year, an estimated 13 000–15 000 blood exposure accidents are reported in the Netherlands, 95% in occupational settings. Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccination is offered free of charge only to people in risk groups, the seroprevalence of HBV, hepatitis C (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is low and few infections are related to blood exposure accidents. High-risk accidents occur mainly in hospitals. In nursing homes and home care settings, the majority of the accidents are low-risk. Limited data are available about occurrence of accidents in other occupational groups. Associated medical costs from occupational blood exposure accidents are mainly determined by the initial risk management. Conclusions: Accidents must be managed effectively to prevent infection and reduce anxiety in injured employees. While strategies to reduce HCV and HIV infection should be primarily aimed at reducing the occurrence of high-risk accidents, vaccination can prevent HBV infection and cut the costs of handling low-risk accidents. The implementation of vaccination strategies, safe working policies and the proper use of safe equipment should be monitored better. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses guidance on measuring compliance with occupational exposure limits (OEL) proposed by the British-Dutch Working Party, a joint working party appointed by the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) and the Dutch Occupational Hygiene Society. The draft uses a criterion that 95% of exposures should be below the OEL, asserting that this represents good professional practice even if it does not strictly guarantee compliance with the law. Two measures of compliance are proposed, namely, group exceedance and individual exceedance.

German-based SFC Smart Fuel Cell launched the EFOY Pro 2200 XT fuel cell for power generation in off-grid industrial applications at the recent Intertraffic trade show in Amsterdam, the international event for infrastructure, ITS traffic management, safety and parking. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]