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Background: Endoscopic percutaneous tracheostomy (PT) is a safe technique that is performed frequently by otolaryngologists and intensivists. New challenges have been identified in order to maintain the safety of this procedure during the COVID-19 pandemic. A novel approach, using a modified demistifier canopy, was developed during the first wave of the pandemic and implemented for 17 consecutive percutaneous tracheostomies in order to enhance procedural safety. Methods: A protocol was developed after performing a literature review of tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients. A multidisciplinary tracheostomy team was established, including the departments of otolaryngology, critical care, and respiratory therapy. Simulation was performed prior to each PT, and postoperative debriefings were done. Results: A protocol and technical description of PT using a modified demistifier canopy covering was written and video documented. Data were collected on 17 patients who underwent this procedure safely in our tertiary care hospital. There were no procedure-related complications, and no evidence of COVID-19 transmission to any member of the health care team during the study period. Conclusion: As patients continue to recover from COVID-19, their need for tracheostomy will increase. The technique described provides a safe, multidisciplinary method of performing PT in COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Nearly a quarter-million people work in universities in Canada, making it one of the fastest-growing sectors. Although each university provides occupational health and safety services and training programmes to their employees, there have been no studies conducted on the impact of such programmes on employees- knowledge, attitude and behaviour. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dissemination of information of workplace health and safety programmes to workers at a Canadian university. Methods: The study compared two cross-sectional online surveys of employees of a Canadian university regarding workplace health and safety with a previously conducted cross-sectional study and thematic analysis of key informant interviews to address the issues raised in the surveys. Results: Participation in health and safety presentations could enhance understanding and practices of safety. Age, employment status and duration of employment were associated with the levels of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of employees and graduate students. The key informant interviews highlighted some new initiatives such as the establishment of workplace health and safety committees in all university buildings; the development of a safety app and health and safety management system; routine annual inspections of all university building offices and laboratories; new orientation for undergraduate students where general safety rules are described. Discussion: University should have regular presentations on the available health and safety programmes and should increase the number of safety training programmes and keep track of the employees that have not received any training, particularly for those working in hazardous environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report describes updates to the National Safety Council's Alcohol, Drugs and Impairment Division's recommendations for drug testing in driving under the influence of drug (DUID) cases and motor vehicle fatalities. The updates are based on a survey of drug testing practices in laboratories in the USA and Canada, a comprehensive review of the prior recommendations and data and research on drugs most frequently detected in DUID cases. A consensus meeting was held with representative forensic science practitioners and the authors of this report to update recommendations. No changes were made to the Tier I scope; however, there were changes to cutoffs of some analytes for blood, urine and oral fluid. Due to increased prevalence in DUID cases, trazodone and difluoroethane were added to the Tier II scope. For clarification, Tier I cutoffs reflect free concentrations, and hydrolysis is recommended but not required. The consensus panel concluded that urine is an inferior matrix to blood and oral fluid as it may represent historical use or exposure unrelated to observed impairment; therefore, future iterations of these recommendations will not include urine as a recommended matrix. Laboratories currently testing urine should work with traffic safety partners to encourage the use of blood and oral fluid as more appropriate specimens and adjust their capabilities to provide that testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, breast imaging must be performed using safe practices. Balancing the need to avoid delays in the diagnosis of breast cancer while avoiding infection requires careful attention to personal protective equipment and physical distancing and vigilance to maintain these practices. The Canadian Society of Breast Imaging/Canadian Association of Radiologists guideline for breast imaging during COVID-19 is provided based on priority according to risk of breast cancer and impact of delaying treatment. A review of the best practices is presented that allow breast imaging during COVID-19 to maximize protection of patients, technologists, residents, fellows, and radiologists and minimize spread of the infection. The collateral damage of delaying diagnosis of breast cancer due to COVID-19 should be avoided when possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the Standard) was released in 2013. The objectives of this study were to 1) estimate the proportion of Canadian employers who were aware of the Standard, 2) examine the extent to which the Standard has been implemented, and 3) describe perceived barriers to implementing the Standard in Canadian organizations.Methods: A cross-sectional survey in Canadian employers was conducted between February 2015 and January 2017. A random sample of Canadian employers was selected, and the individuals who were knowledgeable about the occupational health policies of the organizations were interviewed by telephone. The participants answered questions about the awareness, implementation, perceived effects, and barriers to implementation. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to characterize the results.Results: A total of 1010 companies participated in the study. Overall, 17.0% reported that they were aware of the Standard; 1.7% and 20.3% reported that their organizations had implemented the entirety or elements of the Standard, respectively; and 71.4% of participants believed that elements of the Standard would be implemented within the next year. The perceived effects associated with implementation of the Standard included increased job satisfaction and employee retention while the greatest barrier to implementing the Standard was the belief that psychological health and safety are irrelevant in the workplace.Conclusions: Many Canadian employers are still unaware of the Standard's existence; however, most Canadian employers are positively inclined toward the Standard in its potential to help employee productivity and job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of fire safety engineering (FSE) is to design a strategy that meets human safety and property protection goals with an optimized solution. In comparison to international practice, Canada could be considered highly underdeveloped in a technical perspective of performance versus prescription. In Canada, FSE is a subdivision within civil and mechanical engineering, rather than treated as a profession in and of itself. With a requirement for more complex infrastructure to meet Canadian societal needs, there is stimulus that is fostering a demand to create professionals educated with FSE skill sets. This literary study therefore aims to present a state-of-the-art review of the design practice of FSE in Canada and abroad with explicit focus on performance-based fire design for the Canadian practitioner who seeks to develop their expertise in this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Despite legal protections for young workers in Canada, youth aged 15-24 are at high risk of traumatic occupational injury. While many injury prevention initiatives targeting young workers exist, the challenge faced by youth advocates and employers is deciding what aspect(s) of prevention will be the most effective focus for their efforts. A review of the academic and grey literatures was undertaken to compile the metrics--both the indicators being evaluated and the methods of measurement--commonly used to assess injury prevention programs for young workers. Metrics are standards of measurement through which efficiency, performance, progress, or quality of a plan, process, or product can be assessed. Methods: A PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcome) framework was used to develop search terms. Medline, PubMed, OVID, EMBASE, CCOHS, PsychINFO, CINAHL, NIOSHTIC, Google Scholar and the grey literature were searched for articles in English, published between 1975-2015. Two independent reviewers screened the resulting list and categorized the metrics in three domains of injury prevention: Education, Environment and Enforcement. Results: Of 174 acquired articles meeting the inclusion criteria, 21 both described and assessed an intervention. Half were educational in nature (N=11). Commonly assessed metrics included: knowledge, perceptions, self-reported behaviours or intentions, hazardous exposures, injury claims, and injury counts. One study outlined a method for developing metrics to predict injury rates. Conclusion: Metrics specific to the evaluation of young worker injury prevention programs are needed, as current metrics are insufficient to predict reduced injuries following program implementation. One study, which the review brought to light, could be an appropriate model for future research to develop valid leading metrics specific to young workers, and then apply these metrics to injury prevention programs for youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars and practitioners from multiple perspectives, including developmental science, sociology, business, medicine, and public health, have considered the implications of employment for young people. We summarize a series of meetings designed to synthesize information from these perspectives and derive recommendations to guide research, practice, and policy with a focus on young worker safety and health. During the first three meetings, participants from the United States and Canada considered invited white papers addressing developmental issues, public health data and findings, as well as programmatic advances and evaluation needs. At the final meeting, the participants recommended both research and policy directions to advance understanding and improve young worker safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The message content of automotive advertising was examined to determine whether automotive advertising is meeting the needs of its stakeholders, and whether there is a need for it to become more highly regulated. A content analysis of 200 Canadian television and print advertisements revealed that 18 percent of ads demonstrate unsafe or aggressive driving, while 25 percent of ads feature safety mentions. Television ads are substantially more likely than print ads to feature unsafe or aggressive driving (27 percent vs. 10 percent, respectively), while TV ads are less likely than print ads to mention safety (21 percent vs. 29 percent, respectively). With nearly $550 million spent annually on Canadian automotive advertising, either industry self-regulation or government-imposed regulation may be needed in order to reduce advertising depictions of unsafe driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace safety is undergoing a process of 'responsibilization'. While employers have traditionally been the target of health and safety law, workers are increasingly assigned greater responsibility for their own safety at work and are held accountable, judged, and sanctioned through this lens. This is illustrated through an analysis of the rationales and mentalities of a new ticketing regulatory system in Canada whereby workers are targeted for sanctions and blamed for health and safety violations. Under the responsibilization strategy of health and safety, workers are not only re-defined as both potential victims and offenders but they also find themselves forced to adapt a rights-defined identity. This is a significant albeit subtle shift that paves the way for a host of new projects that strive to reveal the discourses and techniques that define and characterize individual responsibilization in health and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We briefly present a software methodology for safety-critical software, developed over many years to cope with industrial safety-critical applications in the Canadian nuclear industry. Following this we present discussion on software tools that have been used to support this methodology, and software tools that could be used, but have not been used for a variety of reasons. Based on our experience, we also present and motivate a list of high-level requirements for tools that would facilitate the development of safety-critical software using the presented methods, together with a small number of tools that we believe are worth developing in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of rising disaster losses in recent years and predictions of a more hazardous natural environment in the future, many countries around the world are revising their policies for disaster management to incorporate a stronger emphasis on disaster mitigation and risk reduction. In this paper, we argue that Canada has not sufficiently integrated mitigation into disaster management and we discuss several barriers that impede progress in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use Canadian data from 1970 to 1994 to examine the substitution that can occur between social insurance programs that support disabled persons. We obtain our estimates using an instrumental variable estimator. We find that workers' compensation program policy variables have significant effects on the growth of the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan disability program. Similarly, most of the estimates on the welfare program policy variables also indicate a significant impact on the C/QPP disability program. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of our estimates for disability policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines whether emergency departments in Canadian hospitals should offer postexposure prophylaxis for non-occupational exposure to HIV. Uncertainties concerning the requirement for physicians to provide antiretroviral medications in an emergency setting; Risks of HIV transmission; Implications on emergency medicine and hospital management.

The article presents the author's views on the safety concerns of abortion workers in Canada. According to the author, the cultural ambivalence surrounding the profession of abortion work makes it difficult to position issues encountered by abortion workers in relation to workplace safety. The author opines that it is not easy to apply pre-existing concepts of workplace safety to the profession of abortion work.

The article compares and describes the main contours of U.S. and Canadian workplace health and safety policy. The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 is the federal law which governs workplace safety and health in the U.S. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires recording of all injuries beyond first-aid cases occurring at the workplace. In contrast to OSHA, the Canadian program depends significantly more upon cooperation and consensus. Health and joint safety committees are Canada's important institutions for workplace safety and health. Government encourages private resolution of health and safety concerns through technical advice and support to employers and workers.

Focuses on a cost-benefit analysis for preventing accidents in the workplace in Quebec, Canada. Increase of the compensation paid to occupational-accident victims between 1981 and 1993; How to reduce the costs of occupational accidents; Reference to previous studies on occupational accidents by performing cost-benefit analysis.

Increased public awareness of the possible presence of carcinogens and other potentially harmful agents in the workplace and in others areas of the environment has created a demand for studies to determine the extent of the risks associated with exposure to such agents. These studies require large numbers of individuals in various "exposed" and "control" populations to be followed-up over long periods of time. Such large-scale follow-up can be greatly facilitated where information on all deaths and on cases of serious morbidity is accumulated centrally, for a whole country, in a form that permits rapid searching by computer and in which individuals are well enough identified to minimize the possibility of mistaken identity. The Canadian Mortality Data Base and the National Cancer Incidence Reporting System are two such centralized follow-up facilities which have been developed in Canada. We describe here the manner in which these files are used, the problems encountered and their solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade worker-controlled occupational health centers have been established in three Canadian provinces. This development has been a response to the slowness in recognizing occupational medicine in the Canadian medical community, the limited availability and questionable acceptability of existing services, as well as the growth of worker control in occupational health matters generally. The history, funding, organizational structure, personnel, resources, and programs of these worker-controlled centers are outlined, illustrating the extensive programs that can be provided despite small budgets of these operations. Advantages to workers include direct access to resources as well as expert professional advice with the focus on work place hazards. Furthermore, the centers provide for extensive interaction among workers on their common concerns. Disadvantages of the model include restricted access to work places associated with frequent distrust of employers. Employer-based and university-based models are compared to worker-controlled centers, and it is suggested that the latter may influence the pattern of practice of occupational health as well as the ability of workers and their unions to promote improved occupational health and safety conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined associations between workforce demographics and job characteristics, grouped by industrial sector, and declines in workers' compensation claim rates in Ontario, Canada, between 1990 and 2003. Gender, age, occupation, and job tenure were predictors for claim rates in 12 industrial sectors. The decline in claims was significantly associated with a decline in the proportion of employment in occupations with high physical demands. These findings should generate interest in economic incentives and regulatory policies designed to encourage investment in safer production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poor psychosocial work environments, such as those with low psychological support and high demands, can be harmful to the mental health of workers. In Canada, the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the Standard) provides a comprehensive framework for organizations to identify hazards that may contribute to the psychological harm of employees. This study examines the association between a multi-faceted community intervention, the Superior Mental Wellness @ Work program designed to increase awareness of mental health and the National Standard, and outcomes assessing increased awareness and response to the Standard. These outcomes included the 1) prioritization of workplace mental health; 2) familiarity with the Standard; and 3) knowledge of mental health.Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used to assess the associations of interest. Surveys were sent to two random samples of employer representatives pre-and post-intervention. Intervention participants were also compared to non-participants at the post-intervention stage. T-tests and chi-square tests were used to compare differences between pre- and post-intervention outcomes and also between intervention participants and non-participants identified at the post-intervention survey.Results: The multi-faceted community intervention was associated with increased familiarity of the Standard, and increased knowledge of mental health challenges, mental health promotion, and existing resources at a community-level. When comparing those companies who participated in the intervention versus those who did not, participants were more likely to prioritize mental health in the workplace. Participants reported a greater need for support to address workplace mental health, poorer perceived mental health of employees, and greater stigma than non-participants. However, participants were more likely to be familiar with the Standard, have an action plan to implement the Standard, and be prepared to champion mental health in the workplace. Participants also had greater knowledge of workplace mental health in general compared to non-participants.Conclusions: The multi-faceted community intervention, the Superior Mental Wellness @ Work project, was associated with increased familiarity of the Standard, and increased knowledge of mental health challenges, mental health promotion, and existing resources at a community-level. Such a multi-faceted intervention has the capacity to improve mental health literacy and awareness of the Standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A systematic attempt to summarize the literature that examines working conditions and occupational health among immigrant in Europe and Canada.Methods: We established inclusion criteria, searched systematically for articles included in the Medline, Embase and Social Sciences Citation Index databases in the period 2000-2016 and checked the reference lists of all included papers.Results: Eighty-two studies were included in this review; 90% were cross-sectional and 80% were based on self-report. Work injuries were consistently found to be more prevalent among immigrants in studies from different countries and in studies with different designs. The prevalence of perceived discrimination or bullying was found to be consistently higher among immigrant workers than among natives. In general, however, we found that the evidence that immigrant workers are more likely to be exposed to physical or chemical hazards and poor psychosocial working conditions is very limited. A few Scandinavian studies support the idea that occupational factors may partly contribute to the higher risk of sick leave or disability pension observed among immigrants. However, the evidence for working conditions as a potential mediator of the associations between immigrant status and poor general health and mental distress was very limited.Conclusion: Some indicators suggest that immigrant workers in Europe and Canada experience poorer working conditions and occupational health than do native workers. However, the ability to draw conclusions is limited by the large gaps in the available data, heterogeneity of immigrant working populations, and the lack of prospectively designed cohort studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the effort to improve workplace psychological health and safety in Canada. It states that several groups have gotten together icluding Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Canadian Standards Association and the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) to unveil the country's initial national standard to assist organizations.

Relates the findings of a study on truck drivers, sponsored by the Canadian and United States governments. The use of videotaping and electrophysiologic monitoring to show drivers were significantly sleep deprived; Comments from Dr. Jeffrey Lipsitz of the Sleep Disorders Centre of Metropolitan Toronto.