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The goals of this study were (a) to assess the extent to which construction industry workplace injuries and illness are underreported, and (b) to determine whether safety climate predicts the extent of such underreporting. Data from 1,390 employees of 38 companies contracted to work at a large construction site in the northwestern United States were collected to assess the safety climate of the companies. Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logs kept by the contractors allowed for calculation of each company's OSHA recordable injury rate (i.e., the reported injury rate), whereas medical claims data from an Owner-Controlled Insurance Program provided the actual experienced rate of injuries for those same companies. While the annual injury rate reported to OSHA was 3.11 injuries per 100 workers, the rate of eligible injuries that were not reported to OSHA was 10.90 injuries per 100 employees. Further, organizations with a poor safety climate had significantly higher rates of underreporting (81% of eligible injuries unreported) compared with organizations with a positive safety climate (47% of eligible injuries unreported). Implications for organizations and the accuracy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics's national occupational injury and illness surveillance system are discussed. Keywords: occupational safety, injuries, safety climate

The occupational ergonomic program that Intel's newly established manufacturing plant in Israel implemented in 1997 helped prevent injuries and also marked the launch of a whole new approach to ergonomics. A key element in the success of the seven-point program was a strong commitment from management, which came to regard this plan as a vital strategic element in the new plant's success. Comprehensive, top-down planning imposed obligations on all elements in the manufacturing spectrum, from suppliers to contractors to employees. Work requirements were set; cooperation with the plant's occupational health professionals was established; and long-term reporting and instruction systems were developed. Extensive ergonomic training was a crucial factor in integrating ergonomic procedures into the organization's day-to-day activities. Along with this instructional program, ergonomic engineers implemented a strict measuring system to ensure that each ergonomic activity would be performed according to schedule. By the time the factory opened its gates and began to produce, a vigorous ergonomic environment had emerged and employees were displaying an ergonomic mindset that also impinged upon their non-work activities. As a result of the successful implementation of the program, Intel's ergonomic program has become a model for Israeli industry. This paper presents a full ergonomic program that besides supplying the Intel plant with solutions was unique enough to impact the whole Israeli industry. Keywords: Ergonomic program; Risk free environment; Cultural change; Management commitment

The roles of informal social ties in affecting healthcare workers' risk of injury and assault were investigated in a longterm care facility for the elderly in the US. The original hypothesis was that nurses and healthcare assistants who integrated more with their coworkers would have lower risk. A crude measure of familiarity and social integration with coworkers was constructed from staff attendance records. This variable, which indicates working a floor and shift one has routinely worked on in the past, was associated with a moderate increase in risk of being injured after controlling for lifting demands and a fairly strong increased risk of being assaulted after controlling for resident combativeness. An interaction between social integration and job title was found. The primary associations were in the opposite direction of what was expected. The results suggest that social forces among healthcare workers shape the distribution of risk among workers in a manner more complex than some theories of social integration have suggested. New hypotheses are proposed to explore how social norms and expectations affect the way workers interact with each other and shape the distribution of risk among workgroup members. Keywords: USA; Injuries; Assaults; Occupational; Networks; Social integration

Epidemiological studies have found that teenage workers have higher occupational injury rates than adult workers, and that young males are a particularly high-risk subgroup. However, there have been few studies to date that have explored qualitatively young workers' everyday understandings and experiences of occupational health risks. Based on focus groups conducted with Canadian urban and suburban teenagers aged 16-18 years, this paper explores young workers' understandings and experiences of occupational health risks, and their gendered nature. The respondents were employed in a diverse range of jobs. The findings suggest that young workers experience a number of minor injuries and physical complaints related to their work. These injuries were typically seen as 'part of the job' because they happened frequently and were of low severity. Also, the experience of these injuries as 'part of the job' was informed by the young workers' perceived lack of control to improve or alter the conditions of their work. Furthermore, young workers' complaints and concerns were systematically discounted and this happened in a gendered fashion. Whereas the females emphasized how their complaints were actively disregarded by their superiors, males (and some females in male-dominated work settings) described how they stifled their complaints in order to appear mature among their (older) co-workers. Comparisons with qualitative studies of adult workers suggest that accepting some risks and injuries as ''part of the job' is not peculiar to young workers. The implications of these findings for improving workplace safety for young workers are discussed. Keywords.' Canada; Occupational health; Risk; Gender; Young workers; Focus groups; Discourse analysis

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2004.06.011 Byline: Denis Giguere (a), Denis Marchand (b) Keywords: Fire fighters; Emergency vehicles; Ingress/egress; Safety; Biomechanical stress Abstract: Injuries related to emergency vehicles represent 19% of compensated work accidents for fire fighters, 37% of which occur while stepping down from their vehicles. This study compared the impact forces, the use of upper limbs and the perception of danger of fire fighters as they step down from five different locations on fire trucks. The results show that stepping down from the crew cab facing the street produces impact forces averaging 3.2 times the subject's body weight, but is also perceived as the safest way to descend in one of the two groups of fire fighters that participated in the study. Stepping down from the same location, but facing the truck, produced significantly less impact force and a better distribution of the energy over time. This may be achieved through better control of the descending leg, ankle flexion, and the use of grab bars. A re-design of the access to emergency vehicles should take into account both the safety needs and reduction in biomechanical stress of fire fighters. Author Affiliation: (a) Programme Securite-ergonomie, Institut de recherche Robert Sauve en sante et en securite du travail (IRSST), 505 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montreal, Que., Canada H3A 3C2 (b) Departement de Kinanthropologie, Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), P.O. Box 8888, Centre-Ville Station, Montreal, Que., Canada H3C 3P8 Article History: Received 4 November 2003; Revised 9 June 2004; Accepted 16 June 2004

We examine factors that influence accident proneness among employees. We agree that the determinants of accident proneness include organizational, emotional and personal factors. Using logistic regression we estimated three models, and their predictability for accident proneness among sample of 200 injured workers interviewed upon entering hospital emergency wards in Israel. Work injuries were not contingent on age, religion, nor education. The effects of gender were strong but non-significant. Subcontracted and higher-paid workers are more likely to get repeat injuries. Prior injury experience sensitized employees to stronger perceptions of risk associated with unsafe practices. Large family households, ameliorates stress feelings and lessens the likelihood of accident proneness while poor housing conditions have the opposite effect. The full model demonstrates considerable prediction of injuries when focusing on type of employment, personal income level, being involved in dangerous jobs, emotional distress and a poor housing environment. The model contains most of the significant results of interest and provides a high level of predictability for work injuries.

In this study three different types of industrial activities in a steel plant have been studied in Thailand. Workload has been described and assessed by means of an ergonomics approach, encompassing task, organisation and environment as well as the physiological reactions and the subjective appreciation of the exposed workforce. The results are evaluated by means of the ISO Standard on Heat Stress (WBGT-Index) and by the cardiovascular load. Strain results reveal important basic physiological differences between Thai workers and Western data. The use of the ISO-Standard for the studied activities in Thailand is questioned and a proposal for adaptation of the WBGT-Index is formulated. Before implementing the proposals the results should be confirmed by a larger sample of workers and for other less demanding work.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects on the working postures and movements of a cashier when two different locations of the scales (one to the left of the cashier, the other under the conveyer belt in front of the cashier) were used in a grocery checkout system. Two cashiers (of average stature and short stature) were videotaped while working, in both sitting and standing working positions. Analysis of the video tapes was performed using the WOPALAS method and video observations. The results of the study show that the design of the checkout system with the scales under the conveyer belt provides a more favourable working position for both the taller and the shorter cashier. Additionally, the results indicate that a standing position is more favourable than a sitting one for the taller cashier while for the shorter cashier the sitting position is better. Keywords: checkout system, scales, evaluation, working postures, movements

Slides showing nurses in different working postures were used to determine the reliability of OWAS observations. Each slide could be looked at for 3 seconds, while a new slide was shown every 30 seconds to resemble the normal practice of observation. Two observers twice scored a series of slides, some of them being identical at both viewings. To reduce effects of recall there was a time interval of 4 weeks or more between the two viewings and the slides were in a different order the second time. Different series were used to evaluate inter- and intra-observer reliability. The OWAS scores of corresponding slides were compared. In almost all comparisons percentages of agreement over 85% and kappa's over 0.6 were found, which is considered as good agreement. The procedure described seems to be a useful and simple technique to determine such reliability. Keywords: OWAS method, reliability, physical workload

A study was conducted to evaluate the extent of tractor injuries as an occupational hazard risk to adolescents employed to operate the machines. Results showed that operation of tractors was far beyond the capabilities of adolescents between the ages of 13 to 17 and called for formulation of occupational policies for operation of tractors by adolescents.

There is a dramatic increase in the requirement for worksite interventions to prevent low-back disorders yet there is dissent within the field of ergonomic and related disciplines as to whether or not various proposed interventions work. A study presents two individual cases to attempt to determine why findings regarding low back disorder prevention programs have been so inconclusive. It is suggested that more exploratory studies on this subject may be conducted by building on previous, pragmatically-oriented research.

Occupational injuries and resulting workers' compensation claims have been shown to vary in their pattern. Injuries and claims reportage appear to be influenced by the time of the day, day of the week, day of the month and seasons. Yet there are few studies available regarding this subject. A study was therefore conducted to address hourly trends in the reporting behavior of workers' compensation claimants based on recorded data.

Back problems are second only to the common cold as to why most people visit doctors and low-back problems are contemporary society's most costly and common musculoskeletal problem. A study was conducted to assess the validity and effectiveness of commonly used evaluation methods used to control low-back disorders in the workplace and their sensitivity as well as specificity. An objective criterion-oriented database was used for the study.