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Health interventions often do not reach blue-collar workers. Citizen science engages target groups in the design and execution of health interventions, but has not yet been applied in an occupational setting. This preliminary study determines barriers and facilitators and feasible elements for citizen science to improve the health of blue-collar workers. The study was conducted in a terminal and construction company by performing semi-structured interviews and focus groups with employees, company management and experts. Interviews and focus groups were analyzed using thematic content analysis and the elements were pilot tested. Workers considered work pressure, work location and several personal factors as barriers for citizen science at the worksite, and (lack of) social support and (negative) social culture both as barriers and facilitators. Citizen science to improve health at the worksite may include three elements: (1) knowledge and skills, (2) social support and social culture, and (3) awareness about lifestyle behaviors. Strategies to implement these elements may be company specific. This study provides relevant indications on feasible elements and strategies for citizen science to improve health at the worksite. Further studies on the feasibility of citizen science in other settings, including a larger and more heterogeneous sample of blue-collar workers, are necessary.

Background: The aim of the research was to investigate the association between time perspective in relation to burnout and successful ageing of blue-collar workers with physically highly demanding work and low autonomy. Shipyard blue-collar workers usually do predominantly manual labor versus white-collar workers, whose jobs do not usually involve physical work. Methods: 497 participants workers in a shipyard in the north of Spain. Ages were between 20 and 69 (M = 46.62, SD = 10.79). We used the Zimbardo Time Perspective Instrument (ZTPI), Spanish version, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory&ndash, General Survey (MBI-GS). Results: Emotional exhaustion factor obtained a coefficient of 0.97, cynicism factor of 0.83, and professional efficacy factor of p = 0.86. The mean of the three reliability coefficients was 0.887. With respect to the five factors of the ZTPI questionnaire: the negative past factor obtained a coefficient of p = 0.91, that of positive past p = 0.81, the present hedonistic of 0.878, the future of p = 0.83, and the fatalistic present of p = 0.90. The mean of the five coefficients, was p = 0.86. Conclusions: Within shipyard workers, burnout is associated with a negative past and negative future time perspective. This makes shipyard workers at a higher risk of developing burnout and this can have serious consequences for the sustainable employability of these blue-collar workers.

Health interventions often do not reach blue-collar workers. Citizen science engages target groups in the design and execution of health interventions, but has not yet been applied in an occupational setting. This preliminary study determines barriers and facilitators and feasible elements for citizen science to improve the health of blue-collar workers. The study was conducted in a terminal and construction company by performing semi-structured interviews and focus groups with employees, company management and experts. Interviews and focus groups were analyzed using thematic content analysis and the elements were pilot tested. Workers considered work pressure, work location and several personal factors as barriers for citizen science at the worksite, and (lack of) social support and (negative) social culture both as barriers and facilitators. Citizen science to improve health at the worksite may include three elements: (1) knowledge and skills, (2) social support and social culture, and (3) awareness about lifestyle behaviors. Strategies to implement these elements may be company specific. This study provides relevant indications on feasible elements and strategies for citizen science to improve health at the worksite. Further studies on the feasibility of citizen science in other settings, including a larger and more heterogeneous sample of blue-collar workers, are necessary.

Background: South Asian workers have a greater predisposition to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that is exacerbated by migration and length of residence in host countries. Aims: To examine the association between length of residence in Qatar with diagnosis of NCDs in male blue-collar workers. Methods: A retrospective investigation of the electronic health records (EHRs) of 119,581 clinical visits by 58,342 patients was conducted. Data included age, nationality and confirmed ICD-10 diagnosis. Based on duration of residence, the population was divided into groups: ≤6 months, 6–12 months, 1–≤2 years, 2–≤5 years, 5–≤6 years, >6 years. It was assumed that the group that had been resident in Qatar for ≤6 months represented diseases that had been acquired in their countries of origin. Results: South Asian (90%) patients presented with NCDs at a younger (mean ± SD age of 34.8 ± 9.0 years) age. Diabetes and hypertension were higher in those who had just arrived (

Social science interest in professionals and managers as a left- and liberal-trending stratum has increased in recent years. Using General Social Survey data over a 44-year period, the authors examine 15 attitudes spanning social, economic, and political identity liberalism. On nearly all attitudes, professionals and managers have trended in a liberal direction, have liberalized more quickly than blue-collar workers, and are either as or more liberal than blue-collar workers. The authors find that the higher levels of education among professionals and managers, their tendency to adopt nonauthoritarian outlooks, and their lower propensity to identify with fundamentalist religion mediate their more liberal trends vis-à-vis blue-collar workers. Conversely, their higher relative incomes suppress the extent of their economic and criminal justice liberalism. The authors’ theorization links changes in the macro-economy to growing gaps in the composition of the two strata and the activities of politicians and parties to consolidate emerging political differences.

Based on oral history research conducted among networks of blue-collar workers in Belgrade, Serbia, this article develops three interrelated arguments regarding workers' appraisals of the recent past (1980-2014). Firstly, although the tumultuous years of late socialism and post-socialism in Serbia have been represented by scholars as a series of ruptures, I suggest that for blue-collar workers the boundaries between socialism and post-socialism and pre-conflict and wartime eras are blurry. Secondly, despite the conditions of war and economic collapse, blue-collar accounts of the 1990s in Serbia are not universally negative. Some individuals experienced upward social mobility, strongly influenced by class and gender positioning in late socialism. Female workers who had experienced hardship during the 1980s were often better equipped to navigate 1990s 'economies of makeshift'. Thirdly, social dislocation associated with neoliberal economic reforms since 2000 disproportionally affects blue-collar workers, reshaping narratives of late socialism and the 1990s (sometimes inducing workers to overlook or downplay coercive aspects of the Milošević regime). The accounts of this diverse group of (former) workers highlight that social class, gender and generational cohort condition the rather divergent ways in which the last three decades were experienced, are remembered and continue to be reevaluated in Serbia. published

Transit workers constitute a blue-collar occupational group that have elevated smoking rates relative to other sectors of employed adults in the United States. This study analyzed cross-sectional tobacco survey data from 935 workers (60% African American; 37% female) employed at an urban public transit agency in California. Prevalence of current and former smoking was 20.3% and 20.6%, respectively. Younger workers were less likely than older workers to be current or former smokers. Having a complete home smoking ban was associated with decreased likelihood of being a smoker [odds ratio (OR)Â =Â 0.04, 95% confidence interval (CI)Â =Â 0.01â0.17], as were neutral views about whether it is easy for a smoker to take a smoking break during their shift (ORÂ =Â 0.50, 95% CI 0.28â0.88). Current smoking among the sample is > 50% higher than the adult statewide prevalence. Potential points of intervention identified in this study include perceived ease of worksite smoking breaks and establishing home smoking bans. Tailored cessation efforts focusing on older transit workers more likely to smoke are needed to reduce tobacco-related disparities in this workforce. Keywords: blue-collar workers, health disparities, smoking

This study aimed to investigate the 12-month and 7-day prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in different body regions and its association with individual (age, gender and BMI) and lifestyle-related (physical activity level and sitting time) factors among blue-collar workers of a Portuguese manufacturing company. One hundred and thirty-six blue-collar workers participated in the study. Musculoskeletal symptoms were assessed with the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, and physical activity level and sitting time were assessed with IPAQ-Short Version. The 12-month prevalence was higher in the low back (56.6%), followed by the wrist/hand (50%), the shoulder (45.6%) and the neck (44.9%). In the last 7 days, the four most affected body regions were: the low back region (25%), the shoulders (20.6%) and the neck and wrist/hands (19.9%). Regarding individual factors, significant associations were found between age and the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the shoulder (p=0.034), elbow (p=0.033), wrist/hand (p=0.030), thigh/hip (p=0.008), neck (p=0.010) and the low back region (p=0.045), with the older workers reporting higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Also, women reported a significant higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the neck than men (p=0.025). Overweight and obese workers had a significantly higher prevalence of symptoms in the shoulder (p=0.003), wrist/hands (p=0.030) and neck (p=0.033). Regarding lifestyle-related factors, no significant associations were found between physical activity level or sitting time (p>0.05) and the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in any of the body regions. To conclude, blue-collar workers have a high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Individual factors like age, gender and BMI seem to influence the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in different body regions, but lifestyle-related factors such as the physical activity level and sitting time seem not to be associated with the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in studied sample. The results emphasize the need of workplace interventions to prevent musculoskeletal symptoms in this population.

The complex and systematic methods of risk management are not always suitable for addressing the risks in the operational level and the activities performed by blue-collar workers. This study is focused on such risks and how they could be mitigated without employing complex mathematical risk management approaches, which can be difficult to implement at the shop-floor level. In fact, the literature review here conducted revealed a significant gap in the research on risk management at this level. The central stage of the study was a field survey, which was focused on the potentials of total quality management (TQM) to address low-level activity risks. The findings confirm an interrelation between TQM and risk management, and they also reveal that trust and integrity are the most effective elements of TQM that can help to mitigate risks related to the blue-collar workers’ activity.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a yoga program provided to workers in small businesses to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. A nonequivalent control group pre/post-test design was used. The experimental group (n = 31) was assigned a yoga program consisting of yoga postures designed for meditation, strengthening, stretching, and balancing, given twice weekly for 12 weeks. The control group (n = 38) was given no other intervention. The mean age was 48.1 years old in the experimental group and 47.7 years old in the control group. Three trained investigators collected the questionnaires and one month after completing the 12-week yoga program, the same questionnaires that were administered at baseline were again administered. Psychosocial variables (depressive symptoms and job stress), health promotion behaviors, and body measurements (weight and waist circumference) were measured for the program evaluation. The yoga program was effective in improving waist circumference (from 81.8 to 79.2, p &lt, 0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (from 81.0 to 79.1, p = 0.004) as compared to the control group. Furthermore, the experimental group&rsquo, s job stress score decreased from 1.38 to 1.02, but it was not statistically significant (p = 0.240). A yoga program could be a useful intervention for workers with CVD risk factors, but it was not effective in psychological factors such as job stress and depression. A long-term intervention approach is important to confirm the psychosocial effect. Therefore, future research is needed to investigate the long-term outcomes of such interventions.

Parmi les salariés exposés aux substances cancérogènes dans le cadre de leur travail, près des deux tiers sont des ouvriers. Chaque année, plusieurs milliers de ces travailleurs – de 14 000 à 30 000 personnes selon le dernier plan cancer – contractent un cancer en lien avec leur parcours professionnel, dont la plupart décèdent. À l’appui d’enquêtes de terrain menées dans deux territoires longtemps industriels (Lorraine et Seine-Saint-Denis), auprès de salariés et d’anciens salariés atteints de cancer d’origine professionnelle et leurs proches, cet article s’intéresse aux processus d’évaluation, de catégorisation et de jugements portés sur ces corps ouvriers, malades du travail, ainsi situés au cœur d’enjeux politiques et financiers. Dans l’espace de la réparation de ces maux du travail, le corps ouvrier n’est pas un « corps neutre », il est à la fois un « témoin à charge », une « preuve » de situations exposantes dans l’espace productif, un objet médical lu à travers des filtres sociaux, reflet de rapports de domination et enfin, un construit rationalisé, monétarisé par fragment. Nearly two-thirds of employees exposed to carcinogenic substances at work are blue-collar workers. Every year in France, thousands of employees - between 14,000 and 30,000, according to the latest French cancer survey - contract an occupational cancer. Most die. The article describes the results of a field study conducted in Lorraine and Seine-Saint-Denis, two of France’s oldest industrial regions. Employees and ex-employees suffering from work-related cancer were interviewed, along with their families, in order to understand the evaluation, categorisation and assessment processes that they faced from a political and financial perspective. In terms of the reparations they were offered, it becomes clear that workers’ well-being is not a neutral subject. Quite the contrary, their ill health bears witness to (and proves) the unhealthy situations to which they were exposed on the job. That being the case, health can be construed here a medical object capable of being apprehended through social filters – a reflection of domination relationships, hence a rationalised construct subject to fractal monetisation. Entre los empleados expuestos a sustancias carcinógenas en el marco de su trabajo, cerca de dos tercios son obreros. Cada año en Francia, varios de miles de estos trabajadores – de 14,000 a 30,000 personas según el último programa de cáncer – contraen cáncer relacionado con su trayectoria profesional, y la mayoría muere. Se llevaron a cabo encuestas de campo en dos zonas industriales durante un largo tiempo (Lorena y Sena-Saint-Denis) a antiguos empleados que padecen cáncer debido a su trayectoria profesional y a sus allegados. Este artículo se interesa en el proceso de evaluación, de categorización y en juicios sobre estos cuerpos obreros, enfermos de trabajo, situado así en el meollo de los desafíos políticos y financieros. En el espacio de la repartición de estos males del trabajo, el cuerpo obrero no es un “cuerpo neutro”, es al mismo tiempo un “testigo con cargo”, una “prueba” de situaciones que se exponen en el espacio productivo, un objeto médico que se lee a través de filtros sociales, que refleja las relaciones de dominación y finalmente, una construcción racionalizada, monetizada por fragmentos.

The purpose of this article is to elucidate the influence that studying Conflict Management Systems of executives and blue-collar workers Job Satisfaction and socioeconomic impacts can be achieved in Automobile Industry through conflict management learning. https://journalnx.com/journal-article/20150681

PURPOSE: This study assessed the effects of a worksite aerobic exercise intervention among cleaners on: work ability, need for recovery, productivity, and rating of exertion.METHODS: In a monocentric randomised controlled trial in Denmark, 116, of 250 invited, cleaners were cluster-randomised (work location; sex; age; length of service) to aerobic exercise [N = 57, 44.9 years, 75.4% female, body mass index (BMI) 26.2], receiving 2 weekly aerobic exercise sessions during 12 months, or a reference group (N = 59, 45.7 years, 76.3% female, BMI 27.1), receiving health-promoting lectures. Self-reported data on outcomes and sociodemographic information were collected at baseline, and at 4 and 12 month follow-up. All outcomes were analysed in a linear repeated-measures 2 × 2 mixed-model by an intention-to-treat analysis approach.RESULTS: Drop-out was 26 and 33% at 4 and 12 months, respectively. Aerobic exercise adherence was 51% during the first 4 months. At 4 month follow-up no effects were found. At 12 month follow-up, work ability significantly increased by 0.59 on a 0-10 scale (95% CI 0.05-1.13) and need for recovery significantly decreased by - 11.0 on a 0-100 scale (95% CI - 19.8 to - 2.2) in the aerobic exercise group compared to the reference group. Productivity and rating of exertion were unaltered. Analysis stratified on age showed significant effects only among the participants aged ≤ 45 years.CONCLUSIONS: After 12 months work ability improved and need for recovery decreased. A period of 4 months was insufficient to affect these outcomes emphasising that longer interventions may be needed to induce effects on work ability and need for recovery.

The crucial cause of cardiovascular disorders is atherosclerosis developed by abnormal cholesterols levels or disorders affecting blood glucose. One of the best-known cardiovascular risk factors is also tobacco smoking. Simultaneously, sense of coherence (SoC) as a personal resource motivating to managing one’s own health behaviors, such as avoiding tobacco smoking, was reported to be protective against coronary heart disease. Such association was observed in white-collar workers but not in blue-collar workers. According to the above, the present article aims to establish relationships between SoC, smoking behaviors, biochemical markers (BM): lipids and glucose levels and body mass index (BMI) in blue-collar workers. Sense of Coherence Questionnaire (SOC-29), fasting blood test, and BMI were used to assess such relationships. The study group consisted of 304 Polish males working 8-hr shifts in a 4-brigade rotating system. The analysis revealed that SoC level did not differ depending on smoking behavior. The analysis also showed no differences in BMI and BM depending on SoC. Concerning smoking status, the study group was divided into three subgroups which differed regarding triglycerides and glucose levels. The present findings considering SoC indicate that any psychological construct should not be studied separately because probably only some sets of different features may influence one’s behavior and BM as well.

Topicality of the problem under investigation is conditioned by implementation of competency oriented federal state educational standards and professional standards into the practice of blue-collar workers training, the mentioned standards being intended to disclose the host of functions of various blue-collar occupations and WorldSkills standards reflecting modern world trends in the field of formation and development of blue-collar workers’ professional competences. In the meaningful aspect, today’s standards identifying requirements to blue-collar workers training will define principles of selection and formation of competency oriented subject matter of training; however, the choice of training technologies quite often remains beyond the training standards. At the same time, the competency oriented training of blue-collar workers shall envisage application of the activity approach to organization and realization of the training and, consequently, of technologies of training based on the activity approach. The modular technology of training based on points of European concept of “Modular employable skills” can be one of such technologies. The purpose of the article is description of the authors’ modular technology of forming of workers’ professional competency under conditions of corporate training. The modular technology is described herein as exemplified by formation of professional competency of workers of the machine-building industry in field of lathe part machining. The article also includes results of an experimental approbation of a developed modular technology in conditions of plants’ training centers. The investigation’s leading method shall be a pedagogical educational experiment in process whereof the modular technology of forming of workers’ professional competency which has been developed by the authors shall be approbated, the mentioned workers belonging to the machine-building industry in field of lathe part machining, whereas a worker’s professional competency is regarded as an integrated aggregate of core competencies and occupational personal properties which lie in the base of the selection and structuring of the subject matter of training. Materials and methods: the pedagogical educational experiment allows exposing the efficiency of complex formation of the professional competency in trainees by means of applying of the modular technique of training and methodological support, that is, educational elements developed in line with requirements of Modular employable skills concept and supplemented with a set of production tasks performed directly on the job under the tutor’s guidance. The following methods were used in process of the research: theoretical (analysis, synthesis, deduction and induction); diagnostic (methods of analysis and systemizing of scientific pedagogical literature; generalization and classification); empirical (modelling). The key results described in the article: the professional competency model of the machine-building industry workers; the modular technology of forming of professional competency of the machine-building industry workers; the methodological support elaborated in line with requirements of Modular employable skills concept, plus results of the experimental approbation of the developed modular technology. The modular approach, possessing systemic properties, allows integrating the substantive basis of training formed in the competency-based format, processes of selection and structuring of the content of blue-collar workers’ training reflected in the program documentation fixed forms, educational-methodological documentation represented by training elements, organization- methodological aspects of training, organization and realization of training which are also recorded in documentary form in line with requirements of Modular employable skills concept. © 2018 by the authors.

This paper discusses the opportunities and barriers for the transfer of employees' ideas to implementation of new solutions in employee-driven innovation. The theoretical approach is the existing research not only on innovation transfer but also on the transfer of learning, knowledge and technology. Based on the results from an action research project aimed at training and involving shop-floor employees in employee-driven innovation, the paper identifies five factors that have been crucial to the process of transfer from employees' ideas to new solutions in production. The paper discusses five factors for transfer compared with existing literature and knowledge on employee-driven innovation.

PURPOSE: Blue-collar workers have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Accordingly, elevated levels of biomarkers related to risk of cardiovascular disease, such as high-sensitive C-reactive protein, have been observed among blue-collar workers. The objective was to examine whether an aerobic exercise worksite intervention changes the level of inflammation biomarkers among cleaners.METHODS: The design was a cluster-randomized controlled trial with 4-month worksite intervention. Before the 116 cleaners aged 18-65 years were randomized, they signed an informed consent form. The reference group (n = 59) received lectures, and the aerobic exercise group (n = 57) performed worksite aerobic exercise (30 min twice a week). Levels of biomarkers (high-sensitive C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, cholesterol, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride) were collected at baseline and after 4 months. A repeated-measure, multi-adjusted, mixed-model intention-to-treat analysis was applied to compare between-group differences. The study was registered as ISRCTN86682076.RESULTS: Significant (p < 0.05) between-group reductions from baseline to follow-up were found for high-sensitive C-reactive protein (-0.54 ± 0.20 µg/ml; 95 % CI -0.94, -0.14), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-0.32 ± 0.11 mmol/L; 95 % CI -0.54, -0.10) and the ratios of LDL/HDL (-0.30 ± 0.08; 95 % CI -0.46, -0.14), and LDL/TC cholesterol (-0.04 ± 0.02; 95 % CI -0.07, -0.01).CONCLUSION: This study indicates that an aerobic exercise intervention among cleaners leads to reduced levels of high-sensitive C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and an unaltered level of fibrinogen. The aerobic exercise seems to improve inflammatory levels and lipoprotein profile among cleaners, with no signs of cardiovascular overload.

Background: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most prevalent occupational illnesses, with a higher incidence in the heavy industry. Objectives of the Study: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of NIHL in Greece and explore its correlations with other job and individual-related factors. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires were administered, and audiograms were conducted to 757 employees of a shipyard company in Greece, both white- and blue-collar, during the period 2006-2009. A modification of the 1979' equation of the American Academy of Otolaryngology was used to calculate hearing loss. Statistical analysis was conducted by means of the SPSS v. 17. Results: A 27.1% of the employees were hearing handicap. Hearing loss was correlated with age, past medical history of ear disease (Meniere's disease, acoustic neuroma, otosclerosis) or injury, hyperlipidemia, job title and level of education. A few questions on subjective hearing ability and symptoms showed strong discriminatory power of hearing pathology. Conclusions: The results of this study emphasize the burden of disease in the shipyard industry, and the need for continuous monitoring, implementation of preventive measures and hearing conservation programs.