Abstract

European policymakers encourage individuals to become self-employed because it is a way to promote innovation and job-creation. Most of the self-employed choose to become self-employed and have good working conditions and job quality. However, around 20 percent of the self-employed report that they have no alternative for work and they have lower levels of job quality and worse well-being compared to the former group of self-employed. It can be assumed that health and well-being among self-employed and managers in small-scale enterprises is particularly crucial in this enterprise group due to that the smallness make them vulnerable. The purpose of this study is to investigate the occurrence of sickness presence among self-employed in relation to employed and to analyse if possible differences can be explained by higher work demands and time pressure among the self-employed. The study is based on the 5th European survey on working conditions 2015 (EWSC). The questions in the survey cover a wide range of topics designed to meet the EU's political needs. The main variables are sickness presence and several indicators of time pressure. Results show that self-employed report a higher level of sickness presence than employed; 52,4 verses 43,6 percent. All indicators of time pressure are significant related to the risk for sickness presence, also when controlling for background characteristics. Therefore, there is a need for practical implications at a societal and organizational level inlcuding preventive measures for European self-emloyed and further research of the mechanisms beyond the study results.

Biography

Mikael Nordenmark obtained his doctor's degree in Sociology in 1999 on the thesis "Unemployment, Employment Commitment and well-being - The Psycho-social Meaning of (Un)employment among Women and Men". Since 2006 Mikael holds a position as Professor in Rehabilitation Sciences at the Department of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University. Main research interests are relationships among working life, family life, gender and well-being. He has been a Research Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) in Uppsala and at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) in Stanford. Emma Hagqvist obtained her PhD in Health Sciences in 2016 presenting her thesis ‘The Juggle and struggle of everyday life. Gender, division of work, work-family perceptions in diferent policy contexts’. My research concerns working conditions, work-family balance, time use and health using an intersectional perspective. Ongoing projects focus on (1) self-employed individuals working conditions, work-life balance and health, and (2) healthy leadership. Stig Vinberg has completed his PhD from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden and is a professor in Health Sciences at Mid Sweden University, Sweden. He has during the last 35 years been working with occupational health and workplace development issues as a researcher, project leader and consultant. Main research interests are leadership, workplace health promotion and small business development with emphasis on organizational factors.

Abstract

Health and well-being can defined by “how people think, feel, and function—at a personal and social level—and how they evaluate their life.” Health and well-being is inextricably linked to the environment that surrounds individuals and the groups of which they are members (e.g., families, work teams, communities, etc.). Staying safe, practicing preventive and health promoting behaviors, ensuring safe and healthful environments, and building cultures of safety, health and well-being brings significant value to employers, communities, and society at large. Such value may be generated by ensuring programs and initiatives that are designed around principles for best practice program design. Such principles include leadership, relevance, comprehensiveness, partnership, implementation, engagement, communications, being data-driven, and compliance. Measurement tools that represent a comprehensive and holistic perspective of workplace efforts are needed and will be discussed. Using these principles, several brief case studies will be presented that show quantifiable results. Finally, a complex systems view will be discussed that allows for multiple relationships to be considered when thinking about well-being as a global goal of integrated and coordinated occupational health and safety efforts implemented via the workplace.

Biography

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Abstract

According to Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends report, employee engagement is a top talent issue facing organizations today, with 85% of surveyed executives rating engagement as important to them. As the methods and tactics to measure engagement continue to expand, so does the challenge of addressing this critical human capital issue. Despite the emergence of many tools for frequently evaluating employee sentiment, 64% of organizations still only measure employee engagement annually — which is no longer enough to deal with a multi-generational and changing workforce. Learn effective strategies to measure engagement as well as the role of business leaders, managers and HR to be always listening to the voice of employees, acting on findings, and making meaningful progress on engagement.  The disconnect between employees and management  The manipulation of numbers or processes  The tension between partners  The disagreement about strategy  The clash of different personalities  The hidden agenda  The wrong job fit

Biography

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Abstract

In Quebec, occupational diseases caused 137 deaths in 2016. There were 8235 cases of occupational diseases in Quebec at the same year. In Quebec and elsewhere in the world, SMEs have higher rates of occupational injuries and lower occupational health and safety (OHS) performance than large firms. In addition, if the annual rate of work accident in Quebec continues to decrease (- 4.8%) that of occupational diseases increases (+ 2.7%). The aim of this research project is to study the practises of occupational disease management in Quebec SMEs by detailing the management elements for the prevention of occupational diseases. The goal is to protect workers’ health and safety in Quebec SMEs. A critical review of the literature was carried out in three distinct phases. The first phase presented an overview of the OHS performance in SME. The second phase led to identify the management elements for the prevention of occupational diseases. The third phase is devoted to analyzing how SMEs practice these elements. The results of this work led to identify more than 140 management elements related to the prevention of occupational diseases in SMEs. Our principal conclusion is that the practises of occupational disease management in SMEs is bad. Finally, this work will be used as a basis for a major project in OHS management in SME.

Biography

Fara Randrianarivelo is currently pursuing the MSc degree in Hygiene and Industrial Security at Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada. She received the BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Ecole Superieure Polytechnique d’Antananarivo, Madagascar, and the MSc degree in Process Engineering from Université Paris 13, France, in 2012 and 2015, respectively.

Abstract

Most recent estimates of World Health Organization pointed out that the enormous proportion of world’s population, approximately 9 out of 10 breathe contaminated air. Almost 4.2 million deaths occurred every year due to the exposure of ambient air pollution. In India, Kanpur gets to hold on the worst city in air pollution concerning PM 2.5 concentrations of 173 micrograms per cubic meter. The Kanpur city is well-known for its leather industry, polluting nature of leather tanneries is evident from the notorious odour that characterizes tanneries and tannery zones. The environment influences the health of the people of Jajmau area of Kanpur city where hundreds of leather tanneries are located. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence and pattern of respiratory health problem among people living in adjacent to the leather industry of Jajmau area of Kanpur, India. This paper used primary data obtained from a cross-sectional household study of tannery workers from Jajmau area of the city of Kanpur, which was conducted during January-June, 2015, as part of a doctoral program. The study covered 573 men selected using scientifically developed study design using probability sampling approach. The descriptive statistics have been used to achieve the objective of this study. The men living adjacent to tanneries are at higher risk of developing symptoms of the respiratory problem. For instance, the prevalence of respiratory problems such as a cough or cough up phlegm most days and nights for at least 3 months in the previous year (10.0%), usually bring up phlegm from your chest first thing in the morning (17.1%) and brought up phlegm from your chest like this most mornings for at least 3 months in previous year (9.1%) reported by the men. Around 12 percent of the respondent experienced the symptoms of Asthma and Chronic bronchitis.

Biography

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Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and potential risk factors of cardiovascular diseases among male tannery workers.Methods: Data for the study was obtained from a cross-sectional household survey conducted during the period January - June 2015. The study was conducted in the Jajmau area of Kanpur and 284 tannery and 288 non-tannery workers were interviewed who were selected using scientifically developed study design ofprobability sampling approach. Asthma was diagnosed if respondent reported the symptoms “Have you had wheezing or whistling in your chest at least 3 months in the last one year” and chronic Bronchitis was diagnosed by the symptoms “Did you cough up phlegm most days or nights for at least 3 months in previous year”. Univariate and bivariate analyses were used to assess the prevalence, and logistic regression analysis was used to identify the potential risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Results: The overall prevalence of symptomatic Asthma and Chronic Bronchitis was 12% each for tannery workers and it was 9 percent for asthma and 6 percent for Chronic Bronchitis among non-tannery workers. The prevalence of Asthma and Tuberculosis diagnosed by the doctors was 2.46% and 2.11% among tannery workers. The study has also poised the evidence of symptoms of Asthma.The symptoms were“Had a flu-like illness with aches and pains, fever, chills, and night sweats in last 12 months” (50-27%), “Usually, have a cough first thing in the morning” (24-11%), “Usually bring up phlegm from your chest first thing in the morning”, (20-14%), “Usually experience chest contestation” (18-10%), “Cough up phlegm most days or nights for at least 3 months in the previous year” (12-6%), and “Woken by an attack of shortness of breath at any time in the last 12 months” (6.3-3.8%) of tannery and non-tannery workers respectively. Results from the study show that the prevalence of symptoms of Tuberculosis experienced often in last one year reported by tannery and non-tannery workers in Kanpur city. The symptoms of “Fatigue” (26-15%), “Fever”(18-6.6%), “Excessive sweating, especially at night” (19-9%), “Breathing difficulty”(14.4-4.2%),“Weight loss”(14-4.2%), “Chest pain” (9.2-3.8%), and “Coughing up blood” (0.4-0.0%) was also present among tannery and non-tannery workers respectively. The results of logistic regression show that Asthma is evidently associated with the education of tannery workers. Tannery workers who have completed high school & above education are less likely to have Asthma [OR=0.43*; CI: 0.08-2.18] in Model-I. Tannery workers who had working experience of 11-20 years are prone to have Asthma [OR=3.10*; CI: 0.992-9.693] and Chronic Bronchitis [OR=3.66**; CI: 1.14-11.72] in Model-II. Odds of chemicals in air reveals that the tannery workers having moderate/high exposure are 3.7 times [CI: 0.55-24.41] times more likely to have asthma and 2.42 times[CI: 0.28-21.27] times more likely to have Chronic Bronchitis. Conclusions: This study exposed the factors which are consistently associated with cardiovascular diseases among the tannery workers areage, education, media exposure, standard of living index, work experience in the current tannery, chemicals in the air.

Biography

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Abstract

Have you ever thought about wellbeing as a business improvement tool? Wellbeing is a massively overused term which means all things to all people and has resulted in wellbeing not being clearly defined or understood. It is often the ‘soft and fluffy’ side of wellbeing which is the focus of organisational interventions and whilst such interventions are clearly beneficial to individuals, on their own they are unlikely to result in any long-term sustainable effects on the organisation. When we really harness the full power of wellbeing the individual and organisational effects are immense. To do that, we need to address wellbeing in the same way as we address safety, by identifying and eliminating the primary wellbeing risks. Mental health and stress are currently receiving a lot of press, mainly because work-related stress figures significantly in HSE’s Strategy for 2020 – Helping GB Work Well. Yet the presence of work-related stress is a key indicator of the failure (or absence) of an effective wellbeing strategy, so if we proactively (rather than reactively) manage the root causes (rather than the symptoms) of stress in our organisations then we create wellbeing and enhance the Quality of Working Life for all. The emphasis needs to be on creating wellbeing (both organisational and individual) rather than waiting for signs of stress and then taking action. Wellbeing means feeling good and functioning well. It underpins employee engagement and can be a source of competitive advantage, innovation and growth, leading to better business performance. Central to creating a wellbeing culture is the identification of the presence (or absence) of the key wellbeing drivers and where necessary intervening at the organisational level to enhance individual and organisational wellbeing. If we take an integrated approach to wellbeing and engagement, which addresses both individual and organisational issues, then this enables sustainable individual and organisational wellbeing, engagement and business performance.

Biography

Carolyn is Operations Director of OCAID Wellbeing. She is an organisational psychologist with significant experience in the Health, Safety and Wellbeing field. Wellbeing, Safety Behaviours and Organisational Development. Carolyn successfully ran her own business for over 20 years and recently spent 2 years at HSE prior to joining OCAID to head up their Wellbeing business. Carolyn has also spent some time working in Australia. Carolyn has a proven track record within a diverse range of national and international businesses. Her consultancy experience spans numerous industry sectors including construction, oil and gas, food, utilities, packing and retail. An experienced conference speaker with a number of papers and publications to her name Carolyn is both widely experienced and well qualified to benchmark and design organisational Wellbeing and Safety Culture interventions that will enhance both employee engagement and wellbeing whilst creating resilient people in resilient organisations. Her aim is always to help to create sustainable change within organisations thereby enabling them to not only maintain but continuously improve their Health, Safety and Wellbeing culture.

Abstract

The Agricultural Research Council –Onderstepoort Veterinary Research (ARC-OVR), based in South Africa and specialising in animal health research employs the services of Manobo Cleaning Services for all cleaning work. These cleaners are placed in every department and laboratory within the ARC-OVR in order to perform cleaning work for infection and contamination prevention, office and laboratory hygiene purposes.South Africa is one of the countries where the prevalence of occupational dermatological disorders has increased, accounting for between 5-6% of all claims submitted to the Compensation Commissioner of the Department of Labour under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act. Due to under-reporting of occupational diseases by employers and medicals practitioners, delays in processing reported claims, and inadequate assessment of disability there are systematic deficiencies in the administration of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act resulting in a poor reflection of the real number of occupational skin diseases that occur annually in South Africa. Due to limited South African literature related to occupational skin disorders in agricultural research facility cleaning personnel, a descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken aimed at determining the prevalence of self-reported hand and forearm occupational skin disorders among cleaners, and describe work-related risk factors associated with the development of occupational skin disorders at the ARC – OVRthrough the use of a validated structured self-diagnosis questionnaire.

Biography

Mr Mann Mokoatle is employed by The Agricultural Research Council – Onderstepoort Veterinary Research as a Manager: Occupational Health, and as a researcher in Public Health. He is also a member of the ARC – OVR Institute Biosafety Committee. He holds a degree in Environmental Health, a Bsc Honours in Environmental Management, a Higher Certificate in Management, is currently completing his Master’s degree in Public Health – Occupational Hygiene, and a 2019 Ph.D candidate in Veterinary Public Health with a focus on Biosafety among veterinary science researchers.

Abstract

In the United Kingdom (UK), all employers have a legal duty to put in place suitable arrangements to manage safety, health and wellbeing. Ideally, this should be a part of the everyday processes of conducting business (in the Higher Education-research, study or support activities) and/or providing a service. It should also be an integral part of positive workplace behaviours and attitudes. The UK legislative framework places the main duties on employers to ensure that the workplace is safe for employees and others who may be affected (eg students, visitors, contractors etc.). The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) highlights the key principles of effective health and safety management in its revised guidance document HSG65. • leadership and management (including appropriate structure and effective processes) • a trained/skilled workforce • an environment in which people are trusted and involved These principles underpin HSE’s ‘Plan, Do, Check and Act’ model for managing health and safety in a simpler and more pragmatic way. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring health, safety and wellbeing rests with the University Board. Day-to-day responsibility is delegated to the University Principal/Vice Chancellor (takes on the leadership and management responsibility and leads on health and safety at Board level as well as chairing the Health and Safety Committee). The Health and Safety specialists provide expert advice, strategic and operational support and a comprehensive training programme to all layers of managers, safety representatives and staff on matters of health, safety and fire safety at work. With this framework and principles in mind, Zarah Laing will discuss how she has implemented and achieved an award winning health and safety management system at Queen Mary, University of London for their 25,000 students and 5000 staff across multiple campuses in UK and overseas.

Biography

Zarah Laing joined Queen Mary University of London in 2009 and became the Director of Health and Safety in February 2015. Outside the University, she chairs the Universities Safety and Health Association (USHA) London Regional Group. Zarah holds a Master’s Degree in Management of Occupational Health and Safety, 1st Class Degree in Occupational Health, and a Degree in Philosophy. She is also a qualified nurse and trained in Fire Safety Risk Management. She worked as Occupational/Health and Safety Manager in various sectors in the last 20 years ranging from Retail, Local Authorities, NHS Hospitals and an FE College. She is the winner of British Safety Council International Safety Award ‘Merit’ Category and the winner of Wellbeing Initiative in 2018.

Abstract

Work place performance is dependent on a multitude of factors in the work place, within the personal characteristics of the employees and on the personal performance or leading strategies of the employer.Food retail shops in Norwayare staffed with young persons, often students seeking part time jobs. Trade union membership is rare, and occupational health service is distant if existing at all. The employer may not adhere to rules of length of work day, sickness absence regulations or the employers wish to know when to work in the future weeks. The results of such a management style is demonstrated by the appearance of three employees entering the private psychiatric practice of the author. Anxiety and conflict avoidance in employees contribute to the possibility of maintaining an unhealthy work environment. To which extent is this occurring in other countries as well?

Biography

John E. Berg is currently professor of public health at Oslo Metropolitan University. He is specialist of psychiatry and occupational health and an economist and he has published close to 100 scientific articles. The areas covered are sick leave certifications by GPs, drug addict treatment and mortality, cardiovascular risk evaluation in occupational health, clinical and cost-benefit outcomes of psychiatric and drug addict facilities treatment. He has also published 5 textbooks on health economics, drug addict treatment and acute psychiatry.

Abstract

The maritime workplace remained to be one of the world’s high risk occupations (Nielsen et al, 2013). Maritime standards, competencies, and health and safety policies and practices were proven to be inadequate in preventing work related injuries and accidents on board seafaring vessels. It was in this light that safety culture was adopted in the shipping industry. Hence, this study aimed to assess the shipboard safety culture among cadet seafarers in relation to specific seafaring vessel types (tanker or bulk). This study primarily followed a cross sectional research design. It aimed to assess and compare shipboard safety culture from the cadet seafarers’ perspective thru prevalence school based survey using a Likert scale, and qualitative probing thru key informant interviews and a focus group discussion were conducted. The cadet seafarer participants were chosen from the PMMA fourth year students enrolled for the academic year 2015-2016. Survey data gathered were treated with chi square test (critical value of 0.05 levels) while data gathered from key informant interviews and focus groups discussion were presented and analyzed by themes. Data gathered revealed differences in the survey scores; however, the bar graph of all the safety factors surveyed revealed a positive and similar trend of shipboard safety culture on board in both tanker and bulk vessel types. Computed chi square scores revealed no significant difference between the tanker and bulk shipboard safety cultures in all eight safety factors, although more unsafe work conditions/ acts and on board health injuries/ accidents were reported among bulk respondents.

Biography

Dr. Oscar Cristito L. Rosete finished his Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from the Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines and Doctor of Medicine from the Far Eastern University - Nicanor R. Reyes Medical Foundation, Manila, Philippines. He had his Post-Graduate Diploma and Master of International Health from the University of the Philippines Open University, Los Baños, Philippines. He is a diplomate and fellow of the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine. At present, he is the Head of the Medical Unit of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy, San Narciso, Zambales, Philippines.

Abstract

Computers are an essential part of our everyday life. Ergonomics at workplace is a very important factor that cannot be over looked in the information technology working environment. This study was undertaken to assess reporting of occupational health among Desktop and Laptop users including children. A personal survey and a TV LIVE programs was carried out among computer users including children. Hundreds of calls were attended from various media channels and those were invited to the computer injury prevention research centre for studying their pains and learning their style of working. The main findings from the present work showed symptoms such as eye strain, neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain and pain in the carpal tunnel region were common among computer users including children. Severity of pain increased with number of hours of computer use at work which was found only in unscientific style of workers. Materials and methods : Cross sectional study was conducted among the computer users like software professionals, Government officers of various departments and were interacted through a LIVE tv programme and were asked several questions to know the strains while working with computers and were also invited to the research center for further study and guided them towards safety. Results : The prevalence of the computer related occupational injuries were reported by morethan 90% of the callers on LIVE tv show in our study. Association of the duration of the computer use, typing techniques while using them and the furniture used was also noted. Very few were aware of the seriousness of computer related injuries. Symptoms were with more in people who were not working on 10 fingers touch typing skill and non ergonomically designed furniture and its placements. Conclusions : Visual strains and physical strains constitute an important part of computer related injuries. This warrants vigilance in identifying and effectively guiding them. The study has also thrown light on various ergonomic factors contributing to its occurrence. Effective management requires a multidirectional approach combining health education, introduction of ergonomics, touch typing skill training and more awareness programmes from the Governments and computer manufacturers too will help in preventing them. Keywords: eye strain, neck pain, headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive strain injury, musculoskeletal disorders and mental strain.

Biography

Dr. H.M.Arun Kumar has been honoured with honorary PhD by World Records University, U.K. and is a researcher in Computer Injury Prevention techniques in India, who is passionate about Occupational Health and Safety of computer users at Workplace and Community Health. He is currently Founder of Computer Injury Awareness and Prevention Society., Bangalore. He is an inventor of Supersonic Safe Typing techniques, Inventor of Ergonomic Furniture specially designed for computer users. He is also a World Record Holder for working on computers in various styles like in Cross-hand and to type by Sitting behind the Laptop. He has more than 22 years of professional experience and has advised on computer safety in various Televisions including CNNIBN, Doordarshan, Udaya tv, Zee News, Suvarna News, Amrita News, Kairali News, and many more. He was featured in various leading Daily Newspapers like The Times of India, The Deccan Herald, The Hindu, The New Indian Express, Khaleej Times and many more. He has advised on ergonomics to various Government top officers including bureaucrats like District Judges, IAS Officers, Commissioners of various departments including Police, Income Tax, Customs, Film Stars, and Doctors, Engineers, Advocates and students too. People have come from all over India and even from Dubai, USA, London, and Singapore to undergo a special training in computer touch typing and ergonomics from him. He was honored by various organizations including Rotary International, Air India, and many more. He is a Life-member of Indian Society of Ergonomics., Kolkota and Life-member of Association of Occupational Health (AOHK), Karnataka. He is now willing to spread awareness worldwide and to help the governments in modifying the present safety policy by becoming International Computer Safety Advisor or Brand Ambassador to spead the awareness which is spreading at an alarming rate. His computer safety guidelines are currently published in National Safety Council 2018 Diary.

Abstract

Wellbeing is defined as being the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy. Health and safety professionals can contribute to ensuring that individuals at work are afforded the best possible working environment and conditions to allow them to achieve this atate. Often the ‘health’ aspect of ‘health and safety’ is given a lower priority but in more recent years the recognition of the effects of stress on individuals and the impact on themselves and their organisations has raised in profile. For the UK the HSE statistics for 2016/2017 state that 12.5 million working days are lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety and 526,000 workers are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety (new or long-standing), These figures send a clear message to employers that more needs to be done to protect the health of the workforce. To achieve this organisations must have a robust system to identify stressors and provide effective mechanisms to reduce individual stress within the workforce. This paper will consider how the HSE stress management standards that relate to : Demands, Control, Support, Relationships, Role and Change can be put into practice. In addition it will provide practical case study information on the holistic support mechanisms that may be developed and put into practice to reduce stress related illness and absence.

Biography

Lisa Fowlie is a Past President of IOSH and is currently the Deputy Head of Health, Safety and Wellbeing at Bradford University. Lisa has a passion for pro active health and safety and has over 30 years experience of working within Public and Private organisations, where one of the main focusses has been on effective stress management programmes. She completed her degree in Health and safety In Aston University and her MSc in Training and Human Resource Management in Leicester University.

Abstract

Mental health and Wellbeing : has the panacea arrived or not During the last 15 years there has been explosion of interest and research into mental health and wellbeing which has seen many advances in the promotion of mental health and wellbeing . Indeed now health and wellbeing could be considered mainstream and part of some work cultures. Early health and wellbeing programs looked at organisational / primary interventions to compliment individual / tertiary intervention . However in the recent years there has been drive to promote tertiary interventions such as resilience and mindfulness . The question that needs to be asked is does the current approach provide the panacea to health and wellbeing or is there something else that organisations need to be engaging in. The talk will address this

Biography

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