著者

Markus MELLOH Achim ELFERING Cornelia ROLLI SALATHÉ Anja KÄSER Thomas BARZ Christoph RÖDER Jean-Claude THEIS

出版者

独立行政法人 労働安全衛生総合研究所

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.MS1335, (Released:2012-05-30)

被引用文献数

9 19

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This study examines predictors of sickness absence in patients presenting to a health practitioner with acute/subacute low back pain (LBP). Aims of this study were to identify baseline-variables that detect patients with a new LBP episode at risk of sickness absence and to identify prognostic models for sickness absence at different time points after initial presentation. Prospective cohort study investigating 310 patients presenting to a health practitioner with a new episode of LBP at baseline, three-, six-, twelve-week and six-month follow-up, addressing work-related, psychological and biomedical factors. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify baseline-predictors of sickness absence at different time points. Prognostic models comprised ‘job control’, ‘depression’ and ‘functional limitation’ as predictive baseline-factors of sickness absence at three and six-week follow-up with ‘job control’ being the best single predictor (OR 0.47; 95%CI 0.26–0.87). The six-week model explained 47% of variance of sickness absence at six-week follow-up (p<0.001). The prediction of sickness absence beyond six-weeks is limited, and health practitioners should re-assess patients at six weeks, especially if they have previously been identified as at risk of sickness absence. This would allow timely intervention with measures designed to reduce the likelihood of prolonged sickness absence.

著者

Heer VYAS Subir DAS Shashank MEHTA

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.5, pp.642-651, 2011 (Released:2011-10-15)

参考文献数

43

被引用文献数

15 25

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Mechanics are exposed to varied work stressors such as hot noisy environments, strenuous postures, improperly designed tools and machinery and poor psycho-social environments which may exert an influence on their health and safety. The study aimed to examine the occupational injury patterns and identify work stressors associated with injury amongst automobile mechanics. A descriptive ergonomic checklist and questionnaire on general health and psycho-social issues were administered to male workers (N=153). The relative risk factors and correlation statistics were used to identify the work stressors associated with occupational injury. 63% of the workers reported injuries. Cuts were the chief injuries being reported. Poor work environment, machinery and tool characteristics, suffering from poor health and psycho-social stressors were associated with injury occurrence amongst automobile repair workers.

著者

Swei-Pi WU Cheng-Pin HO Chin-Li YEN

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.1110130103, (Released:2011-10-20)

被引用文献数

1

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A wok with a straight handle is one of the most common cooking utensils in the Asian kitchen. This common cooking instrument has seldom been examined by ergonomists. This research used a two-factor randomized complete block design to investigate the effects of wok size (with three diameters - 36 cm, 39 cm and 42 cm ) and handle angle (25°, 10°, -5°, -20°, and -35°) on the task of flipping. The measurement criteria included the maximum acceptable weight of wok flipping (MAWF), the subjective rating and the subjective ranking. Twelve experienced males volunteered to take part in this study. The results showed that both the wok size and handle angle had a significant effect on the MAWF, the subjective rating and the subjective ranking. Additionally, there is a size-weight illusion associated with flipping tasks. In general, a small wok (36 cm diameter) with an ergonomically bent handle (-20°±15°) is the optimal design, for male cooks, for the purposes of flipping.

著者

Ken INOUE Hisashi TANII Tatsushige FUKUNAGA Shuntaro ABE Yukika NISHIMURA Hisanobu KAIYA Masayuki NATA Yuji OKAZAKI

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.1, pp.177-180, 2007 (Released:2007-02-07)

参考文献数

15

被引用文献数

6 7

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The number of suicides in Japan has increased from approximately 22,000 per year in 1988-1997 to over 30,000 per year since then. It has also increased in Mie prefecture during that period. In the present study, we investigated the correlation between annual suicide rates in Mie prefecture, Japan from 1996-2002 and the annual unemployment rate in Japan from 1996-2002 among males. Among the results, annual suicide rates in total correlated with the unemployment rate in Japan, but the relation was not statistically significant: r(7)=0.76, r2(7)=0.58, p=0.05 (y=3.54x+6.37); the rates in males, however, correlated significantly with the unemployment rate in Japan: r(7)=0.85, r2(7)=0.73, p=0.01 (y=5.72x+4.49). In addition, we found that annual suicide rates in total correlated significantly with the male unemployment rates. When a patient is unemployed and in a bad situation, the medical staff and the family should be aware of the correspondence between suicide rates and unemployment.

著者

Hannu ANTTONEN Anneli PEKKARINEN Juhani NISKANEN

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.47, no.3, pp.254-261, 2009 (Released:2009-06-16)

参考文献数

39

被引用文献数

28 51

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The questions related to safety at work in cold environments and prevention of cold stress in working life are described in this article. Working in the cold environment is more dangerous than the same type of work in a warmer climate. All researchers have concluded that the frequency of accidents/versus temperature curves follow the U-shape with the minimum near 20℃. The effects of low temperature can be divided into direct, typically frostbites, and indirect, of which the indirect effects, typically slipping accidents, are more common. In improving risk management in cold conditions the risk evaluation based on existing standards is the starting point. Prevention of risks in cold environments can be done by planning of work, technical measures like heating or reduction of cooling by protective clothing, training and other measures. Local heaters, shelters against bad weather, reduction of draught are good examples of means of improving working conditions and reducing accident risks. The local IR-heaters can increase skin temperature of fingers about 7℃ in normal cold work. The improvement of 3℃ can be reached by using insulating material in the handle of tools. By using these technical improvements we can reduce the health risks but also improve work performance and even energy savings at work places.

著者

Hiroko NAKAZAWA Hiroki IKEDA Toshio YAMASHITA Ichiro HARA Yuko KUMAI Ginji ENDO Yoko ENDO

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.43, no.2, pp.341-345, 2005 (Released:2006-03-17)

参考文献数

19

被引用文献数

17 32

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The adverse health effects caused by indoor air pollution are termed “sick building syndrome”. We report such a patient whose symptoms appeared in the workplace. A 36-year-old female office worker developed nausea and headache during working hours in a refurbished office. After eight months of seeking help at other clinics or hospitals without improvement, she was referred to our hospital. At that time she reacted to the smells of various chemicals outside of the office building. Biochemical findings were all within normal ranges. Specific IgE antibody to cedar pollen was positive and the ratio of TH1/TH2 was 4.5. In the Eye Tracking Test (ETT), vertical eye movement was saccadic. Her anxiety level was very high according to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire. Subjective symptoms, ETT findings and anxiety levels on STAI gradually improved during two years of follow-up. One year after the onset of her illness, the formaldehyde concentrations in the building air ranged from 0.017-0.053 ppm. Even though relatively low, chemical exposure from building materials such as formaldehyde induced a range of symptoms. Also, lack of recognition by superiors and doctors that sick building syndrome might have been the source of her illness coupled with her high state of anxiety may have exacerbated her symptoms and led to the onset of multiple chemical sensitivity. Thus psychosocial factors may contribute to sick building syndrome in the workplace.