ABSTRACT
To provide in-depth information and guidance on ergonomics, the International Labour Organization (ILO) had issued a series of conventions, recommendations, and resolutions on human factors/ergonomics (HFE) and had published HFE guides and toolkits. In 2021, the ILO and the International Ergonomics Association released an international guideline on HFE entitled Principles and Guidelines for Human Factors/Ergonomics (HFE) Design and Management of Work Systems (hereinafter referred to as the HEF Guidelines), aiming to improve the occupational safety, health, and the well-being of workers from the perspective of work system sustainability. There are currently 112 national health standards in China related to HFE, of which 79 (accounting for 71%) are equivalent to relevant standards from the International Organization for Standardization. Most of the recommended standards do not meet the applicability requirements of HFE for the Chinese workforce, as they are different from the national occupational health standard system. At present, China's HFE capability cannot meet the needs of the workforce, and there is still a gap between occupational diseases related to HFE included in the Occupational Disease List of China and those compared to the ILO. In the future, China needs to pay attention to the application of the HEF Guidelines, further improve the technical services for occupational health, include diseases caused by poor ergonomics in the national occupational disease list, strengthen the HFE standard system in the national occupational health standard system, actively promote the application of action-oriented HFE tools, enhance “human-machine coordination” and “person-job matching”, and focus on physical and cognitive HFE design to promote equality in workplace and reduce the occurrence of occupational and work-related diseases.
ABSTRACT
The UK's work-related diseases and occupational injury surveillance system consists of Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), Labour Force Survey (LFS), The Health and Occupation Research network in General Practice (THOR-GP), and Reporting to The Health and Occupation Research network by specialist physicians. This article briefly described the scope, content, and methods of each surveillance programme in the UK work-related diseases and occupational injury surveillance system, and summarized their advantages and disadvantages. Among them, employers are required to report to relevant law enforcement authorities by RIDDOR, data are highly accessible but with a concern of serious underreport, and it is the only data source of fatal occupational injuries; LFS, a representative national household sample survey, covering occupational injuries and work-related diseases, is the primary data source of non-fatal occupational injuries and work-related diseases such as stress, anxiety, and depression, but collects non-clinically proven data based on self-perception; general practitioners report clinically confirmed work-related diseases, which is more scientific in attribution and is a good secondary source of work-related diseases; specialist physicians report clinically confirmed cases of higher severity, which is the primary source of data on conditions such as asthma and dermatitis, but may underestimate morbidity. Each surveillance programme of the system has its own characteristics, intersects, and complements each other, which can provide reference for the construction of occupational injury surveillance system in China.
ABSTRACT
Road cargo transport is responsible for transporting 60% of cargo in Brazil according to 2011 data. In fact, it is fundamental in the production, distribution of industrial and agricultural goods.Current analysis characterizes INSS-insured laborers linked to activities in cargo transport with regard to gender, age, international disease classification. It also compares the number of benefits conceded during the last nine years to discuss the impact of accidents and diseases related to laborers in Brazil. The transversal, qualitative study deals with insurance benefits for activities involving cargo transport in Brazil. During the last nine years most INSS insurance benefits may be pinpointed for 2004, with 16.8%. Most (96.1%) were males, with age bracket between 40 and 44 years (15.3%). According to CID, benefits were distributed according to codes M.54 (dorsalgy) with 6.1%; M54.4 (lumbago with sciatic) with 4.7%, M.54.5 (low lumbar pain) with 7% and S62.6 (breaking of fingers) with 3.4%; 45.9% were classified as other diseases. Research shows that a great number of insurance benefits are provided to cargo drivers, corroborating data in the literature.
Subject(s)
Humans , Accidents, Occupational , Accidents, Traffic , Occupational HealthABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to analyze the factors that have been meaningful in recognizing cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in manufacturing sector workers as work-related diseases, since amendment of Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act on July 1st, 2008, and provide information to establish an objective standard. METHODS: We examined 359 claims of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases which were presented as occupational diseases from January 1st, to December 31th, 2010, collecting Industrial Accident Compensation data from the six Provincial Committees for work-related disease decision. We analyzed the approval rate and odds ratio of the general characteristics, past medical history and work-related information, by using univariate logistic regression. In addition, we confirmed the factors that have effects on when approving work-related diseases by using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Overall, 92 claims out of the 359 claims were recognized as worked-related diseases with an approval rate of 25.6%. Because of accidental situations such as altercation, cold environments, fire etc., only 12 cases were approved. In addition, due to short-term overwork such as outdoor work in cold environments, only 18 cases were approved. Sixty-two cases were approved for chronic overwork. On chronic overwork, the approval rate was not significantly different in univariate logistic regression in gender, age, claimed disease, survival or death, smoker or non-smoker, or associated disease. However, factory size and, average working time for last one week and average working time for last four weeks were significantly. In the multivariate logistic regression analyzed, adjusted for age and sex, we found that the factors in approving cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease as work-related disease were average working time for the last four weeks and factory size. CONCLUSION: We concluded that there has been a great deal of subjective judgements when approving cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases to be occupational diseases. Therefore, objective criteria should be established, especially with regard to the approval of work-related cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases and working hours.
Subject(s)
Accidents, Occupational , Cardiovascular Diseases , Cold Temperature , Compensation and Redress , Fires , Insurance , Logistic Models , Occupational Diseases , Odds Ratio , Workers' CompensationABSTRACT
The purpose of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act is to compensate any occupational accident of workers in a rapid and fair manner. To reduce theburden of proof of causation, there is a way to establish presumptive standards such as 'Guidelines for Work-related Diseases'. A presumptive standard defines a level of evidence sufficient to demonstrate legally a causal relationship between occupation and disease. In Korea, 24 items including physical agents, chemical agents, biological agents and some diseases are enlisted as work-related diseases.