Diversity & Inclusion: Fitness for Work Through a Personalized Work Plan For Workers With Disabilities and Chronic Diseases According to the Iso 30415/2021.

The recent standard ISO 30415-2021 - Human resources management - Diversity and inclusion -  was developed internationally within the technical committee ISO/TC 260 "Human resources management" (Working group WG 8 "Diversity and inclusion") and underlines the need for actions to create a work environment that is inclusive of diversity (e.g. in terms of health, gender, age, ethnicity, culture). Developing an inclusive work environment requires ongoing commitment and input from the entire organization regarding policies, processes, organizational practices, and individual behavior. As far as the role of occupational medicine is concerned, this direction can be supported by the correct management of disabled workers and workers with chronic pathologies that affect their fitness for duty. The "reasonable accommodation" is the way by which the European Union first, and the United Nations then intended to support the inclusion of disabled people in the world of work. The Personalized Work Plan includes different approaches (organizational, technical, procedural) meant for modifying the work activity envisaged for the disabled worker or for any worker suffering from chronic diseases or dysfunctions. The adoption of the Personalized Work Plan implies the effort of redesigning the workstation, the work procedures, or even the planning of different micro and macro tasks etc., in order to prioritize the adaptation of the working environment to the worker, safeguarding the value of the worker's productivity according to the principle of reasonable accommodation.

Legionella on board trains: effectiveness of environmental surveillance and decontamination.

BACKGROUND: Legionella pneumophila is increasingly recognised as a significant cause of sporadic and epidemic community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia. Many studies describe the frequency and severity of Legionella spp. contamination in spa pools, natural pools, hotels and ships, but there is no study analysing the environmental monitoring of Legionella on board trains. The aims of the present study were to conduct periodic and precise environmental surveillance of Legionella spp. in water systems and water tanks that supply the toilet systems on trains, to assess the degree of contamination of such structures and to determine the effectiveness of decontamination. METHODS: A comparative pre-post ecological study was conducted from September 2006 to January 2011. A total of 1,245 water samples were collected from plumbing and toilet water tanks on passenger trains. The prevalence proportion of all positive samples was calculated. The unpaired t-test was performed to evaluate statistically significant differences between the mean load values before and after the decontamination procedures; statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: In the pre-decontamination period, 58% of the water samples were positive for Legionella. Only Legionella pneumophila was identified: 55.84% were serogroup 1, 19.03% were serogroups 2-14 and 25.13% contained both serogroups. The mean bacterial load value was 2.14 × 10(3) CFU/L. During the post-decontamination period, 42.75% of water samples were positive for Legionella spp.; 98.76% were positive for Legionella pneumophila: 74.06% contained serogroup 1, 16.32% contained serogroups 2-14 and 9.62% contained both. The mean bacterial load in the post-decontamination period was 1.72 × 10(3) CFU/L. According to the t-test, there was a statistically significant decrease in total bacterial load until approximately one and a half year after beginning the decontamination programme (p = 0.0097). CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that systematic environmental surveillance could be a useful approach for assessing the risk of exposure to Legionella bacteria, which still represents a public health threat. According to the study results, an environmental surveillance programme, followed by decontamination procedures where necessary, would decrease the total bacterial count, protecting the health of travellers and workers.