Differences between managers' and safety professionals' perceptions of upwards influence attempts within safety practice.

INTRODUCTION: The ability to influence upwards and gain management commitment has been identified as an essential capability for safety professionals, yet little is known about managers' perceptions of their subordinates use and effectiveness of influence tactics. This study utilizes intra-organizational influence theory to explore how safety professionals influence managers who are making important safety decisions. METHOD: Survey data were collected from managers (n = 145) on influence tactics used by safety professionals, perceived outcomes, and factors that promote and impede influence. Survey data from a previous study of safety professionals (n = 385) were used to compare the differences in perceptions between the two groups. RESULTS: Managers perceive that the use of influence tactics provides explanation for safety professionals' effectiveness, with rational persuasion being positively associated with influencing effectiveness, and personal appeals and legitimating being negatively associated with effectiveness. Certain factors (i.e., knowledge, understanding organizational context, interpersonal skills, and experience) were more frequently perceived by managers to enable influence, while others were more frequently reported as barriers (i.e., organizational culture, safety beliefs, and leadership styles of managers). Managers and safety professionals agreed on many of these findings, although safety professionals reported a broader range of tactics as being effective than did managers. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides important contributions to understanding the upward influence behavior of safety professionals, and to our knowledge is the first study to report this behavior from the perspective of managers. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: These findings may prompt safety professionals to reflect on current tactic usage and associated efficacy from managers' perspectives. Safety professionals should also consider the culture of the organization, safety beliefs, and the leadership style of managers prior to influencing, as these factors may negatively impact influencing outcomes. Developing knowledge and skills in both technical and non-technical domains may enhance the strategic influence of safety professionals.

The contribution of respiratory and hearing protection use to psychological distress in the workplace: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVE: Workers from various industries use personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks, respirators, and hearing protection to reduce their exposures to workplace hazards. Many studies have evaluated the physiological impacts of PPE use, but few have assessed the psychological impacts. The aim of the present study was to carry out a scoping review to compile existing evidence and determine the extent of knowledge on workplace mask, respirator or hearing protection use as a psychosocial hazard (stressor) that could result in a stress response and potentially lead to psychological injury. METHODS: The scoping review followed recognized methods and was conducted using Ovid Emcare, PubMed, Sage Journals, ScienceDirect, Scopus, SpringerLink, Google Scholar and preprint databases (OSF Preprints and medRxiv). Articles on the stressors associated with the use of masks, respirators, and hearing protection were included. The extracted data included author(s) name, year of publication, title of article, study design, population data, stressors assessed, and key findings. RESULTS: We retrieved 650 articles after removal of duplicates, of which 26 were deemed eligible for inclusion for review. Identified factors associated with PPE use that could potentially create a stress response were identified: communication impacts, physical impacts, psychological illness symptoms, cognitive impacts, and perceived PPE-related impacts. Evidence for respirators suggest that there may be psychological injury associated with their use. However, hearing protection appears to have a protective effect in reducing psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and aggression. CONCLUSIONS: Mask or respirator use may lead to an increase in work-related stress. Whereas hearing protection may have protective effects against psychological symptoms and improves speech intelligibility. More research is needed to better understand potential psychosocial impacts of mask, respirator and/or hearing protection use.

Using touchscreen mobile devices-when, where and how: a one-week field study.

This cross-sectional study explored the objectively measured Touchscreen Mobile Device (TSMD) use in free-living conditions. Data on TSMD use, gross body posture (lying, sitting, standing, stepping), and location of use (workplace, home, other) were collected over seven consecutive days from 54 adults (mean ± SD, 38 ± 10 years). The average duration of TSMD use was 152 ± 91 min/day, with a TSMD engagement of 51 ± 35 times/day. Participants under 30 years spent significantly more time on their TSMD, averaging 230 ± 108 min/day. By location, 54 ± 17% of use occurred at home and 24 ± 15% at work. The most common posture adopted during any TSMD use was sitting (77 ± 5 2 min/day), with participants also spending considerable time lying down in the home environment (39 ± 49 min/day). These findings provide valuable insights into how adults are using TSMDs, including the postures and locations of use. Further research is needed on the health and wellbeing implications of these usage patterns. Practitioner summary: This study explored Touchscreen Mobile Device (TSMD) use in free-living conditions among 54 adults (mean ± standard deviation, 38 ± 10 years). Participants under 30 years spent significantly more time on their devices. More than half of the time spent using TSMD occurred at home while sitting and lying down.Abbreviations: TSMD: touchscreen mobile device; SD: standard deviation; MSD: musculoskeletal disorder; HDR: higher degree by research; SEES: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences; UK: The United Kingdom; USA: United States of America; SAS: statistical analysis system; ANOVA: analysis of variance; SPSS: statistical package for the social sciences; h: hour; min/d: minutes per day; d: day; ICC: intraclass correlation; CI: confidence interval; min: minute; GPS: global positioning systemsHighlightsTouchscreen mobile device use and gross body posture were quantified objectively.The most common postures for touchscreen mobile device use were lying and sitting.Touchscreen mobile devices were used around twice as much at home than at work.Use at home, with a predominance of the lying posture, needs further investigation.

Change in Compliance of Staff at 4 Vietnam Universities after the Enactment of Smoke-free Environment Decree.

BACKGROUND: The Tobacco Control Law in Vietnam was adopted in 2012 and came into force from May 2013, followed by a number of guiding sub-law legal documents. Smoke-free campus policy in university is considered an important measure to protect people from secondhand smoking as well as staffs and students will be in favour of the policy. Furthermore, there has been evidence suggested that smoke-free policy had positive impact on active smoking as well as anti-smoking attitude. METHODS: A cross-sectional self-administered study of staff at 4 universities were conducted in 2 phases, Phase 1 as early introduction of the Law (n = 900) and Phase 2 as 1-year post (n = 885). Demographics, tobacco consumption, compliance status and compliance with awareness towards the campus smoking regulations were assessed in both phases. RESULTS: Daily smoking prevalence decreased significantly (P < .05) 1 year after implementing the smoke-free policy, while a significant increase in occasional smoking (P < .01). Compliance of staff to the regulation the campus should be indoor smoke-free was significantly increase at Phase 2 compared to Phase 1, however participants reported there would be places on campus that smokers frequently violated the smoke-free regulations. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicated a significant positive change in compliance of staff at the 4 universities after the implementation of the Tobacco Control Law, included the smoke-free policy. Although the prevalence of tobacco smoking in this study was low, the proportion of respondents who reported to reduce infringement the smoke-free policy suggests support for staff smokers would be beneficial. Raising awareness and enforcement is likely to enhance the long-term outcomes of the implementation of smoke-free environment.

Evaluation of waste isoflurane gas exposure during rodent surgery in an Australian university.

Biomedical researchers use of inhalational anesthetics has increased in recent years. Use of isoflurane as an inhalational anesthetic may result in human exposure to waste anesthetic gas. Potential health effects from exposure include genotoxic and hepatotoxic effects with some evidence of teratogenic and reproductive effects. Research suggests that exposure to waste anesthetic gas within human hospital settings has improved substantially but exposures to biomedical researchers and veterinarians still requires improvement. A number of biomedical research facilities are located at The University of Queensland, Australia, where researchers and animal handlers are potentially exposed to waste isoflurane gas. There is limited published data on the exposures received by biomedical researchers performing routine procedures. This project aimed to assess isoflurane exposure received during routine rodent anesthetic protocols performed at the university. Atmospheric concentrations of isoflurane were assessed via two methods-personal active gas sampling using sorbent tubes and direct readings using infrared spectroscopy. Total procedure and isoflurane exposure times ranged from 135-268 min. Personal sorbent tube sampling detected isoflurane levels from below detectable limits (<0.01 ppm) to a Time Weighted Average for the task (TWA-Task) of 6.20 ppm (0.73 ± 9.13). Participants were not exposed to isoflurane outside of the sampling period during the remainder of the workday. TWA-8 hr adjusted levels ranged from below the limit of detection to 1.76 ppm isoflurane (0.69 ppm ± 0.61 ppm). The infrared spectroscopy readings taken in the breathing zone of participants ranged from 0.1-68 ppm. Results indicate that if adequately controlled through good room ventilation, effective active gas scavenging and well constructed anesthetic equipment, waste anesthetic exposures are minimal. However, where industry standards are not met exposures may occur, including some high peak exposures.

Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Smoke-Free Universities: Changes Since Enactment of Vietnamese Tobacco Control Legislation.

BACKGROUND: In 2013, legislation in Vietnam regulated smoking in public areas. Included was a ban on indoor smoking at universities. OBJECTIVE: Since awareness and attitude are moderators of the effectiveness of smokefree policy, ou aim was to assess changes in students' knowledge and attitude tosecond hand smoke (SHS) and awareness and support of smoke-free legislation at four Vietnamese universities, one year after legislative changes. METHODS: A two-phase cross sectional study of undergraduate students using self-administered questionnaires (based on the Global Adult Tobacco Survey and the Thrasher survey) was conducted at the introduction of the legislation and one year thereafter. RESULTS: One-year post legislation there were significant increases in knowledge of smoke-free legislation and awareness of universities as smoke-free environments. There was a significant increase in knowledge of harmful effects of SHS on diseases such as examples in the heart and lung, including lung cancer, and miscarriage. Students expressed strong support of smoke-free environments in universities, hospitals, schools, workplaces, public transport, libraries, cinemas and theatres; support was also increased post legislation. Changes were seen in attitude to SHS, and rights of non-smokers and smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Positive changes have occurred in knowledge and attitude toward smoke-free environments and SHS in universities since enactment of Vietnamese tobacco control legislation.