Prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 genes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from nose of restaurant workers in Kirkuk city.

Staphylococcus aureus resides naturally in the nasal cavity of healthy individuals, including those working in restaurants, so they may be a source for spreading this bacterium to restaurant customers directly or indirectly through cooked meals. This bacterium has several virulence factors enabling it to cause many diseases in different parts of the body. It has also the capability to resist conventional antibiotics including methicillin. To investigate methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), 170 nasal swabs were collected from food preparation workers in 30 restaurants (5-6 workers in each restaurant) in Kirkuk city. After collection, the samples were directly transferred to the laboratory and cultured on selective media like mannitol salt agar (MSA). Microbiological examination including morphological, biochemical, and confirmatory tests showed that 24/170 of collected samples were positive for S. aureus with a rate of 14.12%. Among 24 isolates, 20 (83.3%) belonged to MRSA. All isolates were resistant to oxacillin and penicillin (100%), whereas sensitive to other antibiotics (gentamicin, chloramphenicol, and rifampicin). Polymerase chain reaction exhibited that 13 (65%) of MRSA isolates have toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 gene and only 4 (20%) have Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene.

Psychology of working counseling framework applied to a gender diverse restaurant worker during COVID-19.

Blustein's psychology of working counseling (PWC) framework provides a foundation for contextualizing needs of gender diverse individuals within a turbulent employment landscape. Given the impact of COVID-19 on the restaurant industry, many are navigating financial instability and challenges maintaining mental and physical health. The presented clinical case is situated in the context of restaurant work during a pandemic and incorporates considerations of intersecting identities including gender identity, class, and mental health. This article also provides interventions and professional development strategies based on PWC that career counselors can adapt to their own gender diverse clients in the restaurant industry.

Creating and Sustaining Service Industry Relationships and Families: Theorizing How Personal Workplace Relationships Both Build Community and Perpetuate Organizational Violence.

Service industry workers experience challenging labor conditions in the United States, including pay below the minimum wage, expected emotional labor, and harassment. Additionally, in part because they work long shifts in high stress environments in restaurants and bars, many build and form personal workplace relationships (PWRs). In 2021, we interviewed 38 service industry workers and managers during the COVID-19 pandemic where we examined occupational challenges they faced in the state of Texas, USA. Through our interpretive research, this essay showcases our inductive findings on how service industry workers and managers utilize communication to create and sustain PWRs. We identified how some PWRs are sustained through a unique form of occupational identification that cultivates a "service industry family", which we term familial personal workplace relationships (familial PWRs). This extends past organizational communication scholarship on family to consider occupational identification. Furthermore, our research reveals that while PWRs may build communities through care and support, they also perpetuate organizational violence, like sexual harassment and bullying.

Peak expiratory flow rate and chronic respiratory symptoms among restaurant workers: a cross-sectional study from Thailand.

Background: Cooking smoke is a major source of indoor air pollution affecting millions of people worldwide. To date, there has been no epidemiological study to show the variation in health effects resulting from work at different kinds of restaurants in Thailand. This study determines lung function and chronic respiratory symptoms of workers in four types of eateries commonly found in Thailand. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 321 people working in four common types of restaurants in Thailand: 'tamsang' restaurants (from the Thai word ร้านอาหารตามสั่ง, a restaurant that makes a variety of foods to order) (170 people), papaya salad restaurants (51 people), noodle restaurants (50 people), and barbecue stalls (50 people).  The restaurant workers' demographic data as well as information on their working conditions was collected using a questionnaire administered in a face to face interview. Each worker's peak expiratory flow rate was measured using a portable peak flow meter. Results: This study found that working in a 'tamsang' restaurant is associated with a higher risk of poor lung function (OR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.33-5.06) and a higher prevalence of moderate dyspnea symptoms (OR = 3.79, 95% CI 1.63-8.79) compared to working in a papaya salad restaurant. The study also found that each of the following were associated with poor lung function and/or chronic respiratory symptoms: cooking with palm oil, having irritated teary eyes while cooking, cooking without a ventilation hood, long past experience working at restaurants, and working in a small cooking area (1-6 m 2). Conclusions: Work in different kinds of restaurants with variations in cooking methods and work conditions produces diverse effects on airway and lung function. Regulatory organizations should pay careful attention to protecting the health of restaurant workers, especially those working in 'tamsang' restaurants.

Food safety knowledge as gateway to cognitive illusions of food handlers and the different degrees of risk perception.

Restaurant workers, whether aware of this or not, may be responsible for spreading Foodborne Diseases (FBD) to consumers. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the knowledge of the risk of FBD can become a gateway to risk perception and cognitive illusions, and how the habitus acts in guiding work practices. The research uses a mixed-methods design with qualitative approach. A study was conducted in six food services during 42 days, which had participatory observation as central method. A Risk Perception Scale and a Locus of Control Questionnaire were applied, helping to obtain data relative to cognitive illusions. It was identified that in the absence of food safety knowledge, risk was not identified by the workers and the action was conditioned by the habitus or by the constructions of common sense, while in the presence of knowledge, although shallow, risk was perceived and cognitive illusions emerged. A relationship between the many years of work, inefficient training and the protection granted by objects in the presence of cognitive illusions is discussed. Workers who do not possess scientific knowledge need to go through consistent training that, beyond biological and hygiene-related content, encompass concepts interwoven with risk perception and the habitus.

Educating Restaurant Workers About Paid Sick Leave: A Pilot Study From New York City.

Across the United States, cities, states, and counties are rapidly adopting paid sick leave laws. Paid sick leave policies for restaurant workers may be particularly beneficial, since these workers are less likely to have these benefits and have the potential to spread infection through food-handling and engagement with the public. In order for paid sick leave laws to work, workers and employers must be educated about these laws broadly and effectively. Focusing on New York City, we conducted a pilot research using key stakeholder interviews to learn about New York City's successes and challenges in educating workers and businesses about the law. Our findings indicate several lessons learned, including allocating sufficient funding, combined use of coalition building and organizing models, and attention to the needs of immigrant restaurant workers. Findings also suggest that greater attention should be paid to proactively addressing workplace organization and practices that thwart paid sick leave use.

Effect of restaurant types on compensation claims for work-related musculoskeletal disorders in France.

OBJECTIVES: The economic burden of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) is industry specific. The objective was to analyse compensation claims for WMSDs among restaurant workers in France taking into account the type of restaurant. METHODS: Data for 2014 were obtained from the French National Health Insurance Fund for Salaried Workers. A chi-square test was used to compare claims, incapacity and lost work day rates in different types of restaurant. RESULTS: Prevalence for WMSDs differed significantly by the type of kitchen: collective restaurant (7.2/1000 workers), traditional restaurant (1.7/1000), and fast food restaurant (1.0/1000). There were more male claimants in traditional restaurant workers (51.0%) than in collective restaurant workers (40.1%) but more female claimants in collective restaurant workers (50.1%) than in traditional restaurant workers (39.4%). Permanent incapacity was significantly more prevalent in collective restaurant workers (49.6%), than in traditional (41.9%) and fast food (8.5%) restaurant workers. In collective restaurant workers, as a percentage, claims, permanent incapacity and lost work days increased with age range or work experience. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence for WMSDs and therefore incapacity and lost work days are different according to the type of restaurant. Preventive strategies should take these differences into consideration.

Cooking smoke and respiratory symptoms of restaurant workers in Thailand.

BACKGROUND: Restaurant workers are at risk from exposure to toxic compounds from burning of fuel and fumes from cooking. However, the literature is almost silent on the issue. What discussion that can be found in the literature focuses on the potential effects from biomass smoke exposure in the home kitchen, and does not address the problem as occurring in the workplace, particularly in restaurants. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional survey of 224 worker from 142 food restaurants in the Tha Pho sub-district of Phitsanulok, a province in Thailand. The standard questionnaire from the British Medical Research Council was used to collect data on chronic respiratory symptoms, including cough, phlegm, dyspnea, severe dyspnea, stuffy nose in the participating workers. Data on their health symptoms experienced in the past 30 days was also asked. A constructed questionnaire was used to collect exposure data, including type of job, time in the kitchen, the frequency of frying food, tears while cooking (TWC), the type of restaurant, fuel used for cooking, the size and location of the kitchen, and the exhaust system and ventilation. The prevalence of the symptoms was compared with those obtained from 395 controls, who were neighbors of the participants who do not work in a restaurant. RESULTS: In comparison to the control group, the restaurant workers had twice or more the prevalence on most of the chronic health symptoms. Men had a higher risk for "dyspnea", "stuffy nose" and "wheeze" while women had higher risk of "cough". A Rate Ratio (RR) of susceptibility was established, which ranged from 1.4 up to 9.9. The minimum RR was for women with "severe dyspnea" (RR of 1.4, 95%CI 0.8, 2.5) while the men showed the maximum RR of 9.9 (95%CI 4.5-22.0) for "wheeze". Possible risk factors identified were job description, job period, size of restaurant, kitchen location, type of cooking oil, hours of stay in the kitchen area, number of fry dishes prepared, frequency of occurrence of TWC, and additional cooking at home. Working for 6-10 year increased the risk of "cough" with an Odd Ratio (OR) of 3.19 (P < 0.01) while working for more than 10 years increased the risk of "cough" (OR = 3.27, P < 0.01), "phlegm" (OR = 3.87, P = 0.01) and "wheeze" (OR = 2.38, P = 0.05). Working as a chef had a higher risk of "cough" by 2.33 (P = 0.01) as comparing to other jobs. Workers in a relatively large restaurant using 4 or more stoves had increased risk of "wheeze" with OR of 3.81 (P < 0.01) and "stuffy nose" with OR of 3.56 (P < 0.01). Using vegetable oil increased the risk of "stuffy nose" by 2.94 (P < 0.01). Every 10 h of stay in the kitchen area was associated with a minimal increase in the risk of "cough", "wheeze" and "symptoms in the past 30 days" by 1.15 (P = 0.02), 1.16 (P = 0.01) and 1.16 (P = 0.02), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Restaurant workers are at risk of respiratory symptoms caused by exposure to toxic compounds from cooking fumes. Job description, job period, size of restaurant, kitchen location, type of cooking oil, hours of stay in the kitchen area, number of fry dishes prepared, frequency of occurrence of TWC, and additional cooking at home were the predictive factors. Workplace Health and Safety protection of restaurant worker is urgently needed and the issue should receive more public attention.

Exposure to Particles, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, and Nitrogen Dioxide in Swedish Restaurant Kitchen Workers.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to measure the exposure to total dust, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) of kitchen workers in four different types of restaurants in Sweden (Large scale, European, Fast food, and Asian). METHODS: One hundred full work-shift (8 h) personal exposure samples were taken from 36 workers in 21 commercial kitchens. Most workers were sampled three times. Mass concentration of total dust was determined using standard gravimetric methods; the filters were analyzed for their content of particulate PAHs. Gas-phase PAHs were sampled using adsorbent tubes (XAD-II) placed after the filter and analyzed with high-resolution gas chromatography/low-resolution mass spectrometry. NO2 was measured using passive dosimeters. Stationary measurements in the kitchen were made in parallel with the personal sampling. RESULTS: Group geometric mean concentrations for personal exposure to total dust ranged from 77 µg m-3 (Fast food) to 320 µg m-3 (European kitchens). Individual exposure samples of total dust ranged from ~40 to 3900 µg m-3. In the Large-scale and European kitchens, the time spent frying was identified as a determinant increasing personal exposure to total dust. The within-worker variance dominated the exposure variability of total dust in Large-scale and European kitchens, whereas between-worker variance dominated in Fast food and Asian kitchens. Exposure to total PAHs was statistically significantly higher for workers in the Asian kitchens. Also, exposure to NO2 was higher in the Asian kitchens, which all used gas stoves for cooking. The stationary measurements of total dust showed lower levels than personal exposures for most kitchens, whereas for PAHs, stationary levels were closer to personal exposure levels for all kitchen types. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study increase the knowledge about exposure to air pollutants for kitchen workers of restaurant types that are common in Sweden and the rest of Europe. Personal sampling is essential for an accurate exposure assessment, and the large day-to-day variability in exposure levels points to the importance of repeated sampling.

Awareness of Paid Sick Leave among New York City Restaurant Workers.

Restaurant workers are less likely to have paid sick leave (PSL) benefits than other professions, despite the fact that they handle food and interact with the public. In this study, we collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data on PSL awareness among New York City's restaurant workers and the factors that produced these levels of awareness. We found that 62% of surveyed workers were aware of NYC's law, and that successful outreach requires building broad awareness and ensuring trustworthy sources of information with multiple points of contact. Our research also highlights the importance of immigrant populations in PSL outreach.

Secondhand Smoke Exposure among Restaurant Workers and its Impact on Health in Shanghai / 中国慢性病预防与控制

Objective To estimate the status of secondhand smoking (SHS) among restaurant workers in Shanghai and explore its impact on health. Methods A random sample of 242 workers from 33 restaurants was selected to participate in the face to face interview. Results There were 90.7% restaurant workers suffered SHS during working with mean exposed time of 23.9?18.6 hours per week. The exposure time each week was positively associated with the symptom of dyspnea and irritated eyes, and the odds ratios were 1.03 (95%CI: 1.01~1.06) and 1.02 (95%CI: 1.01~1.03), respectively. There were 70.7% surveyed participants supported the concept of smoke-free restaurants. Conclusion The restaurant workers in Shanghai suffered from SHS seriously which result in impairment of respiratory system.