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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND ERGONOMICS
Volume 7 Number 3, 2001
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CONTENTS:
Articles:
  PROTECTION OF HUMAN IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT
- Perceptions of the Importance and Control of Professional Problems in the Clinical Setting
Gerardo Maupomé, S. Aída Borges-Yánez, F. Javier Díez-de-Bonilla, Alfonso Pineda-Cruz, 246-262 
- Occupational Exposure to Harmful Chemical Substances While Processing Phenol-Formaldehyde Resins
Małgorzata Pośniak, Ewa Kozieł, Anna Jeżewska, 263-276
- Relationship Between the Difference in Prismatic Refractive Power of an Eye-and-Face Protector and Its Thickness, Radius of Curvature, and Material
Grzegorz Owczarek, Adam Pościk, Zygmunt Kubacki, Maciej Karolewski, 277-284
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PROTECTION OF HUMAN AT THE WORKSTATION
NOTES
Announcement:
IEA/JOSE Best Paper Award
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Perceptions of the Importance and Control of Professional Problems in the Clinical Setting
Gerardo Maupomé, S. Aída Borges-Yánez, F. Javier Díez-de-Bonilla, Alfonso Pineda-Cruz
The objective of this study was to identify the relative importance of culturally relevant professional problems and the degree of control over them, as perceived by dentists and dental students in Mexico City, Mexico. The dentists and students ranked 13 problems according to importance and then according to the perceived degree of control over each one. Novice clinicians were less secure about their ability to cope with the legal, financial, and clinical performance problems, whereas experienced clinicians were more concerned about occupational hazards and the dental market and culture. Both reported similar perceptions of their control of the problems. This preliminary information support introducing into dental schools relevant practice-management courses, targeting continuing education efforts, and instituting professional counseling measures to meet the challenges posed by these problems.
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Occupational Exposure to Harmful Chemical Substances While Processing Phenol-Formaldehyde Resins
Małgorzata Pośniak, Ewa Kozieł, Anna Jeżewska
Air pollutants emitted while processing phenol-formaldehyde resins have been investigated. Gas chromatography-mass-selective detection was used to separate and identify chemical compounds. It was determined that workers were exposed to formaldehyde in all workplaces. Besides, phenol, acetaldehyde, acrylaldehyde, 2-furaldehyde, xylene, ethylbenzene, toluene, tetrachlorethene, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate were found during the production of frictional materials; and 2-furaldehyde, phenol, naphthalene, 2-furanmethanol, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during the production of abrasive materials. Quantitative analyses were performed with gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. Assessment of occupational exposure indicated that chemical compounds emitted during the investigated processes might be dangerous for human health, mainly because of suspected carcinogenic compounds: formaldehyde and PAHs.
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The Relationship Between the Difference in Prismatic Refractive Power of an Eye-and-Face Protector and Its Thickness, Radius of Curvature, and Material
Grzegorz Owczarek, Adam Pościk, Zygmunt Kubacki, Maciej Karolewski
With the help of the research results presented here and on the basis of a graphic analysis we aim to prove the existence of a relationship between the difference in prismatic refractive power and the thickness, curvature radius, and type of material used for panoramic oculars in protective spectacles, goggles, and face shields. The difference in the prismatic refractive power is a fundamental optical characteristic of a protective ocular without corrective effect. According to Standard No. EN 165:1995 (European Committee for Standardization, 1995) the difference in the prismatic refractive power is a difference in the prismatic effect at 2 observation points of an eye-protector.
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Electric Accidents in the Production, Transmission, and Distribution of Electric Energy: A Review of the Literature
Paraskevi E. Batra, Maria G. Ioannides
Many work related electric accidents occurred in electric energy industries and they were very often fatal. The situation of electric accidents in electric companies worldwide is investigated by reviewing the scientific literature, to offer perspectives on the types and kinds of statistics available, the factors regarded as influencing their occurrence, their consequences, and also methodological shortcomings.
Worldwide, reliable comparable data exist and indicate a downward trend in fatal electric accidents. Difficulties were encountered in compiling international statistics because of differences in how accident data were defined and recorded, variations in mandatory practices, lack of suitable data and indices, accident insurance systems, and lack of correlation between technical, financial, and medical aspects.
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Modifying Type A in a Nonclinical Population of Polish Managers
Dorota Żołnierczyk-Zreda, Roman Cieślak
Type A is widely treated as a risk of diseases (mostly coronary heart diseases) and stress, including occupational stress. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of intervention in modifying Type A in 25 managers in comparison with 38 Type A controls, who did not participate in the intervention. Additionally, the usefulness of the intervention was analysed when reactivity, as a temperamental dimension of Type A participants, was taken into account. High reactivity of Type A persons was assumed here as the presumed cause of the negative consequences in their health and well-being.
The results showed a significant reduction in stress-related emotional symptoms, like depression, anxiety, anger, self-esteem, positive affects due to the intervention. These changes with the reduction in work ambiguity were greater in high reactive Type As than in low reactive ones.
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A Biomechanical Analysis of Manual Lifting Tasks Performed in Restricted Workspaces
Farag E. Elfeituri
This paper describes the results of an experimental study aimed at evaluating the biomechanical effects of working in a spatially restricted environment on manual lifting tasks. The main objective of the study is to estimate the biomechanical loading (in terms of peak compression and shear forces) on the lumbar spine for the selected combinations of limited headroom heights and twisting angles. A three-dimensional dynamic biomechanical model was utilized to assess peak compression and shear forces at the L5/S1 lumbosacral joint. The results indicated that by reducing the headroom height, the participants were forced to stand with their trunks fully flexed forward which, by increasing the mechanical disadvantage at the lumbosacral disc, increased the compression forces. Both compression and shear forces were affected by the increase in twisting angle. The greater the twisting angle, the higher the compression and shear forces. Regression models were developed and validated, which demonstrated high accuracy of predicting the psychophysical and biomechanical lifting capacities.
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Physical Agents in the Occupational Environment in Estonia
Paul Krooni, Vernold Kallasmaa, Tamara Makarova
Physical agents cause several physical and mental health disorders and reduce human capability for work, in most severe cases they cause disability. Usually the influence of these physical factors takes place in the work environment and depends on the factor's intensity, exposure time, and individual characteristics. Influence is cumulative and may manifest itself after a long period of time, in several years. It is recommended to follow internationally recognized limit values of factors and introduce medical control of people before they start working as well as periodical medical control. From the most widespread risk factors, this article deals with noise with the data obtained from objective studies on Estonia.
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Pre-Employment Screening Among Health Care WorkersľEthical Issues
Madeleine Estryn-Behar
Occupational health practitioners deal with the questions of confidentiality, relation between the right to work and the right to health, between individual freedom and the risks other can run. An audit of pre-employment health assessment of health care workers, in the United Kingdom and in France, discussed the efficiency of pre-employment screening. Screening tests and medical examinations should not be used as a pretext to avoid implementing effective preventive measures. The pre-employment examination has mostly to be used for education of the future employees and for collection of baseline data. Appropriate procedures such as developing preventive policies, health promotion, and control of hazards in the work environment are efficient for the promotion of equal employment rights for women, older workers, or people with disabilities.
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The School of Posture as a Postural Training Method for Paraíba Telecommunications Operators
Maria Cláudia Gatto Cardia, Francisco Soares Másculo
This work proposes to show the experience of posture training accomplished in the Paraíba State Telecommunication Company, using the knowledge of the Back School. The sample was composed of 12 operators, employees of the company, representing 31% of this population. The model applied in TELPA (Paraíba Telecommunication Company, Brazil) was based on the models of Sherbrooke, Canada, and of the School of Posture of Paraíba Federal University.
Fifty-eight point four percent of participants showed a reduction of column pain, 25% improved the quality of the rest and the received training was considered enough for the learning of correct postures at work in 75% of the cases. The whole population approved of the training, and 83.3% of the cases considered that this training influenced their lives very positively.
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