The Center for Social Epidemiology and the Job Stress Nework would like to wish all of our colleagues and the patrons of our website a very Happy New Year. We hope that you all experience health (especially a healthy workplace) and happiness in 2009!
posted 12/31/08
The 8th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health (Work Stress Health Conference 2009: Global Concerns and Approaches) will be held November 5-8, 2009 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The deadline for propsals is March 16th, 2009. Please click here for a link to the APA conference website for further information and for online proposal submission.
posted 12/23/08
August 2-6 2009: The19th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SHIFTWORK AND WORKING TIME -"Health and Well-being in the 24-hour Society" will be held in San Servolo Island - Venice, Italy.
The Topics include: Accident risk; Ageing; Biological rhythms; Cancer risk; Cardiovascular risk; Compensatory measures; Education and training; Factors affecting tolerance; Gender; Performance efficiency; Preventive actions; Risk management; Shift work sleep disorder; Social aspects; Work/non work conflicts, and Working time arrangements.
Please visit the conference website for more information
posted 12/16/08
Colleague Arnold Bakker (Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands) has sent us a call for papers from South African Journal of Industrial Psychology that is relevant for our colleagues in the Job Stress Network. It concerns a special issue on the "Job-Demands Resources Model" and will be edited by Dr. Bakker and Evangelia Demouroti of Utrecht University. The submission deadline is September 30, 2009. Please click here to access a PDF file of the special issue announcement, as well as instructions for manuscript submission.
posted 12/11/08
An interesting article entitled "What does Obama's Win Mean for Workplace Health and Safety?" has been posted on the Environmental Health & Safety Today website. Some interesting points from the article:
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) President Warren K. Brown applauded the election results: “We fully support President-Elect Obama in saying that this is not the time to ‘fall back on the same partisanship,’ which, as in other issues facing this nation, has marked the occupational safety and health debate in recent years,” he said in a statement. “We are greatly hopeful that, with his leadership, creative and meaningful ways to confront long-standing occupational safety and health issues can be achieved through solutions that encourage the entire safety and health community to work together to achieve safer and healthier workplaces across the nation.”
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney also was optimistic about Obama’s election: “Two years ago, voters began voicing real dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq; this year, a financial tsunami stirred record levels of frustration. It took the inspiration of a rare leader to translate these concerns into an election the likes of which have not been seen in a generation,” he said. “Barack Obama brings new hope to America’s working families, and our increased majority in the Senate means we can translate that hope into reality.”
Aaron Trippler, director of government affairs for the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), told EHSToday.com that while he was confident that Obama’s election signifies change, he doesn’t expect to see immediate results in the occupational safety arena.
“I don’t think you’re going to see as much activity in Congress on this issue as you might think,” he said of workplace health and safety. “That’s because I think they have other priorities.”
Instead, Trippler predicted, Congress may leave these issues to OSHA, which is “where the action is going to have to take place.” But since OSHA likely will not have a new administrator until late summer of 2009 at the earliest, it may take until 2010 to address some of these workplace safety issues. Those issues, he believes, will include ergonomics, as well as diacetyl, combustible dust and silica.
“I think if we had our choice of sitting down and saying, ‘These are things that need to be done,’ the overall thing we need to fix is the process at OSHA,” Trippler concluded.
posted 11/29/08
Esteemed colleague Ellen Rosskam has co-edited a volume in the Rotuledge Studies in Education and Neoliberalism Series entitled "The Developing World and State Education: Neoliberal Depredation and Egalitarian Alternatives". The contributors - academics and organization/social movement activists - examine aspects of neoliberal agruments focusing on low- and middle-income countries and suggest where they fall short. Their arguments center around the assumption that education is not a commodity to be bought and sold, as education and the capitalist market hold opposing goals, motivations, methods, and standards of excellence.
Please click here to view the flyer and ordering form for this book as well as to see the other titles in this important new series.
posted 11/14/08
The American Public Health Association held its annual meeting this week in
Diane Bush,
posted 11/01/08
The ICOH Scientific Committee of Cardiology in Occupational Health and the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) in Lodz, Poland, take great pleasure in inviting you to attend the Fifth International Conference on Work Environment and Cardiovascular Diseases, to be held September 27-30, 2009 in Cracow, Poland. The Conference will be an opportunity for the exchange of views and experiences by cardiologists, occupational physicians, cardiac rehabilitation specialists, sociologists, psychologists and policy makers in occupational health. Please mark your calendar for this event.
(Please click on the "New" button after accessing the link above to be taken to the conference webpage)
posted 10/24/08
A new article by Laine et al, "Job Strain as a Predictor of Disability Pension: The Finnish Public Sector Study" (to be published shortly in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health) has concluded that "job strain is associated with risk of subsequent disability pension". Please click here to see the full abstract.
posted 10/17/08
The APHA annual meeting 2008 "Public Health Without Borders" will take place October 25-29 in San Diego, CA. The Occupational Health & Safety section will host a social hour celebrating the UCLA-Labor Occupational Safety & Health (LOSH) Program's 30th Anniversary on Sunday, October 26th at the Athens Market Taverna Restaurant from 5:30-8:30PM. Honorees include Marianne Brown, Julia Quint and Ruth Heifetz. On Monday, October 27th the Occupational Health & Safety Section will host a Dance Party at the Fleetwood Lounge with a fantastic DJ spinning dance music from 8:00PM to 2:00AM. Tickets for this event are $20.00 (available at the APHA conference) and all proceeds benefit the APHA OSH section scholarship fund.
posted 10/11/08
Staff members of the Center for Social Epidemiology have edited a book (in press) titled Unhealty Work: Causes, Consequences and Cures. This interdisciplinary book examines the changing nature of work, new evidence linking work conditions with ill-health, and "unhealthy work" as a public health problem. The book will be published by the Baywood Publishing Company, and the editors are Peter Schnall, Marnie Dobson and Ellen Rosskam. The Associate Editors are Dean Baker, Paul Landsbergis and Deborah Gordon.
posted 10/04/08
Center for Social Epidemiology Research Associate Paul Landsbergis, PhD, MPH has accepted a faculty position (Associate Professor) at a new School of Public Health in New York City, at the State University of New York-Downstate Medical Center. He has joined Dr. Jeanne Stellman, who is chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, and Dr. Howard Berliner, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the new School.
posted 9/26/08
Colleagues,
I’ve recently returned from a conference in Medellín Colombia - held September 2nd -5th, 2008 and sponsored by RIPSOL (see below) intended to discuss psychosocialwork factors and their impact on health (the 1st such conference held in Colombia). The conference focused on the results of research in Colombia –both etiologic and interventions among workers.
Here are some examples of presentations on stress in specific occupations:
Other papers were more theoretical dealing with how to measure or develop instruments that help with the evaluation and description of some relationships between stressors and health indicators, while others focused on risk prevention. For example Jorge Roman from
The conference was sponsored by Ripsol (Reunie Investigadores en Riesgos Psicosociales Laborales (RIPSOL-CYTED) with a grant from CYTED which is providing funding ($45,000 US) from 2006-2010 for educational activities and travel. During the past 2 years RIPSOL has sponsored 38 educational events with over 1400 participants in a number of South American countries. The network has sponsored the publication of 1 book, a 2nd is in press and a 3rd is in preparation. The goal(s) of the network are to provide education on work and health as well as foster collaboration within and among countries in SA, LA and the Carribean. A website is under construction with plans to incorporate an electronic journal.
There are 10 Mexican researchers listed in the RIPSOL network including Manual Prado and Arturo Juarez Garcia, who are both working with the UCLA Fogarty Program.
Peter Schnall,
Director, Center for Social Epidemiology
posted 9/18/08
Dr. Peter Schnall recently attended The Third International Conference on Psychosocial Factors ("From Knowledge to Action") in Quebec, Canada. The Job Stress Network has posted several articles related to the conference. Please follow this link to our Third ICOH 2008 section.
posted 9/12/08
The Department of Labor has officially proposed a rule which would change the way two agencies, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), calculate on-the-job risks. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao proposed the rule on Friday in spite of widespread opposition from occupational health advocates and some in Congress. (Click here to find more background on the controversy up to this point.)
Like the draft rule leaked to the media in July, the proposal would require OSHA and MSHA to issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for each and every occupational health standard they issue. Forcing OSHA and MSHA to give advanced notice of their intent to propose new health standards is unnecessary. The requirement would merely add another step to an already lengthy process.
posted 9/06/08
A new Australian study finds that almost one in six cases of depression among working people are caused by job stress.
The University of Melbourne study concentrated on the state of Victoria, the smallest and most densely populated of the mainland states in Australia. Scientists analyzed job stress data collected from a 2003 survey of 1,100 workers and compared the findings to a national database.
Researchers discovered working women and individuals working in lower skill occupations were especially at risk for job site depression.
The study, led by Associate Professor Tony LaMontagne was published in the international journal BMC Public Health.
posted 8/31/08
From the AFL-CIO Now Blog (http://blog.aflcio.org) posted on 7/25/08
Two more people have been killed in crane-related accidents, while the Bush administration continues its four-year delay in issuing a new crane safety standard. Ironworker Josh Dawe, 33, died Wednesday at a construction site in Normal, Ill., when he was trapped by the collapse of a crane boon.
Last Friday, four workers were killed and seven injured in a Houston crane collapse. Other recent crane disasters in New York City, Miami and Las Vegas killed 10 workers and a bystander. The delayed crane safety standard was recommended in July 2004 by an industry-union committee established by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
In sharp contrast to the Bush administration’s failure to implement the crane safety standard and other important worker protections, the Bush Labor Department is rushing to push through a secretly written rule that could allow workers to be exposed to higher levels of dangerous chemicals and toxic substances. The revision not only could endanger workers but also could tie the hands of future presidential administrations actually interested in protecting workers.
According to a Washington Post report on the secret rule: "The Bush administration has adopted only one regulation to limit exposure to a chemical, hexavalent chromium, and that was under court order. This new rule proposal has become the department’s top priority in the final months of the administration, although proposed worker safety rules for limiting exposure to beryllium, silica and combustible dust remain works in progress after years of being under consideration".
posted 7/27/08
The 136th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association "Public Health Without Borders" takes place October 25-29, 2008 in San Diego, CA. Advance Registration is now open.
posted 7/17/08
Associated Press
Wednesday July 9, 12:29 pm ET
By Jay Alabaster, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.
The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.
He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man's daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.
The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said. An officer at the Aichi Labor Bureau on Wednesday confirmed the ruling, but declined to comment on the record. In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.
There is an effort in Japan to cut down on deaths from overwork, known as "karoshi." Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.
Last year, a court in central Japan ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino, the wife of a Toyota employee who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labor bureau for compensation was rejected.
posted 7/12/08
A new article by our colleagues has been posted online at the Epidemiologic Reviews website:
Netterstrom B, Conrad N, Bech P, Fink P, Olsen E, Rugulies R, Stansfeld S. The relation between work-related psychosocial factors and the development of depression. Epidemiologic Reviews 2008; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxn004. Please click here to see the online article.
posted 7/03/08
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH : Who's to Blame for Job Strain? June 2008
The American Heart Association estimates hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects about 73 million people ages 20 and older. In 2004, according to AHA, high blood pressure was the cause of death for 54,707 people in the United States.
Recent ongoing research suggests that hypertension is a relatively new problem that has only recently emerged in industrialized societies. Dr. Peter Schnall, MPH, director of the Center for Social Epidemiology, says when societies were largely agricultural, hypertension was virtually nonexistent. The emergence of hypertension and other coronary disease risk factors coincides with industrialization in countries around the world, Schnall adds. This posed a question to researchers: “What is it about an industrialized society that may be contributing to high blood pressure?”
To find the answer, Schnall, who is also a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California at Irvine, says researchers have considered many factors of an industrialized culture. “In the last 30 years, the focus has been on trying to figure out why people have hypertension, or high blood pressure,” he says. “The research has focused on aspects of the individual’s genetics, weight, sodium in the diet, obesity, cigarette smoking, and alcohol. None of them have very strong relationship to blood pressure except people’s weight. Weight is important, but it’s obviously not the only factor because there are many people who get hypertension that aren’t overweight, so it’s not an absolutely critical part of the development of hypertension.”
To find the answer, Schnall, who is also a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California at Irvine, says researchers have considered many factors of an industrialized culture. “In the last 30 years, the focus has been on trying to figure out why people have hypertension, or high blood pressure,” he says. “The research has focused on aspects of the individual’s genetics, weight, sodium in the diet, obesity, cigarette smoking, and alcohol. None of them have very strong relationship to blood pressure except people’s weight. Weight is important, but it’s obviously not the only factor because there are many people who get hypertension that aren’t overweight, so it’s not an absolutely critical part of the development of hypertension.”
In 1979, Robert Karasek, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, came up with the concept of the Job Demand Control Model (Figure 1), which showed that job strain occurs in work environments that have lots of demands coupled with little control. Control, Schnall says, is conceptualized by two different components: the ability of workers to learn and use their skills, called skill direction, and the ability to have some say or authority in the work process. When workers don’t have this perceived level of control, job strain is present and hypertension develops. Jobs with high demands and low control can include those in basic manufacturing, the transportation industry, short-order cooks, and salespeople, to name just a few. As an example, Schnall explains that, “In general, people on production lines with low-control jobs are far more likely to have hypertension than managers or executives. Managers and executives have the luxury of being able to take breaks when they want to, of changing their job around, of hiring people to do their work, et cetera. They have much greater skill use and skill utilization. They have much more say over their jobs, and this say buffers the effects of the demands.”
Please click here to see the full article
posted 6/26/08
The meeting was hosted by Catherine Heaney and there were three excellent presentations from Nick Warren, Annekatrin Hoppe / Catherine Heaney, and Peter Schnall.
Dr. Nick Warren talked about his recent research titled Job Stress and MSDs: Survey, Clinical and Subclinical Indicators in a 5-year Study of Vibration Effects
Annekatrin Hoppe & Catherine Heaney presented findings on Psychosocial working conditions and well-being among Latino and White warehouse workers
Peter Schnall gave a talk on the “Construction and implementation of a Wiki for Psychosocial Stress researchers”
posted 6/19/08
Occupational Medicine: State of the Art Reviews
THE WORKPLACE AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Edited by Peter Schnall, Karen Belkic, Paul Landsbergis and Dean Baker
Published by Hanley & Belfus, Inc. Occup Med 15(1), 2000
We are making this book available online through the Job Stress Network website. Please click here to see the outline of this considerable work with contributions from many or our esteemed colleagues, and to download Adobe PDF files of individual chapters of The Workplace and Cardiovascular Disease.
posted 5/23/08
Colleagues:
The 23rd Session of the California Work & Health Study Group will be at Stanford University on Friday May 30th in Building 20, Room # 22C.
Our host is Catherine Heaney.
PROGRAM
10:00AM to Noon: Introductions
Show and Tell
Noon to 1:00PM: Lunch
1:00PM to 4:00PM: Presentations and Discussion
Please email us for further details and directions: cse@workhealth.org
posted 5/18/08
Death on the job report: More workers killed, fewer employer penalties (Mike Hall,
More workers are being killed on the job, but employers who are found to have violated federal safety laws in fatality cases are paying as little as $750 in penalties for each death, according to the latest edition of the
Released today, the 17th edition of the national and state-by-state profiles on worker safety and health in the
The report shows that each day in 2006, 16 workers were fatally injured on the job and more than 11,200 were hurt or made sick. But the price workers pay for toiling in dangerous jobs climbs even higher when the tally includes the 50,000 to 60,000 workers who die every year from occupational diseases.
The report was released in conjunction with Workers Memorial Day, April 28, a day set aside every year to honor workers killed and hurt on the job and highlight the need for improved job safety standards.
Important standards close to completion at the end of the
Along with blocking new safety standards, the Bush administration has cut enforcement staff and enforcement budgets for OSHA and MSHA and turned to voluntary programs for employers to provide safe workplaces than relaying on strong enforcement of job safety laws. Even when workplace penalties are assessed, the small fines provide little deterrence, the report points out.
The average national total penalty in fatality investigations was just $10,133.
Both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) have pledged to back tough new job safety laws and worker protections if elected president. But Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has a long record of voting against strong worker protections.
The report also breaks down the death and injury rates by industry, state and race; tracks trends in enforcement activities, regulations and funding; and examines other job safety statistics. Visit the AFL-CIO Workers Memorial Day site to download a copy of Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect and other important material on job safety and Workers Memorial Day.
posted 4/28/08
The 29th triennial Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH2009) will be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 22-27 March, 2009. The Scientific Program has been posted on the website (www.icoh2009.co.za), and the Call for Abstracts has been issued, with an end date of 21 July 2008 for receipt of Abstracts. Early bird registration ends 30 April, 2008. Grants are available for some presenters from developing nations. A student prize will be awarded. Please quickly send in your Abstract and alert your colleagues. Two page brochures containing the scientific sessions and other key details can be downloaded from the website for printing and distribution.
posted 4/19/08
The American Psychological Association, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology, held their seventh international conference on occupational stress and health entitled "Work, Stress, and Health 2008: Healthy and Safe Work Through Research, Practice, and Partnerships" in Washington, DC, on March 6-8, 2008. The Work, Stress, and Health conference series is designed to address the constantly changing nature of work, and the implications of these changes for the health, safety, and well-being of workers. This year the conference focused on the translation of research to practice. Two of the panels at the conference dealt with labor unions' perspectives on these issues and opportunities for labor union and academic researcher collaboration on work and health studies. For those of you who could not attend the conference, we are posting slides from some of the presentations. Please click here to go to our APA-NIOSH 7th International Conference homepage.
posted 4/05/08
Aggression on job more harmful that sexual harassment
Health Day News,
Persistent criticism, belittling comments, bullying and other forms of workplace aggression may inflict more harm on employees than sexual harassment, according to a Canadian study.
"As sexual harassment becomes less acceptable in society, organizations may be more attuned to helping victims, who may therefore find it easier to cope. In contrast, non-violent forms of workplace aggression such as incivility and bullying are not illegal, leaving victims to fend for themselves," lead author M. Sandy Hershcovis, of the
In their work, the researchers reviewed 110 studies conducted over 21 years. They found that both workplace aggression and sexual harassment create negative work environments and unhealthy consequences for workers, but aggression has more severe consequences.
Workers faced with bullying, incivility or interpersonal conflict were more likely to quit their jobs, have a lower level of well-being, be less satisfied with their jobs, and have less satisfying relationships with their bosses than workers who were sexually harassed, the researchers concluded. In addition, bullied employees reported more job stress, less job commitment and higher levels of anger and anxiety.
"Bullying is often more subtle and may include behaviors that do not appear obvious to others," Hershcovis said. "For instance, how does an employee report to their boss that they have been excluded from lunch? Or that they are being ignored by a co-worker? The insidious nature of these behaviors makes them difficult to deal with and sanction."
The study was presented at the International Conference on Work, Stress and Health, co-sponsored by the American Psychological Association, the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology.
posted 3/16/08
The American Psychological Association, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology, will convene the seventh international conference on occupational stress and health entitled "Work, Stress, and Health 2008: Healthy and Safe Work Through Research, Practice, and Partnerships" Washington, DC, on March 6-8, 2008, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Continuing Education Workshops will be held on March 5, 2008. Please plan to join us to add your perspective to a rapidly growing area of workplace health research and practice. Please click here to access the conference website.
posted 2/23/08
The American Public Health Association's 136th Annual Meeting will be held in San Diego, October 25-29, 2008. The theme "Public Health Without Borders" will explore transnational public health, and will provide a forum to address a diversity of topics, including immigrant and refugee health; water and land rights; coordinating disease surveillance and epidemiologic response activities across borders; air and water pollution management across borders; the international impact of trade, arms sales, tobacco sales and gun control policies; and the international transmission of socio-cultural behaviors with adverse health implications. You can access the APHA conference website by clicking here.
posted 2/14/08
BREAK THE CHAIN / JOB STRAIN: A five part series focusing on stress in the workplace will be held at the University of Texas at Arlington on January 29th, February 13th, March 26th, April 23rd and May 21st. The speakers are: James C. Quick; Peter L. Schnall; Connie Tyne; Judd R. Allen and Robert Gotchel. Please click here to access a PDF file of the full program.
posted 2/02/08
The 22nd meeting of the CWHSG (California Work & Health Study Group) was held on Tuesday January 22nd at the UCI COEH.
The speakers included:
1) Ellen Rosskam: Currently a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., Ellen was a guest of the UCI COEH on January 22nd presenting Tuesday evening at Grand Rounds, and was also a participant of the PAR workshop as part of the CWHSG meeting. Ellen discussed PAR – its action orientation and involvement of stakeholders; how it is appropriate and useful for the epidemiologic study of health issues in worker populations as well as the implications of PAR for policy work.
2) June Fisher: Director of the TDICT Project in SF, Dr. Fisher discussed two experiences with PAR; the SF Muni Bus Driver Project and the Health Care Worker Safety by Design Project. The latter is part of the TDICT Project (Training for Development of Innovative Control Technologies). What's unique about the TDICT Project is that it brings together the end users (stakeholders) - the line nurses who use the devices - and product designers to develop safety criteria.
3) Pam Tau Lee: Dr. Lee is the Coordinator of Public Programs for LOHP (Labor Occupational Health Program) at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She was co-director of the Hotel Workers Study which examined the health and working conditions of room cleaners in four major San Francisco hotels as well as in Las Vegas which has helped reduce the number of rooms that workers must clean each day. Pam discussed her experiences with PAR involving hotel workers and Unite Here!
Other speakers included Dr. Peter Schnall (Director of the Center for Social Epidemilogy and Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCI), Dr. Catherine Heaney (Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Biology at Stanford University) and Dr. Deborah Gordon.
posted 1/28/08
A reminder that proposals are due by March 15, 2008 for the:
FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON WOMEN, WORK & HEALTH (Towards Decent and Healthy Jobs for Women)
To be held October 27-31, 2008 at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico (Leonor A. Cedillo, General Secretary).
The objectives for the Congress are the following:
posted 1/15/08
The next meeting of the CWHSG (California Work & Health Study Group) will be held on Tuesday January 22nd at the UCI COEH from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The agenda includes:
1) A morning session devoted to bringing participating colleagues up to date on participants research and programmatic activities and soliciting feedback.
2) An afternoon session which will be devoted to a discussion of PAR (Participatory Action Research).
AGENDA:
10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon: Introductions and update on current activities (talk-a-round)
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Participatory Action Research
SPEAKERS:
1) Ellen Rosskam: Currently a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., Ellen will be a guest of the UCI COEH on Tuesday January 22nd. She will be presenting Tuesday evening at Grand Rounds and will also be participating in our PAR workshop as part of the CWHSG meeting. Ellen will discuss PAR – its action orientation and involvement of stakeholders -- how it is appropriate and useful for the epidemiologic study of health issues in worker populations as well as the implications of PAR for policy work.
2) June Fisher: Director of the TDICT Project in SF, Dr. Fisher will discuss two experiences with PAR; the SF Muni Bus Driver Project and the Health Care Worker Safety by Design Project. The latter is part of the TDICT Project (Training for Development of Innovative Control Technologies). What's unique about the TDICT Project is that it brings together the end users (stakeholders) -- the line nurses who use the devices--and product designers to develop safety criteria.
3) Deborah Gordon: Dr. Gordon will discuss a health project she worked on in Italy for woman with breast cancer which used PAR. The project’s primary aim was trying to change the ‘culture’ around cancer, the first means were by articulating, interpreting, and communicating the experiences of these women through their cancer trajectories. With an interdisciplinary team and an ethnographic interview schedule, the experience of the 20 women with breast cancer was tracked, divided into two groups, over 10 meetings; which were taped and transcribed and then were wrote up in a locally- produced volume, used as an exhibit, and part of a daylong conference.
4) Pam Tau Lee: Dr. Lee is the Coordinator of Public Programs for LOHP (Labor Occupational Health Program) at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She was co-director of the Hotel Workers Study which examined the health and working conditions of room cleaners in four major San Francisco hotels as well as in Las Vegas which has helped reduce the number of rooms that workers must clean each day. Pam will discuss her experiences with PAR involving hotel workers and Unite Here!
5) Cathy Heaney is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Biology at Stanford University. She has a focus on occupational health and safety and has written extensively on the topic of worksite health interventions. She will be a discussant.
Please email us if you are interested in attending: cse@workhealth.org
posted 1/05/08
Colleagues,
As you many of you know, Ellen Rosskam, currently a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., will be a guest at the UCI COEH on Tuesday January 22nd for the day. She will be presenting Tuesday eve at Grand Rounds and will also be participating in a workshop we are putting together Tuesday afternoon from 1-4 pm on Participatory Action Research (PAR) as part of the CWHSG meeting.
In addition to a presentation by Ellen Rosskam, June Fisher from UCSF will discuss her PAR research experiences, Cathy Heaney from Stanford U. will be a discussant. Peter Schnall will give a short overview of work organization issues as well and there may be another speaker or two as well. If any of you have any PAR experiences to share please let me know and join the program.
A fuller description of the program will be forthcoming shortly. As usual we will begin at 10am with an open discussion of current activities.
Let me wish all of you a most Happy Holiday Season. Looking forward to seeing you on the 22nd.
Peter Schnall
Director, Center for Social Epidemiology
Clinical Professor of Medicine, U. of CA at Irvine COEH
posted 12/24/07
Tenure-track Occupational Epidemiology on Occupational Health Faculty
The Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, is seeking an occupational epidemiologist to join our faculty as a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor. The Division is a core program of the UCI Center for Occupational and Environmental Health and affiliated with the newly established Program in Public Health.
The successful candidate will be expected to establish an independent research program in occupational epidemiology and will be responsible for teaching and supervising graduate students in occupational or environmental epidemiology. The division has particular interests in work organization, reproductive epidemiology or intervention research, although we will consider candidates all areas of occupational epidemiology or occupational health. The candidate must have a PhD degree in epidemiology, occupational health, or equivalent.
Interested candidates should send CV and 3 references to Dr. Dean Baker, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 5201 California Avenue, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92617, before December 31, 2007. (dbaker@uci.edu) The University of California has an active career partner program and an NSF ADVANCE Program for Gender Equity and is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to excellence through diversity.
posted 12/24/07
Save the Date! 6th National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
March 26–28, 2008; The Marvin Center, George Washington University; Washington, D.C. Registration information available beginning January 1, 2008 at http://www.6thnationalforum.com.
The Forum was established in 2003 to implement A Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke. The Action Plan provides a comprehensive public health strategy and a framework to guide health practitioners' and policy makers' actions in heart disease and stroke prevention. The Forum involves participants from more than 80 national and international organizations representing public and private health care, faith, advocacy, academic, and policy organizations. The CDC, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials were the lead partners in developing the Action Plan and continue to participate in the leadership of the National Forum. For more information about the Action Plan, visit http://www.cdc.gov/DHDSP/library/action_plan/index.htm
posted 12/15/07
SAVE THE DATE: Thursday, May 29th NYCOSH Annual Awards Celebration
The NYCOSH Board of Directors has selected the following individuals and organizations to be honored at its 29th Annual Safety and Health Awards Celebration:
M. Patricia Smith, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor who previously served at the Chief of the Labor Bureau in the office of the New York State Attorney General;
Gary Labarbera, President of Joint Council 16, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and President of the
Project Hospitality, of
Local 372, District Council 37, ASFSCME, will receive the NYCOSH Local’s Union Award for their 5 year struggle to win legislation to provide air conditioning for workers in school cafeterias. NYCOSH’s annual Karen Silkwood Award will be given to
The awards will be presented at the Annual Awards Celebration to be held
Please visit our website: http://www.nycosh.org.
posted 12/15/07
Colleagues: if you are planning on attending the APA/NIOSH meeting in Wash DC in March 2008 – 5th-9th and haven’t yet made room reservations you should do so soon as rooms are quickly disappearing. The APA NIOSH group code is 12400607761. The group rate is $188 night.
Dr. Peter Schnall
posted 12/01/07
The Measurment and Evidence Knowledge Network (Michael P. Kelly and Josiane Bonnefoy, co-chairs) have presented their final report "The Social Deteminants of Health: Developing an Evidence Base for Political Action" to the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. The lead authors of the report are Michael P. Kelly, Antony Morgan, Josiane Bonnefoy, Jennifer Butt and Vivian Bergman. Please click here to access a PDF file of the report.
posted 11/25/07
Money and work continue as the leading causes of stress for three quarters of Americans, a dramatic increase over the 59 percent reporting the same sources of stress in 2006. The survey also found that the housing crisis is having an effect on many, with half of Americans (51 percent) citing rent or mortgage costs as sources of stress this year.
Nearly half of all Americans report that stress has a negative impact on both their personal and professional lives. About one-third (31 percent) of employed adults have difficulty managing work and family responsibilities and 35 percent cite jobs interfering with their family or personal time as a significant source of stress. Stress causes more than half of Americans (54 percent) to fight with people close to them. One in four people report that they have been alienated from a friend or family member because of stress, with 8 percent connecting stress to divorce or separation.
“Stress in America continues to escalate and is affecting every aspect of people's lives — from work to personal relationships to sleep patterns and eating habits, as well as their health,” says psychologist Russ Newman, PhD, JD, APA executive director for professional practice. “We know that stress is a fact of life and some stress can have a positive impact, however, the high stress levels that many Americans report experiencing can have long-term health consequences, ranging from fatigue to obesity and heart disease.”
posted 11/16/07
Dr. Peter Schnall was invited to speak at the rally by Local 11 Union of United HERE at the Westin Hotel on October 25th. The meeting was hosted by Mariaelena Salinas, and included among its participants Doleres Huerta.
Among Dr. Schnall's comments were: "I am proud to tell you that I have had a long association with union workers. My father was an union organizer for Local 144 of the Hotel Workers Union in NYC during the 1940's and 1950's. I grew up in a union household. As part of my work I have been involved in several studies of housekeeper injuries and stress among GRA's (guest room attendants) in Las Vegas and San Francisco for several years. I was fortunate to work with Dr. Niklas Krause and Pam Tau Lee of the Northern California COEH as well as with the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 (HERE) in Las Vegas as well as with Mike Casey, President of Local 2 in San Francisco.
Work is often organized to maximize profits and ignores the well-being of workers. May of the illnesses caused by work can be prevented by making the work environment healthier thru reducing stress (fewer rooms to clean, etc.) It is very important for all of us to take action to improve our working conditions. Local 226 used the information gathered to negotiate a better contracts in Las Vegas for hotel workers with fewer rooms to clean each day. Organizing and taking collective action has the beneficial effect of reducing stress and promoting health.
Remember, the people united can never be defeated!"
posted 11/03/07
At the recent 21st session of the California Work & Health Study Group held in San Francisco on October 22nd, Dr. Peter Schnall and Dr. Haiou Yang both spoke about the Beijing Occupational Health Workshop on Job Stress. Please click here to access the PowerPoint presentation presented by Dr. Schnall.
Dr. Julia Faucett also spoke about a new study involving OHN graduates. "We are developing an international network of researchers to investigate the working conditions, employment and migration patterns, and occupational illness and injury of registered nurses in various countries around the world. We are starting, more or less, with the Pacific Rim countries and have commitments from Australia, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong to begin to plan for the survey and the procedures that we would all agree to use. We also have colleagues in the UK who have committed to participate. One central component of the plan is to link with university based schools of nursing to facilitate distribution of the survey. A workshop is planned in Kitakyushu in October". An additional thank-you to Dr. Julia Faucett for facilitating this session of the CWHSG.
posted 10/25/07
Work stress 'worsens heart health' (Job Strain and Risk of Acute Recurrent Coronary Heart Disease Events, Aboa-Éboulé et al.,JAMA.2007; 298: 1652-1660.)
Stressful jobs could double the risk of heart problems in people who have already had a heart attack, new research has revealed. Previous studies have shown that work stress can increase the risk of a first coronary heart disease (CHD) event.
For the latest report researchers analysed people's work stress and whether a CHD event occurred six years after the first heart attack. Scientists from University Laval, Quebec, asked 972 men and women aged 35 to 59 years who had returned to work after a heart attack to rate their job strain. After nearly six years they returned to the participants and found that 206 patients had a confirmed recurrent CHD event (111 nonfatal heart attack, 82 unstable angina, and 13 fatal CHD).
The researchers say that chronic job strain was associated with a two-fold increase in the risk of recurrent CHD events after adjusting for other factors. "These results suggest that preventive interventions aimed at reducing job strain might have a significant impact on recurrent CHD events," the researchers write in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). "Although further studies are required to establish optimal interventions, information about the results of this study should be disseminated in cardiac practice and in occupational health services with the aim of reducing job strain for workers returning to work after [a heart attack]."
In an accompanying editorial, Dr Kristina Orth-Gomer from Sweden's Karolinska Institute said there needs to be a greater emphasis on evaluating job strain. "Patients and physicians may benefit from widening the medical framework to include job strain evaluation," she wrote. "If physicians have difficulty finding adequate time to discuss job experiences with patients, this role may be adopted by other health care professionals, such as experienced cardiac rehabilitation nurses. Patients are often relieved and may spontaneously report improved quality of life and increased capacity for coping once they have their concerns assessed."
posted 10/18/07
Dr. Peter Schnall and colleagues recently organized, attended and presented at The Workshop on Mental and Occupational Health in Beijing. This workshop was held September 24-28, 2007 at Beijing University. Colleagues who have been involved in this project and who traveled to the conference from the United States include Dr. Paul Landsbergis, Dr. Haiou Yang, Dr. Dean Baker and Dr. Edward Hitchcock. In attendance from China, organizers and presenters included Dr. Sheng Wang, Dr. Denghua Tang, Dr. Yuequin Huang, Dr. Mo Wang and Dr. Jian Li. Please click here to see the full program and to access the presentations.
posted 9/28/07
A World Health Organization GOHNET (Global Occupational Health Nework) Special Issue has been published in July, 2007. This issue addresses psychosocial risks and work-related stress in countries in economic transition, in newly industrialized countries, and in developing countries. It includes an article by Arturo Juarez-Garcia and Peter L. Schnall entitled "Psychosocial factors and work stress research in Mexico: A new Latin-American Network. Please click here to access this GOHNET special issue.
posted 9/22/07
The next meeting of the California Work & Health Study Group (CWHSG) will be held in San Francisco on Monday, October 22nd at the UCSF School of Nursing. There will be an open discussion from 10:00AM - 12:00 Noon in which participants will have time to discuss their current work. The afternoon session (from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM) will include two presentations:
1) Dr. Julia Faucett will report on a new study involving OHN graduates. "We are developing an international network of researchers to investigate the working conditions, employment and migration patterns, and occupational illness and injury of registered nurses in various countries around the world. We are starting, more or less, with the Pacific Rim countries and have commitments from Australia, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong to begin to plan for the survey and the procedures that we would all agree to use. We also have colleagues in the UK who have committed to participate. One central component of the plan is to link with university based schools of nursing to facilitate distribution of the survey. A workshop is planned in Kitakyushu in October, and I will be reporting on the outcomes of our planning.”
2) Dr. Peter Schnall will be speaking about the Beijing Occupational Health Workshop on Job Stress. Several organizers and participants (from a group including Dr. Paul Landsbergis, Dr. Dean Baker, Dr. Haiou Yang and Dr. Mo Wang) will join Dr. Schnall in discussing the conference as well as their trip to China (September 20th - October 7th, 2007), which was funded by a conference grant from NIOSH.
For further information on attending this event, please email us at cse@workhealth.org.
posted 9/22/07
A new article has been published (LaMontagne AD, Keegel T, Louie AM, Ostry A, Landsbergis PA. A systematic review of the job-stress intervention evaluation literature, 1990-2005. Int J Occup Environ Health 2007;13(3):268-280) in which ninety reports of systematic evaluations of job-stress interventions were rated in terms of the degree of systems approach used. The study found that individual-focused approaches are effective at the individual level, but tend not to have favorable impacts at the organizational level. Organizationally- focused approaches are beneficial at both individual and organizational levels. Please click here to see the full article. Full details of reviewed studies are available in an electronic version by following this link.
posted 9/13/07
The ICOH Scientific Committee on Cardiology in Occupational Health and the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) take great pleasure in inviting you to attend the Fifth Conference on Work Environment and Cardiovascular Diseases, to be held on September 27-30, 2009 in Cracow Poland. This conference will be an excellent opportunity to exchange views and experiences among fellow cardiologists, occupational physicians, cardiac rehabilitation specialists, sociologists, psychologists and policy makers in Occupational Health. Organizing chairs Professor Konrad Rydzynski and Associate Professor Alicja Bortkiewicz hope that you will join us. Please save the date! Further information (including a call for abstracts) will be posted as it becomes available.
posted 8/22/07
Dr. Peter Schnall was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article published on August 13th entitled "COMPANIES AIM TO COMBAT JOB-RELATED STRESS". Please click here to access the article.
posted 8/22/07
The Fifth International Congress on WOMEN, WORK & HEALTH (Towards Decent and Healthy Jobs for Women) will be held in Mexico at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas on October 27-31, 2008. Dr. Leonor A. Cedillo has been named the General Secretary.
The objectives for the Congress are the following:
Abstracts are due by March 15th, 2008. For further information, please contact wwwh2008@gmail.com
posted 8/13/07
Proposals for the 7th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health (Work Stress and Health: Healthy and Safe work Through Research, Practice and Partnerships) to be held March 6-8, 2008 at teh Omin Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC must be submitted by 11:59 PM EDT, Friday August 31, 2007. Please visit their website to submit a proposal.
posted 8/13/07
Preventing Fire Fighter Fatalities Due to Heart Attacks and Other Sudden Cardiovascular Events: NIOSH Publication No. 2007-133
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) requests assistance in preventing on-duty cardiovascular deaths among U.S. fire fighters. To reduce these deaths, NIOSH recommends that fire departments and fire fighters follow established medical screening guidelines, adopt risk reduction measures during fire fighting operations, and develop and participate in comprehensive wellness/fitness programs. To bring the information and recommendations in this Alert to the attention of the fire service community, NIOSH requests help from the following individuals and organizations: fire commissioners, fire chiefs, State and local fire district administrators, State fire marshals, safety and health officials, health care providers (physicians, nurses, etc.), human resource specialists, unions, labor organizations, insurance companies and editors of trade journals and other publications.
posted 8/13/07
Study links high pressure jobs to mental problems: high-pressure jobs are a major cause of psychiatric problems in workers in their early30s, a ground-breaking study into workstress in New Zealand has shown. Link to online news article
posted 8/06/07
The final statement from the International Commission on Occupational Health's (ICOH) World Day for Saftety and Health at Work can be read by clicking here.
posted 7/18/07
A project entitled WORKHEALTH has finished it's Second Phase. This project was supported by the European Union and involved partners from all European Union member states. Co-operating partners in WORKHEALTH are experts in public health sciences as well as experts representing the field of occupational health and safety, labour inspectorates and social insurance institutions. The consortium emphasizes that sustainable health promotion and prevention calls for collaboration across different professions and policy fields You can explore this project further through the European Network for Health Promotion. Thank you to Dr. Wolfgang Bodeker for submitting this information.
posted 7/06/07
Dr. Peter Schnall and Dr. Paul Landsbergis will be travelling to China during September and October, 2007. One of the stops on their itinerary is Tapei (in Taiwan) for the following meeting arranged by our colleague Ta Chen Su:
Psychosocial Factors at Work and Cardiovascular Diseases
Date: 2:00-5:00 pm, October 4, 2007
Place: Room 701, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University
17 Xu-Zhou Road, Taipei, 10020 Taiwan
In addition, Dr. Schnall and Dr. Landsbergis will be traveling to the mainland, including Guaungzhou (for an additional conference) as well as Beijing and Shanghai.
posted 7/06/07
University of Melbourne study finds that women bear the brunt of precarious working conditions
Associate Professor Tony LaMontagne, from the University of Melbourne’s McCaughey Centre presented the findings of his research at a seminar on Labour Market Flexibility and Regulation. Associate Professor LaMontagne’s research investigated the work conditions of over 1100 Victorians, comparing their modes of employment and levels of job stress and other working conditions.
“There is an increased trend of casualisation of labor markets around the world. Previous research has shown that precarious employment is linked to bad health outcomes,’’ Associate Professor LaMontange said. “However, the ways in which precarious work arrangements harms health are not clear. Our study shows that people working in more precarious conditions – such as part-time or full-time casual work, labour hire or fixed-term contracts – have higher levels of job strain and lower levels of control over their jobs. These measures of job stresses are associated with poor health outcomes, such as a two to threefold increase in the risk of depression. Yet legislation which aims to increase labor market flexibility – such as WorkChoices – may accelerate the trend of working conditions which have a negative impact on people’s health.” Associate Professor LaMontagne said women, in particular, bore the brunt of precarious employment arrangements.
His research found:
• Overall, women were more likely to report being under strain at work than men;
• Six percent of women compared to two per cent of men of women said they had received unwanted sexual advances at work;
• Women in casual full-time and fixed-term jobs reported much higher levels of unwanted sexual advances than those in full-time or permanent part-time jobs;
• Men working in labor hire or casual work reported high levels of job strain and low levels of job control compared to those in permanent full-time work;
• Women working in labor hire or full-time casual jobs reported high levels of job strain and low levels of job control compared to permanent full-time workers.
“It is often argued that people in casual work have lower skill levels and less responsibility and therefore it’s presumed their jobs are less stressful,’’ Associate Professor LaMontagne said. "But this research shows that in many cases people in casual work are more stressed. Occupational health and safety law says employers must provide a safe workplace but there is a poor understanding of job stress and other hazards in various employment arrangements. WorkSafe is obliged to protect workers from psychological hazards as well as physical, while these are much harder to quantify this research suggests that it should be a priority for investigation.”
posted 6/06/07
A new publication entitled "Raising Awareness of Stress at Work in Developing Countries: A modern hazard in a traditional working environment" from the Protecting Workers' Health series by the World Health Organization (WHO) is now available for download at: www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/pwh6/en/index.html.
It was authored by Irene Houtman, Karin Jettinghoff, and Leonor Cedillo. The purpose of the booklet is to raise awareness for employers and worker representatives of work-related stress in developing countries.
posted 5/29/07
The 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine will be held in Tokyo, Japan from August 27th to 30th, 2008. Norito Kawakami is chair and I am co-chair of the work-related health track. In this function, it is my pleasure to inform you about this congress and to encourage you to submit abstracts for symposia, papers, posters, and workshops. The deadlines are:
For more information go to the website of the congress at: www.icbm2008.jp
With best regards,
National Research Centre for the Working Environment
Lerso Parkallé 105, DK-2100
Fax: +45 39 16 52 01
rer@nrcwe.dk
posted 5/26/07
The 20th meeting of the California Work & Health Study Group will be held on Friday, June 1st at UCLA from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM in Room 58-261B of the Neuropsychiatric Institute.
Dr. Paul Landsbergis will discuss interventions to improve work organization and reduce the risk of stress-related injury and illness, including work site efforts as well as legislation and regulation. He will present results from a new review of work stress interventions that will be published soon in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health.
Dr. Leslie Hammer will update us on her current NIOSH funded work on research into work/family conflicts with a focus on planned interventions.
Dr. Linda Delp will discuss UCLA LOSH activities as well as her recently completed PhD thesis research which investigated job stressors and satisfaction among home care workers in California's In-Home Supportive Services Program.
We will also discuss our progress on the upcoming book to be published by Baywood Press entitled "Healthy Work".
Please email us for further information.
posted 5/18/07
A position has become available at the Southern California Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health as a Community Health Education Coordinator. This is an excellent opportunity for recent Masters's grads or undergrads with strong community experience to immerse themselves in the community and strengthen their skills. It is an ideal position for anyone with a strong interest in workers' health and safety rights, health care access for workers, progressive coalition building, and adult/popular education.
Please e-mail Eden Flynn for further information and a full job description: socalcosh@iir.ucla.edu
posted 5/12/07
Colleagues,
Dr. Paul Landsbergis will be in Los Angeles the week of May 28th thru June 3rd. We thought it would be interesting to have a meeting of the California Work & Health Study Group on Friday June 1st. Paul could discuss some of his recent work as well as share his expertise on worksite health interventions. We will post further information as soon as it becomes available. Please email us if you would like to join the group.
posted 5/07/07
I am very pleased to announce that Steven Sauter, Ph.D., is the recipient of the 2007 James P. Keogh Award for Outstanding Service in Occupational Safety and Health. The James P. Keogh Award for Outstanding Service in Occupational Safety and Health recognizes one current or former NIOSH employee each year for exceptional service to the field. The award is offered in honor of Dr. James P. Keogh, a tireless advocate for worker safety and health who died in June 1999. The Keogh Award committee solicited nominations from NIOSH employees and judged the nominees on the basis of contributions above and beyond the call of duty.
Dr. Sauter is being presented with the Keogh Award in recognition of his outstanding career of scholarship and leadership in preventing occupational injury and illness among workers. He has had a remarkable and unique impact on the field of occupational safety and health through his dedicated efforts to integrate the behavioral sciences into the mainstream of research and practice aimed at reducing injury and promoting worker well-being.
Dr. Sauter was the NIOSH chair of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Organization of Work Team during the first ten years of NORA, and was the principle force behind the development of a national organization of work research agenda and the growth in the prominence of organization of work in the occupational health research community. He has always had a strong appreciation of the full cycle of research, from exploratory and etiologic research to implementation and evaluation of practical solutions in the workplace. He has overseen a coordinated program of research on organization of work and musculoskeletal disorders for the past 14 years, which has had demonstrable effects on reducing risks to workers. For example, his first project in NIOSH was a study of rest break scheduling in "light, repetitive work." After conducting controlled laboratory studies, the results were used as a basis for a series of frequent rest break interventions conducted at the Internal Revenue Service sites which demonstrated the ease of application of the rest break intervention as well as its effectiveness. The frequent rest schedule was subsequently adopted by the IRS sites where it had been tested.
Dr. Sauter has edited several influential books, many of which are used as textbooks in universities in both the U.S. and Europe. He is a visionary in the work organization field, with a gift for identifying emerging issues of importance such as long hours of work and health disparities. He also has made great contributions through leadership in developing and promoting occupational health psychology as an academic discipline and applied research field. His collaboration with the American Psychological Association (APA) resulted in the creation of a new specialty within the field of psychology to meet the growing demands for a national cadre of researchers and practitioners able to address organization of work issues. In addition, he promoted the formation of the Society for Occupational Health Psychology that was recently chartered through Portland State University, and has worked with the international community to foster coordination with sister organizations. As a result of these efforts, five international NIOSH/APA conferences have taken place since 1990. Through collaboration with APA, he also founded the Journal of Occupational Psychology.
During his career, Dr. Sauter's research activities have impacted workplaces and workers alike. He is being presented with the Keogh Award for his exemplary accomplishments and their international influence on worker safety and health. NIOSH is very pleased to honor Dr. Sauter with this award in memory of Jim Keogh.
Please join us in recognizing Steve's accomplishments at the Alice Hamilton Awards Ceremony on 1 May 2007, which will originated from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Congratulations, Steve!
JOHN HOWARD, Director NIOSH
posted 4/28/07
A study in the April 2007 issue of JOEM provides from the Belstress Study provides very nice c-s replication of the NYC Worksite BP Study findings:
Clays E, Leyman F, De Bacquer D, Kornitzer M, Kittel F, Karasek R, De Backer G. High job strain and ambulatory blood pressure in middle-aged men and women from the Belgian Job Stress Study. J Occup Environ Med. 2007;49:360-367.
posted 4/14/07
Job strain increases obesity risk
Being stressed out at work can make you fat, a new study suggests.
The more job stress men and women reported, the more likely they were to become obese, Dr Eric J Brunner of the Royal Free and University College London Medical School and colleagues found. Higher stress levels were also tied to excess fat around the middle, which is particularly harmful for health.
Chronic stress has been linked to heart disease and the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of symptoms including excess belly fat that increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Brunner and his team note. They hypothesized that job stress might make people more likely to develop obesity during adulthood as well.
To investigate, they followed 6,895 men and 3,413 women for 19 years. All were 35 to 55 years old at the study's outset.
Participants reported levels of job strain, defined as having heavy demands, little decision-making power, and little social support, at several points during the study.
Men and women who reported job strain on at least three occasions were 73 per cent more likely to become obese than those who never said they were stressed on the job. They were also 61 per cent more likely to develop central obesity, defined as a waist circumference greater than 102 cm for men or 88 cm for women.
Those who reported job strain on one occasion were at 17 per cent increased risk of obesity and central obesity, while those who reported stress on two occasions were at 24 per cent increased risk of obesity and 41 per cent increased risk of central obesity.
Adjusting for factors that could be related to both job strain and obesity, such as socioeconomic status and cigarette smoking, reduced the relationship by only a small amount.
The findings provide "firm evidence that high psychological workload, together with lack of social support at work, acts as a causal factor for obesity," Brunner and his colleagues conclude.
(Prospective Effect of Job Strain on General and Central Obesity in the Whitehall II Study. Brunner et al., 10.1093/aje/kwk058. American Journal of Epidemiology published online, Jan 22 2007)
posted 3/29/07
WORKLIFE 2007 NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ABSTRACT DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 30TH, 2007
September 10 - 11, 2007
Hyatt Regency
Bethesda, Maryland
On-line Submission at http://www.worklife2007.com.
You are invited to submit an abstract for presentation at the WorkLife 2007 National Symposium. The Symposium will provide researchers, policymakers, practitioners, academics, employers, and labor leaders an opportunity to share their experiences with integrated and coordinated health protection and promotion programs. These worksite programs must address health risk by combining attention to both the individual workers and the environments in which they work. The conference planning committee is accepting abstracts on research and design, evaluation, and implementation of such worksite programs.
posted 3/21/07
An internship is available at UCLA. Please click here to see the flyer and share with students and/or faculty you know who may have students interested in occupational safety and health.
Thanks so much!
Laurie K. Kominski, MSW
Associate Director of Program Administration
UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Program
200 Kinross Building, Box 951478
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1478
Phone: (310) 794-5992 - Direct Line
Phone: (310) 794-5964 - General Line
Fax: (310) 794-6403
Email: Lauriek@ucla.edu
Website: www.losh.ucla.edu
Working 80% time - Monday through Thursdays only
posted 3/07/07
Long-Time Labor Protection Advocate Patricia Smith Takes Charge of the New York State Department of Labor
New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer has appointed Patricia Smith to head the state Department of Labor, a move that received strong praise from occupational safety and health, workers rights and union advocates.
Shortly after her appointment was announced, New York State
In an interview with the Update on Safety and Health, Smith said, “
One of Smith’s first official acts was to appoint long-time Law Department lawyer Pico Ben-Amotz as the Labor Department's Deputy Commissioner for Worker Protection, a post that gives him responsibility for Safety and Health, Labor Standards and the Public Work/Prevailing Wage programs. Ben-Amotz had been with the Attorney General's Office for 18 years and has been a lead attorney for the state on prevailing wage and worker protection issues.
Before becoming acting Commissioner of Labor, Smith was the Assistant Attorney General in-charge of the state Law Department’s Labor Bureau, a position she held since 1999. She served at the Labor Bureau for 12 years, first as Prevailing Wage Section Chief and then as Deputy Bureau Chief.
From 1979 to 1987, Ms. Smith served as a Litigation Director at the Legal Services Organization in
Excerpted from NYCOSH UPDATE ON SAFETY
WorkSafe is proud to present a new training program: Workers' Compensation for Legal Services Programs - Assisting Injured Workers
Please call them to arrange for training programs on occupational safety and health. http://www.worksafe.org for more information.
posted 2/20/07
WorkLife 2007: Protecting and Promoting Worker Health
A National Symposium
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
September 10 - 11, 2007
Hyatt Regency
Bethesda, Maryland
Abstracts must be received by March 16, 2007
On-line Submission at http://www.worklife2007.com.
You are invited to submit an abstract for presentation at the WorkLife 2007 National Symposium. The Symposium will provide researchers, policymakers, practitioners, academics, employers, and labor leaders an opportunity to share their experiences with integrated and coordinated health protection and promotion programs. These worksite programs must address health risk by combining attention to both the individual workers and the environments in which they work. The conference planning committee is accepting abstracts on research and design, evaluation, and implementation of such worksite programs.
View the preliminary symposium agenda online for more information about each session.
posted 2/13/07
Statement by Raymond Gibbons, M.D., President of the American Heart Association, on House Passage of FY 2007 Joint Funding Resolution
"We’re encouraged that House members recognized that medical research aimed at saving lives and improving quality of life cannot move forward on a barebones budget. The additional $600 million for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fiscal year 2007 will bring us closer to curing heart disease, stroke and other life-threatening illnesses that afflict millions of Americans and cost our country billions of dollars in medical expenses and lost productivity each year. A strong investment in medical research will also offset the heavy financial burden these diseases place on our healthcare system. We urge our nation’s elected leaders to keep the momentum going by further increasing funding for NIH-supported medical research in the next spending cycle to better match biomedical inflation.
At the same time, Congress cannot lose sight of the critical role that prevention plays in the overall health of our nation. It’s unfortunate the House did not increase funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program even though it has been successful in encouraging individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles and reducing risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, our nation’s No. 1 killer. We hope Congress will allocate more resources to this important program in the future." (2/01/07)
posted 2/07/07
Workers are familiar with corporate downsizing and the toll it takes on those laid off, but mental health problems can also rise in those who keep their jobs, a European study shows. "Employees who remained in work after downsizing may be at increased risk of being prescribed psychotropic drugs," said lead author Mika Kivimaki, from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. The report appears in the February issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. "Policy makers, employers, and occupational health professionals should recognize that organizational downsizing may pose mental health risks among employees," Kivimaki said.
posted 1/23/07
Colleagues, a sad and serious sign of the times – the new conservative government of
posted 1/10/07
SAVE THE DATE!
The 7th Work, Stress and Health Conference, organized by the American Psychological Association, NIOSH, and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology will be held on March 6-8, 2008 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC. More details will be forthcoming shortly on their website: www.apa.org.
posted 1/03/07
The Job Stress Nework would like to wish our colleagues and viewers a very healthy and happy 2007. We hope that our research and efforts towards creating a healthy workplace will be enacted and legislated in the coming years and decades. Thank you to all the researchers and workers involved in this effort.
The staff of the Job Stress Nework and the Center for Social Epidemiolgy.
posted 12/31/06
Published in UCLA PUBLIC HEALTH Winter, 2006
Hypertension Risk Grows as Work Hours Increase
UCLA AND UC IRVINE RESEARCHERS have published the first evidence suggesting that self-reported hypertension increases the more hours per week that workers put in, with those who clock more than 50 hours a week being 29% more likely to report hypertension than those who work fewer than 40. Publishing in the journal Hypertension, the researchers also reported that nearly one in five working Californians said they log more than 50 hours a week.
The research team from the UCLA and UC Irvine Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health used data from the California Health Interview Survey (based in the UCLA School of Public Health) to study the role played by the work environment in causing hypertension and coronary artery disease. The survey responses of 24,205 working
Previous research has shown that by the age of 60, three of five American workers will have developed hypertension, a major risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular disease.
“Work can negatively impact our health, an impact that goes well beyond the usual counts of injuries and exposure to toxic chemicals that we more commonly associate with occupational health,” says Dr. Peter Schnall, director of the Center for Social Epidemiology, a member of the
It was unclear from the study whether the long working hours per se are responsible for the increased hypertension risk. Based on past findings, the authors estimated that job strain – work characterized by high demands and low control – accounts for one-fourth of all heart disease-related illness and death among working people after controlling for individual risk factors such as personality, diet, obesity, and cigarette smoking. This might explain why clerical and unskilled workers had far higher rates of diagnosed hypertension ; 23% and 50% respectively – than did white-collar workers who worked the same number of hours.
“Tomorrow’s jobs must be deliberately crafted to allow the full development of the human spirit through work that encourages – not discourages – human potential,” says Schnall. “A key characteristic will be the full participation of all working people in the decision-making processes surrounding the organization of work.”
posted 12/22/06
Dr. Paul Landsbergis writes that he's recently returned from attending the APHA conference in Boston, and previously attended recent conferences in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. This week he's in the Detroit area recruiting study volunteers at an auto plant.
posted 12/07/06
A while back, NC State University received an OSHA grant to create safety and health training for small businesses. They created an online program named OSHA Safety & Health Management Systems for Small Business. This program is designed to assist small- and medium-sized businesses in developing and implementing an effective and inexpensive safety and health management system.
The program is free online, and will remain free until April 2007
Submitted by:
Dan Lucas
NCSU Industrial Extension Service
posted 12/1/06
A reminder to our colleagues in the California Work & Health Study Group: We have an exciting program set for Friday November 17th. We have reserved the Madden Conference Room at UCLA in the SPH - the room number is 13-265 CHS (community health sciences inside the health sciences building).
The program runs from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The 2 hours in the morning will allow people to share ideas and current projects. We will provide lunch so please RSVP if you will be attending! (email Peter at pschnall@workhealth.org)
Lunch 12:00 -1:00 PM
We have two speakers scheduled for the afternoon.
1:00 -3:00 PM
Dr. Leslie Hammer, Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Director, of the Portland State University Occupational Health Psychology Program has agreed to fly down and present her current NIOSH funded work on work/family conflicts. She is going to talk about her longitudinal study of Dual-Earner Couples in The Sandwiched Generation Project as well as about her research on work-family conflict. Dr. Hammer has just published a book with her colleague Dr. Margaret Neal titled "Working Couples Caring for Children and Aging Parents: Effects on Work and Well-Being".
3:00 -4:00 PM
Our second presenter will be Dr. Haiou Yang, Research Associate at UC of Irvine, who is the first author on our recently published article (Work Hours and Self-Reported Hypertension Among Working People in California: Haiou Yang; Peter L. Schnall; Maritza Jauregui; Ta-Chen Su; and Dean Baker, Hypertension, November 2006). She will talk about her findings and the issue of long working hours as they impact on our mental and physical health.
Look forward to seeing you all in Los Angeles on the 17th of November.
Peter Schnall
posted 11/10/06
Colleagues: A sad and serious sign of the times – the new conservative government of
Dear colleagues,
I am writing to you just to inform you about the closing of the National Institute for Working Life.
Two days ago we got the message from the new government that they have decided close down the entire NIWL. All staff will be recieving notice to quit January 1st, 2007. All operations will be closed by July 1st, 2007. Nothing will be saved and there is no budget for continuation in any other organisational form for work life research and OHS education in Sweden according to the budget proposition from the newly elected government.
We are shocked and of course very angry and frustrated. We were somewhat prepared that we would be closed as a governmental authority but we thought that there would be some kind of solution for a continuation in some other form, e.g. at universities. As it is now, there is little time to act.
This means that Sweden will have no platform for acting at an international and European level in the future (at least the coming three years).
The arguments from the government for this decision are very vague. Cutting taxes is the highest priority, that is why they closed government bureacracies as they say (two more are closed, one on the integration of immigrants and the other on animal protection!). Work life issues are a matter for the partners on the labour market, not for the government, and they want all research to take place at universities, with research funded by competition, preferably in centres of excellence.
In the biggest newspaper today there is an article from a right wing debater, applauding the government decision regarding the NIWL: "we are only producing ideology statements"... and "we are the source for financing researchers and debaters, producing politically correct and politically ordered, predictable reports".
We are under scientific evaluation ordered by the former government. This is almost finished and a few of us have got oral information from the person who did the bibliometric evaluation. The report says that the whole NIWL recieved impact records that are above mean in international comparison within our fields of disciplines. However, the government evaluation office will not let these reports become public and we do not know why. We are not allowed to disseminate the results but we are doing that anyway by informing the media.
On Friday, the new minister will visit us. We do hope that there can be some kind of dialogue on the consequences for the competence loss.
If any of you as individual researchers or your institutes would like to send a message to our government or to media (that they can translate) on the consequences for work life research in an international perspective, it would be very helpful (see a list of e-mail adresses below). There is a short note in English on the government decision on our website www.arbetslivsinstitutet.se
We do think that the new government (sitting now for just a couple of weeks) have not had time enough to see the consequences of their decision. They might not know that we also have obligations and cooperation at an international level to contribute to a productive, sustainable working life. However, there is very little time for that, the next few days are critical. We have very little hope, but at least it could be good to let the government know that our research is acknowledged in an international perspective.
Annika Härenstam
Professor in Work Organisation, National Institute for Working Life
Useful web adresses if someone wants to send a message to those who made the decision.
Politicians:
Minister of Employment: Sven-Otto Littorin registrator@industry.ministry.se
The Secretary at the Ministry of Employment: Eva Udden Sonnegård registrator@industry.ministry.se
Chair of Committee on Labour Market: Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd catharina.elmsater-svard@riksdagen.se
Member of Committee on Labour Market: Sven-Erik Österberg sven-erik.osterberg@riksdagen.se
Member of Committee on Labour Market: Lennart Levi lennart.levi@riksdagen.se
Group leaders of:
The Moderate party Lars Lindblad lars.lindblad@riksdagen.se
The Center party Roger Tiefensee roger.tiefensee@riksdage.se
The Liberal party: Johan Pehrson johan.pehrson@riksdagen.se
The Christian Democrats: Stefan Attefall stefan.attefall@riksdagen.se
Media:
posted 10/20/06
CALIFORNIA WORK & HEALTH STUDY GROUP XIX
The next meeting of the CWHSG will be held at UCLA in Los Angeles on Friday November 17th, 2006 from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Dr. Leslie Hammer, Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Director of the Portland State University Occupational Health Psychology Program has agreed to fly down and present her current NIOSH funded work on work/family conflicts. She is also going to talk about her longitudinal study of Dual-Earner Couples in The Sandwiched Generation Project. Dr. Hammer has just published a book with her colleague Dr. Margaret Neal titled Working Couples Caring for Children and Aging Parents: Effects on Work and Well-Being.
Our second presenter will be Dr. Haiou Yang, Research Associate at UC of Irvine, who is the first author on our recently published article Work Hours and Self-Reported Hypertension Among Woring People in California. (
We are also making great strides in finishing our book on Healthy Work. We have a contract with Baywood to publish the book in 2007. A summary of our progress with the book and some remaining issues will be discussed. We hope you can join us.
Peter L. Schnall MD, MPH
Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California at Irvine
Among the risk factors for hypertension, stress, especially work stress, has drawn increasing attention. Another potential work-related risk factor for hypertension identified in the past few years is work hours. This article presents an analysis of work hours and self-reported hypertension among the working population in the state of California. The data set used for this study comes from the Public Use File of the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. The logistic regression analysis shows a positive association between hours worked per week and likelihood of having self-reported hypertension. Compared with those working between 11 and 39 hours per week, individuals working 40 hours per week were 14% (95% CI: 1.01 to 1.28) more likely to report hypertension, those who worked between 41 and 50 hours per week were 17% (95% CI: 1.04 to 1.33) more likely to report hypertension, and those who worked 51 hours per week were 29% (95% CI: 1.10 to 1.52) more likely to report hypertension after controlling for various potentially confounding variables, including demographic and biological risk factors and socioeconomic status. This analysis provides evidence of a positive association between work hours and hypertension in the California working population.
posted 9/29/06
An interesting finding from the Whitehall II Study:
Kivimaki M, Head, J, Ferrie JE, Shipley MJ, Brunner E, Vahtera J, Marmot MG. Work stress, weight gain and weight loss: evidence for bidirectional effects of job strain on body mass index in the Whitehall II study. International Journal of Obesity (2006) 30, 982–987.
Objective:
Previous research has focused on overall associations between work stress and body mass index (BMI) ignoring the possibility that stress may cause some people to eat less and lose weight and others to eat more. Using longitudinal data, we studied whether work stress induced weight loss in lean individuals and weight gain in overweight individuals.
Results:
In men, the effect of job strain on weight gain and weight loss was dependent on baseline BMI (P<=0.03). In the leanest quintile (BMI<22 kg/m2) at baseline, high job strain and low job control were associated with weight loss by follow-up, whereas among those in the highest BMI quintile (>27 kg/m2), these stress indicators were associated with subsequent weight gain. No corresponding interaction was seen among women.
Conclusion:
Inconsistent findings reported by previous studies of stress and BMI have generally been interpreted to indicate the absence of an association. In light of our results, the possibility of differential effects of work stress should also be taken into account.
posted 9/23/06
Our colleagues have received a prestigious award. Congratulations to David Rempel and Niklas Krause et al!
The winners of the IEA Liberty Mutual Prize in Occupational Safety and Ergonomics found that a simple workstation modification could help reduce upper body pain and prevent musculoskeletal disorders among customer service workers who use a computer.
The Prize will be presented to David M. Rempel, M.C., M.P.H.;
“Our findings indicate that employers should consider forearm support and training for workers who use computers for customer service work,” said Dr. Rempel, professor of medicine at the
With a cash award of U.S.$5,000, the IEA Liberty Mutual Prize recognizes outstanding, original research in the field of occupational safety and health. An independent IEA-appointed review committee evaluated all submissions for their contributions to the prevention or mitigation of occupational accidents or the facilitation of return to work.
The second award winner will receive the IEA Liberty Mutual Medal for his development of a new safety management system by evaluating and combining the best practices of behavior-based and organizational culture safety programs. David M. DeJoy, Ph.D., receives the award for his scientific paper, “Behavior Change Versus Culture Change: Divergent Approaches to Managing Workplace Safety” which was published in Safety Science (Vol. 43, pp. 105-129, 2005).
“There are very few one size fits all approaches to safety, and to maximize safety program effectiveness, organizations must be willing to constantly monitor their results and make changes in their safety management programs,” said Dr. DeJoy, professor of Health Promotion and Behavior in the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia “The behavior change and culture change approaches to managing safety are essentially complementary and can be successfully integrated. I’m honored that Liberty Mutual and IEA have selected my paper for the award. It is important to recognize, and encourage, researchers to focus on occupational injury problems and ergonomics.”
posted 9/15/06
A new article on job strain and the risk of drug dependency in working men and women has been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology:
Reed PL, Storr CL, Anthony JC. Drug Dependence Enviromics: Job Strain in the Work Environment and Risk of Becoming Drug-Dependent. American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 163(5):404-411.
In a prospective epidemiologic study of a sample of young adults, the authors estimated the risks of being drug-dependent and becoming drug-dependent in relation to the psychosocial work environment encountered during young adulthood. Data were obtained from two young adult assessments of 2,311 children who entered the first grade of primary school in 1985-1986. A total of 1,692 participants completed the first young adult assessment (YAT0) in 2000-2002, and a follow-up young adult assessment (YAT1) was completed approximately 1 year later. Work environments characterized by high job strain (low job control combined with high job demands assessed at YAT0) signaled a 2- to 3-fold excess risk of being drug-dependent (adjusted prevalence ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.4, 4.0). In reestimation for 861 young adults (61% female) with no drug dependence at YAT0, low job control alone was associated with a 2- to 3-fold excess risk of developing drug dependence (adjusted relative risk = 2.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 6.5) between YAT0 and YAT1. The relative risk estimates did not change appreciably with statistical adjustment for demographic covariates, individual drugs used, childhood predispositional traits, job characteristics, and measurements of socioeconomic status at three time points (first grade, adolescence, and young adulthood).
posted 9/15/06
Combing through a survey of Californians, researchers at UC Irvine have established a long-suspected link between work and health in
By Melissa Healy, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times: September 4, 2006
posted 9/08/06
American Heart Association rapid access journal report:
Long work hours linked to high blood pressure risk
A survey of
“Research during the past two decades has provided solid evidence that psychosocial factors at work, such as work stress, can cause high blood pressure,” said Dean Baker, M.D., M.P.H., senior author of the study. “It has been suggested that there is an association between long work hours and the risk of hypertension in studies of Japanese workers. However, this association had not yet been examined in American workers.”
Baker with lead investigator Haiou Yang, Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed data from a 2001 survey of more than 55,000 households in California, asking people about work hours, whether they had hypertension and about other health, demographic and lifestyle factors that could affect their blood pressure. The survey identified 24,205 working people ages 18 to 64.
Click here for a PDF of the full article.
posted 8/29/06
Colleagues,
A number of our Mexican and Latin American colleagues are planning a conference for October 12, 13th and 14th in
I am interested in knowing who among you might be interested in relating to this group of researchers (or already is) and if one or more of you would be interested in attending the conference. I will be going and talking about both psychosocial factors and health as well as the role of the UCLA Fogarty Program in supporting these activities in the future.
Please contact me if you have any interest in these activities in any form. Thank you,
posted 8/28/06
CENTENNIAL DECLARATION of the INTERNATIONAL COMMISION ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, MILAN, ITALY 2006
posted 8/17/06
New study findings confirm what some office managers, senior management officials and other white-collar workers have suspected for years: Working in highly stressful jobs can increase your blood pressure.
"We found that cumulative exposure to job strain resulted in significant increases in systolic blood pressure among male white-collar workers, especially those with low levels of social support at work," Dr. Chantal Guimont, of Laval University, in Quebec City, Quebec, and her colleagues write in this month's American Journal of Public Health.
Click here to see the news article at CNN.com.
posted 8/17/06
A new study by Chantal Guimont et al has been published this month in the American Journal of Public Health entitled "Effects of Job Strain on Blood Pressure: A Prospective Study of White-Collar Workers" (Am J Pub Health 2006;96(8):1436-1443). Guimont et al evaluated whether cumulative exposure to job strain increases blood pressure. Click here for a link to the pdf of the article.
posted 8/03/06
July 13, 2006 (foodconsumer.org) - Putting in long, hard hours of stressful work may prove detrimental to the health of women, a British study has found. Researchers at the
Additionally the extra hours caused women to smoke more and consume more caffeine. All these factors are considered unhealthy. Lead researcher Dr. Daryl O'Connor and colleagues studied 193 men and 229 women aged 40 years at an average.
They found that men and women responded differently to working long hours. "Women who work long hours eat more high fat and high sugar snacks, exercise less, drink more caffeine and, if smokers, smoke more than their male colleagues," said Dr O'Connor. "While for men, working longer hours has no negative impact on exercise, caffeine intake or smoking."
"Stress causes people to opt for unhealthy high fat and high sugar snacks in preference to healthier food choices. Also, people under stress eat less than usual in their main meals including their vegetable intake but shift their preference to high fat/high sugar snacks instead," Dr O'Connor explained.
posted 7/20/06
A free publication has just been released by the International Labour Office in Geneva: a 424-page state of the art review about what is known about the impacts of liberalization around the world on workers in public services, including health services, prisons, social care, etc.
Winners or Losers? Liberalizing Public Services
Edited by Ellen Rosskam
International Labour Office, Geneva 2006
You can request this book by emailing DISTR@ilo.org with your name and address, mentioning the book. Your feedback would be very much appreciated. A press conference and launch will be held in September at the University of Geneva, during the European Conference on Educational Research 2006.
posted 7/14/06
A new book of interest to the Job Stress Network will be published in September 2006 (Baywood Publishing): Excess Baggage: Leveling the Load and Changing the Workplace by Ellen Rosskam. Please follow this link to see the preview and for ordering information. Congratulations Ellen!
posted 7/14/06
After the successful Congresses held in Barcelona 1996, Rio de Janeiro 1999, Stockholm 2002 and New Delhi 2005, the Fifth Congress on Women, Work & Health will be held in Mexico in 2008. Researchers, practicioners, activists and policy makers from all around the world are invited to participate. Please be on the lookout for the first call by October of this year. For further information, please email Leonor Cedillo.
posted 7/02/06
Saturday, July 1st, 2006, London - Work stress could lead to a rise in blood pressure, particularly if you are a man and lack social support at work, reveals a new study to be published in the American Journal of Public Health, August, 2006.
Chantal Guimont and colleagues at Laval University, Quebec, Canada, studied 6,719 workers over more than seven years and found that job strain, particularly in workers with low social support at work, may contribute to increased blood pressure, reported the online edition of BBC News.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for a number of serious medical illnesses, including strokes and heart attacks.
Other factors may have contributed to the high blood pressure found in the white-collar workers that they studied but high job demands, tight deadlines and low support in the workplace appeared to be triggers, particularly in men, said Guimont.
Studies are now under way to see if employers can alleviate the problem, the researchers said in the American Journal of Public Health. They suggested that employers might be able to help by giving workers more support and control over deadlines and tasks.
While stress is one cause of high blood pressure, there are a number of other things that can contribute like a poor diet, drinking excess alcohol, being overweight or obese, eating too much salt and not exercising enough.
posted 7/02/06
The INSITUTE FOR PSYCHOSOCIAL MEDICINE recently hosted the International Workshop "FROM HEALTHY WORK TO HEALTHY SOCIETY" in Stockholm, Sweden from May 31st - June 1st, 2006. It was very successful, and we thank the organizers, Tores Theorell and Bob Karasek. Please click on the link above to access more information and presentations from this stimulating and engaging discussion of the demand/control/support model.
posted 6/23/06
The responsibility for the 5th ICOH has been assumed by
Here is the 1st ANNOUNCEMENT for the conference
posted 6/16/06
Two ‘Stop Workplace Violence’ Bills Pass Both Houses of NYS Legislature, Await Delivery to Governor for Signing
The "Stop Workplace Violence" campaign of the Public Employees Federation (PEF) – aimed at NYS public sector workers -- is making great strides in the New York State legislature.
On May 17 the Assembly passed the Workplace Violence Prevention Bill, which would require public employers to assess their worksites for potential areas of violence, notify employees of potential threats and work with employees and employee organizations to develop corrective actions. The same bill had already passed the Senate, so it will become law if it is signed by Governor George Pataki. The bill (S6441/A9691) is sponsored by Senator Nicholas Spano (R-Westchester) and by Assemblymember Susan V. John (D-Monroe).
The bill also creates a complaint procedure that employees may use if they believe a potential for violence exists as well as a follow-up procedure with the Department of Labor if employers do not comply with this law. Language protecting employees from retaliatory action in the event a complaint is filed is also included. The Governor vetoed a similar bill last year on technical grounds. This year’s bill has been changed to address the Governor’s objections.
Jonathan Rosen, the safety and health director of the Public Employees Federation and one of the main organizers of the campaign to Stop Workplace Violence, expressed great hope that the Governor would sign both bills, and that the third bill would also pass into law. It’s hypocritical," Rosen said, "for politicians to talk about being tough on crime at the same time they ignore crime in the public workplace."
Previously, on May 3 the Assembly passed the Workplace Injury Disclosure and Accountability Bill, which had already passed the Senate. The bill (S6480/A9692) would amend the Civil Service Law to require that the state Department of Civil Service prepare an annual report about injury rates among state employees due to workplace injuries in state agencies and the costs incurred by the state as a result of those injuries.
The campaign is also giving strong support to the Judi Scanlon Bill, which would allow Office of Mental Health employees who are required to enter the residence of a person with serious mental illness to request to be accompanied by another employee for safety reasons. The bill is named after a nurse who was murdered by a mentally ill patient during a home visit in Buffalo. It would require the office to provide intensive case managers with annual training in safety and the prevention of violence, and provide them a mobile telephone. The bill (S207/A2570) would also require that the office have enough staff so that each intensive case manager would have a case load of no more than 12 patients.
As part of the statewide Stop Workplace Violence campaign, NYCOSH is cosponsoring a workshop in Manhattan on May 24 on Union Strategies for Preventing Workplace Violence – Getting punched, kicked, spit-on, or yelled at is not part of anyone’s job. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
The text of the Workplace Violence Prevention Bill is on the Internet at http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A09691&sh=t
The Workplace Injury Disclosure and Accountability Bill: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A09692&sh=t
The Judy Scanlon Bill: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A02570&sh=t
Thank you to Jonathan Bennett of NYCOSH for this information
posted 5/26/06
Postdoctoral Fellowship
I am seeking a postdoctoral fellow to participate in a research program investigating the effects of work organization on employee health and well-being, especially within vulnerable employee groups. Experience conducting field research is required; intervention research experience is desirable but not necessary. This position will provide the opportunity to participate in on-going research projects, as well as continue the development of the fellow’s own research program. Applicants should have a doctoral degree in the behavioral and social sciences, epidemiology, or an occupational health discipline.
Funds are available to support this position for 2 years, starting Fall 2007.
Interested applicants should send inquiries and/or application materials (CV, a letter describing research interests, and the names of 2 potential referees) to:
Dr. Cathy Heaney
Department of Psychology and
posted 5/12/06
Latest Press Releases ACOEM: Federal Monitoring System Underestimates Work-Related Injury and Illness
The current national surveillance system may miss two-thirds of the total number of occupational injuries and illnesses, suggests a study in the April Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
Dr. Kenneth D. Rosenman and colleagues of Michigan State University, East Lansing, combined four data bases to identify work-related injuries and illnesses (resulting in more than 7 missed work days) occurring in Michigan from 1999 through 2001. The results were carefully matched to data from the national surveillance system for occupational injuries and illnesses, maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
A total of 79,400 occupational injuries and illnesses were identified by the four combined data bases. In contrast, the BLS data base estimated that approximately 30,800 injuries and illnesses occurred during the three-year study period. Thus the BLS system failed to account for 61 percent of work-related injuries and illnesses.
An additional "capture-recapture" analysis-performed to identify cases missed by the combined data bases-suggested that the true total was 868,200 injuries and illnesses. Based on this figure, 68 percent of occupational injuries and illnesses were missed by the BLS system. The BLS data base performed somewhat better in identifying occupational injuries, as opposed to illnesses. The accuracy of estimates varied by industry-the BLS data base captured 94 percent of injuries and illnesses for agriculture, compared with 45 percent in the transportation, communications, and electrical services industries.
The BLS is responsible for compiling accurate statistics on all "disabling, serious or significant" occupational injuries and illnesses. Previous studies have suggested that the current surveillance system-which uses a sampling strategy, rather than a census approach-misses some percentage of cases. In response to a 1987 study showing an undercount of work-related deaths, the BLS instituted a census system to gather more accurate data on occupational fatalities.
"Based on the results of our analysis we estimate that the number of work-related injuries and illnesses inMichigan is three times greater than the official estimate derived from the BLS annual survey," Dr. Rosenman and colleagues report. Whereas BLS statistics suggest that work-related injuries affect 1 in 15 Michiganworkers per year, the new results suggest that the true rate is closer to 1 in 5. Several factors likely contribute to the undercount-the BLS system excludes government workers and the self-employed, and employers and employees may perceive disincentives to reporting. A census approach, like that used to monitor work-related deaths, could improve reporting of injuries and illnesses as well. The investigators conclude, "A more comprehensive surveillance system for work-related injuries and illnesses would be useful to inform decision making on the allocation of public health resources to occupational health and safety.and to prioritize, target and evaluate both public health and enforcement activity to reduce work-related injuries and illnesses.
ACOEM, an international society of more than 5,000 occupational physicians and other health care professionals, provides leadership to promote optimal health and safety of workers, workplaces, and environments.
posted 5/12/06
Colleagues - Listed below is the web site for an Occupational Cardiovascular Disease symposium that I helped to organize -- to be held on June 16-17, 2006 in Varese, Italy. It is an International Congress of Occupational Health (ICOH) satellite symposium: http://www.dmlp-va.it/index.aspx (click on English language and then on "Congress") Please help spread the word about it. Thank-you.
Paul Landsbergis
posted 4/29/06
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to direct your attention to the international workshop: "Job Stress, Chronic Disease, and Heart Rate Variability: Measuring a New Pathway of Work-related Chronic Disease Risk".
The workshop will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 6-7, i.e. two days preceding the conference on Shiftwork and Ageing in Health Care and Community Services in Venice, Italy, and five days before the ICOH 2006 conference in Milan, Italy.
This workshop introduces a promising new area of job stress physiological risk measurement, with applications for cardiovascular disease (CVD), depression, pain response, asthma, and metabolic illness. It focuses on a broadly applicable method for measuring the physiological effects of stress on the body: cardiovascular monitoring of stress response via heart rate variability (HRV).
HRV is easy to measure, but complex to interpret. Understanding its variability gives insight into some of the most basic physiological processes (autonomic de-regulation) that could be used to assess disease risk. Electrocardiographic (EKG) assessment of HRV has been long used by cardiologists as a clinical marker of cardiovascular function and recently of CVD mortality. However, occupational health and safety (OHS) researchers have only begun to use this tool. The necessary OHS analytic methods are quite different from the clinical. OHS researchers attempt to explain environmental causes of the HR variance, while traditional clinical use focuses on individual-based irregularities. HR variance is an important indicator of the state of readiness or exhaustion of the autonomic nervous system, and as such a potential indicator of many pathways from work and social stressors to chronic disease.
There are many questions of HRV analytic method and study design that have not yet been systematically addressed by the OHS community. Standard clinical practice approaches do not adequately cover the goal of assessing occupational health risks, but can contribute to good methodological practice.
Thus, the goal of the workshop is to take good examples of OHS-focused HRV research analysis and study design and develop a outline of effective practice for more successful occupational health use of this very broadly relevant measure of physiological health status.
The workshop will include: (a) structured lectures to introduce and review the concepts and methods; (b) workshop segments where participants can discuss their HRV research projects with other participants, (c) additional lectures from invited speakers on job stress and HRV monitoring field and data analytic methods, as well as linkages between job stress biomarkers - such as HRV - and chronic diseases including heart disease.
The Workshop is sponsered by NIVA. NIVA is a nordic training institute. NIVA promotes the health and working conditions of employees by training researchers and practitioners in the field of occupational health and safety.
You can find further information about the workshop, including about registration, in the attached announcement, or on the NIVA website http://www.niva.org/2006_course.htm.
On behalf of the organizing commitee,
Jesper Kristiansen (jkr@ami.dk)
Senior Researcher, The National Institute of Occupational Health, Denmark
posted 4/14/06
An editorial in a recent issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health by JP Leigh concerns the "Expanding research on the economics of occupational health". Please click here to follow a link to this interesting and important article.
posted 4/06/06
Job Stress Tied to Higher Risk of Drug Abuse Reuters, March, 2006. Young workers who feel high stress on the job may be at increased risk of using drugs, new research suggests.
In a survey of nearly 1,000 young adults, researchers found that those who reported high job strain when they were first interviewed for the study were more likely to have started abusing marijuana, cocaine, heroin or other drugs one year later.
posted 3/21/06
The next meeting of the California Work & Health Study Group (CWHSG) will be held Friday April 14th 2006 from 10am to 5pm in SF. It will be hosted by Julia Faucett at UCSF School of Nursing located at 521 Parnassus Ave, Nursing 505G in Room N517. There will be an informal dinner get together following the meeting at a local restaurant. Contact Peter at 310-301-6040 for more information.
posted 3/24/06
BBC News reports that nearly 40% of the NHS staff suffers from work-related stress, according to a survey. See the full article.
posted 3/10/06
Job Stress linked to higher risk of drug abuse. Employees with little control over their work tasks are the most suceptible. See full article
Young workers who feel high stress on the job may be at increased risk of using drugs, new research suggests. In a survey of nearly 1,000 young adults, researchers found that those who reported high job strain when they were first interviewed for the study were more likely to have started abusing marijuana, cocaine, heroin or other drugs one year later. Specifically, "low control" jobs, where workers have little leeway in how to accomplish their tasks, were linked to a higher risk of drug abuse.
posted 3/04/06
A NIOSH Town Meeting was held on February 21st at UCLA Sunset Village. Please click to view the testiomony of Dr. Peter Schnall, Chairperson, ICOH Scientific Committee on Cardiology in Occupational Health, Professor of Medicine, University of California at Irvine.
As NORA approaches a ten year milestone, NIOSH is hosting public meetings to seek input from individuals and organizations on important research issues and agendas. Given that NORA represents a broad-based partnership involving government, business, the worker community, academia, and others, public input is essential for planning future directions for the initiative, based on a focus on eight different industry sector groups. Each meeting will be structured to provide an opportunity for regional and multi-sector input during the morning, followed where appropriate by an afternoon session to focus on individual sector issues.
posted 2/24/06
A message from Dr. Peter Schnall:
I am hoping this message finds everyone well. We have been extremely busy at UCI COEH writing grant proposals. Fortunately, as of Feb 1 we have completed our RO1 regarding firefighters (we did an earlier submission in subtember to an RFA from NIOSH on worksite health promotion/protection). The 28th ICOH is fast approaching (June 9-16th in Milan) to be followed by the satellite meeting in Varese on June 17th. More details including program information will be forthcoming shortly. I have inserted the abstract FYI for the proposed firefighter study below:
This study is designed to investigate the role that work organization and work psychosocial stressors play in the development of CVD among Orange County Firefighters. While an important role in the etiology of coronary heart disease and acute myocardial infarction has been identified for work related physical exposures such as noise, exertion and carbon monoxide associated with being a firefighter, to date little is know about the role of other occupational stressors or the interaction between work exposures and non-work personal and social factors in CVD risk among firefighters. This research project will expand on an existing Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) wellness and fitness (WEFIT) program, which provides annual evaluations of firefighter fitness and CVD risk with over 85% participation. The project will randomly recruit 400 OCFA firefighters to collect questionnaire information; perform an enhanced WEFIT evaluation with a maximal treadmill test, carotid ultrasound; and measurement of C-reactive protein and fibrinogen; and perform 48 hours of ambulatory monitoring for blood pressure, heart rate, and activity during and following a work shift. These data will be collected twice on each participant with a two year interval. The data analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data will investigate an extended model of CVD risk beyond traditional physical and individual exposures. The enhanced model will examine the contribution of occupational exposures, such as organizational context, job characteristics, and psychosocial work stressors, while controlling for traditional risk factors, in the development of intermediate CVD outcomes, such as increased ambulatory blood pressure and increased carotid intima thickness. In addition, it will incorporate a number of personal factors and non-work stressors into the model that may moderate the impact of occupational exposures on CVD risk.
posted 2/24/06
Michael Kompier has an editorial in the December issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health entitled: Assessing the psychosocial work environment—“subjective” versus “objective” measurement. Please follow the link to see the full abstract. "...there is still a need for reliable, valid, and usable questionnaires in stress research. This issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health presents such a candidate: the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ)."
posted 2/9/06
OSHA runs a program titled which recognizes outstanding companies, titled OSHA Voluntary Protection Programs.
The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) promote effective worksite-based safety and health. In the VPP, management, labor, and OSHA establish cooperative relationships at workplaces that have implemented a comprehensive safety and health management system. Approval into VPP is OSHA’s official recognition of the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health.
posted 1/20/06
The Job Stress Network and the Center for Social Epidemiology would like to wish all of our colleagues, visitors, and citizens and workers of the world a happy and healthy New Year!
posted 1/6/06
Job strain, caused by a combination of a heavy workload, time constraints, conflicting demands and lack of control, may be an overlooked factor in the decision to retire. Please see the full article at the Daily news site.
posted 12/14/05
Our Japanese colleagues have just published results and an article from an important new longitudinal study:
Kondo K, Kobayashi Y, Hirokawa K, Tsutsumi A, Kabayashi F, Haratani T, Araki S, Kawakami N. Job Strain and sick leave among Japanese employees: a longitudinal study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 2005; Nov 9:1-7.
posted 12/08/05
As NORA approaches a ten year milestone, NIOSH is hosting public meetings to seek input from individuals and organizations on important research issues and agendas. Given that NORA represents a broad-based partnership involving government, business, the worker community, academia, and others, public input is essential for planning future directions for the initiative, based on a focus on eight different industry sector groups. Each meeting will be structured to provide an opportunity for regional and multi-sector input during the morning, followed where appropriate by an afternoon session to focus on individual sector issues.
Please see the website for further details http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora/townhall/default.html
posted 12/01/05
A new study finds link between work stress and heart disease, according to researchers in Finland. Please see the full article.
posted 11/18/05
Session XVII of the California Work & Health Study Group will be held on Friday, November 18th from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the UCLA LOSH office located in Room 1648 of Hershey Hall.
posted 10/27/05
A new study shows that stressful jobs and unfair bosses can raise cardiac risks. Please see the full article at HealthDay News.
Source: Mika Kivimaki, Ph.D., professor, University of Helsinki and Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland; Stephen Siegel, M.D., clinical assistant professor of medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York City; Rania V. Sedhom, Esq., employee benefits attorney, Meyer Suozzi English & Klein, New York City; Oct. 24, 2005, Archives of Internal Medicine
posted 10/27/05
According to a study presented at the 2005 Amercan Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research meeting, a supportive spouse may reduce the effects of job strain on blood pressure. See article
posted 10/20/05
Job Stress has been linked to stroke and heart attack risk in a new study in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine by lead author Mirka Hintsanen, of the University of Helinski, Finland. See the related news article on the Trade Unions Congress website.
posted 10/14/05
CBS News reports that "Job stress may raise heart risk". A new study shows workers who report high levels of job stress have increased levels of an inflammatory marker linked to heart disease. The link between lack of job control and elevated fibrinogen levels remained significant after controlling for other factors, such as age, occupation, use of cholesterol or blood pressure medication, smoking, and alcohol use. Please view this link to the story for further details.
posted 9/30/05
The 2005 APHA Annual Meeting has been rescheduled due to Hurricane Katrina. The new dates are December 10-14, 2005, and the meeting will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The meeting registration has been extended until November 4th. Please visit their website for further information.
posted 9/23/04
The Second ICOH International Conference on Psychosocial Factors at Work was successfully held in Okayama, Japan on August 23-26. Please visit their website for abstracts and final conference information.
posted 9/23/05
A reminder that ABSTRACTS ARE DUE ON OCTOBER 15TH for the 28th ICOH Congress on Occupational Health (Renewing a Century of Committment to a Healthy, Safe and Productive Working Life) to be held in Milan, Italy, June 11-17, 2006. Please go to website for the conference to download abstract forms and for further information.
posted 9/23/05
The Center for Social Epidemiology has closed our main office in Santa Monica. Dr. Peter Schnall will continue his work with the Center, now based in Irvine, California. The new mailing address is:
Center for Social Epidemiology
c/o Dr. Peter Schnall
University of California, COEH
5201 California Avenue, Suite 100
Irvine, California 92617
Susan Holcomb will continue to administer our website, The Job Stress Network. Our e-mail addresses remain the same, and we look forward to your continued participation in the submission of items of interest for our website, including publications, press items, conference information, and announcements..
posted 7/29/05
Dear colleagues,
Just a reminder: The second ICOH conference on Psychosocial Factors at Work will be held at
Please visit the following URL for the updated information: http://eisei.med.okayama-u.ac.jp/hp/WOPS2005/index.htm
Best,
Akizumi Tsutsumi
posted 5/09/05
A list serve has been created at Yahoo to foster communications among those of us working in this field. If you are interested in joining you can do so by sending a message to ICOH-CardiologyinOH-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
posted 5/09/05
The FOURTH ICOH on WORK ENVIRONMENT AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES was successfully held March 9-11 in Newport Beach. Please click here to see the program and many of the presentations.
At the conference business meeting, new leadership positions for the ICOH committee on Cardiology in Occupational Health were appointed as follows:
Congratulations to all. We would like to thank the outgoing Chairperson Tage Kristensen (of Denmark) for his excellent past leadership.
Alicja Bortkiewicz and Elzbieta Gadzicka of Poland have offered to host the Fifth ICOH on Work Environment and Cardiovascular diseases in June of 2008. Details will be forthcoming as they become available. We hope to see all of you there!
posted 4/15/05
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posted 12/19/03
The Canadian Labour Congress statement on "A Workplace That Works" was recently released. Please click here to access the PDF file of this publication.
posted 12/08/03
A day long tribute to June Fisher (encompassing her 70th birthday) will be held on Saturday, November 15th. A seminar entitled
" A Common Goal: Union and Researcher Health and Safety Collaboration" will be in held as part of this celebration in the San Francisco General Hospital Auditorium. For further information, contact: TDICT project c/o Ray Antonio: TWU Local 250 A; 1508 Fillmore Suite 211 San Francisco, California 94115. E-mail: dalexand@aft.org
posted 11/04/03
The 2003 DMEC (Disability Management Employer Coalition; www.dmec.org) ANNUAL CONFERENCE: CREATING THE RIGHT CLIMATE FOR INTEGRATION was held July 20 - July 23, 2003. We present here the PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Peter Schnall on July 23,2003.
posted 7/24/03
posted 6/18/03
An initial planning meeting was held on June 11th, 2003 at UCLA for the upcoming California Public Policy Forum to be held in Spring (tentative date: Thursday (evening session) April 22- Friday (day session), April 23), 2004 and tentatively titled "The Organization of Work and It's Impact on Health". In attendance were: Peter Schnall (Center for Social Epidemiology, UC Irvine) Deborah Gordon (UCSF), Paul Landsbergis (Mt. Sinai School of Medicine), Marianne Brown (UCLA) Kanan Patel-Coleman (UCLA), Dean Baker (UC Irvine), Julia Faucett (UCSF), Ed Yelin (UCSF), Claudia Molina (UCLA), and Susan Holcomb (Center for Social Epidemiology).
We would like to contact (and are interested in interviewing) representatives of key constituencies concerning this topic in the state of California. This includes but is not limited to: labor organizations; corporations; employers; community groups; health organizations; academics; government officials; policy makers; etc. If you are interested in contributing ideas to, or in attending this meeting, please e-mail us: cse@workhealth.org
posted 6/12/03
New Safety Law Gives Workers More Control
posted 5/06/03
The APA-NIOSH conference "Work, Stress, and Health: New Challenges in a Changing Workplace" was recently held (March 20-22, 2003) in Toronto. We present here abstracts and presentations associated with staff and colleagues of the Center for Social Epidemiology.
posted 4/1/03
Dr. Peter Schnall and Dr. Dean Baker have been selected by the International Commision on Occupational Health (ICOH) to host the 4th International Conference on Work Environment and Cardiovascular Diseases. This conference is scheduled for March, 2005, and will be held in collaboration with University of California, Irvine, and University of California, Los Angeles. In addition, Dr. Paul Landsbergis will contribute his expertise by working with Dr. Baker and Dr. Schnall on this important event.
posted 1/21/03
NIOSH and the CDC have published a document entitled "THE CHANGING ORGANIZATION OF WORK AND THE SAFETY AND HEALTH OF WORKING PEOPLE: Knowledge Gaps and Research Directions". This publication is in the public domain and may be downloaded at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/02-116pd.html
Or you can contact the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at:
Niosh - Publications Dissemination
4676 Columbia Parkway
Cincinatti, OH 45226-1998
(800) 356-4674
posted 5/21/02
posted 2/12/02
The APHA has published the final version of the Job Stress resolution passed last November at their annual meeting by the Governing Council. It can be downloaded from http://www.apha.org/legislative/policy/index.htm . Just click and download the PDF version of the 2000 Resolutions, and print out resolution 200018. Or you can access it by clicking here.
This item was submitted by James E. Cone, MD, MPH
Chief, Occupational Health Branch, DHS
1515 Clay St. Suite 1901
Oakland, CA 94612
posted 3/16/01
Dr. Johannes Siegrist writes to inform us that The University of Dusseldorf's Department of Medical Sociology has a new homepage, which includes extensive current information on the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire.
posted 3/16/01
Dr. Lennart Levi has sent us the following information to be disseminated:
Dear Friend and Colleagues,
Allow me to update you concerning some really exciting new developments in the area of "work-related stress and health", all aiming at narrowing the science-policy gap:
1. A GUIDANCE FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
The European Commission has published its "Guidance on Work-Related Stress - Spice of Life or Kiss of Death?" (ISBN 92-828-9806-7) in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. It can be obtained from the European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs, Unit D.6, Bat. J. Monnet, Plateau du Kirchberg, L-2920 Luxembourg. It can also be downloaded from the Internet at: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/h&s/publicat/pubintro_en.htm
It was compiled by me with editorial assistance from my wife Inger Levi.
2. SOCIETIES IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSITION
Based on two international conferences held in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Russia), a book has been published in English and Russian on Issues and Recommendations for Planners of "Investment for Health" in Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (ISBN 91-630-8265-9), by the late Dr. John
Cullen (Ireland), Professors Modest Kabanov (St. Petersburg), Konstantin Sudakov (Moscow), and me. The two editions were made possible by a grant from the Swedish Ministry of Social Affairs and the Gyllenberg Foundation, Helsinki.
3. WORK-RELATED STRESS AND HEALTH IN THREE POST-INDUSTRIAL SETTINGS -THE EUROPEAN UNION, JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES
The proceedings of the First "Triangular" Conference on such issues have now been published in the Journal of Tokyo Medical University, Vol. 58,
No. 3, 2000, p.327-468 (Professor Teruichi Shimomitsu). It includes the Tokyo Declaration that can be downloaded from the Internet at: http://new.workhealth.org//news/tokyo.html
4. INVESTMENT FOR HEALTH - THE VERONA INITIATIVE
In three annual conferences held in Verona, Italy, WHO has addressed social and economic determinants of health and ways to apply such insights to promote health and development at international, national, regional and local level.
What has been accomplished so far will be developed further by a new WHO/Europe Investment for Health and Development Office, to be created soon in Venice, Italy. These activities are coordinated by Dr. Erio Ziglio, Regional Adviser for Social and Economic Development, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen.
5. PROMOTION OF WELLBEING - OPTIONS AND OBSTACLES
In line with the World Health Organization's "Verona Initiative", Inger and I have organized a WHO-sponsored workshop on the "wellbeing" component of WHO's health concept at Villa San Michele, Anacapri, Italy. Its Proceedings, edited by Professor Lowell S. Levin (Yale University) with editorial assistance from Dr. Eraka Bath, will be published by WHO in 2001.
6. MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE
The International Labour Office (ILO), Geneva, Switzerland, has published a study, covering conditions in Finland, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Its Executive Summary, prepared by Drs. Phyllis Gabriel and Marjo-Riitta Liimatainen, can be downloaded from the Internet at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/skills/targets/disability/index.htm
7. THE STATE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH IN THE EU
A report has been compiled by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Bilbao, Spain. It provides information based on national statistics from the 15 EU Member States. It can be downloaded at: http://agency.osha.eu.int/publications/reports/stateofosh/
8. THIRD EUROPEAN SURVEY ON WORKING CONDITIONS
The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin, Ireland) has completed its third European Survey, prepared by Drs. Damien Merllié and Pascal Paoli.
9. REPORTS FROM NIOSH AND HSE
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (United States) has a job stress Internet site, where you also can find its publication "Stress ... at work", prepared by Dr. Steven L. Sauter et al. You can download this at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/jobstres.html
The Health and Safety Executive of the United Kingdom has prepared related materials, including a report on "Help on Work-Related Stress -a Short Guide", to be downloaded at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/stresspk.htm
10. THE HEART OF THE ENTERPRISE
Together with Professor Åke Nygren (Karolinska institutet), CEO Björn Lilliehöök (Swedish Heart-Lung fund), and Ms. Sara Grambo, I am coordinating a national 3-year programme to disseminate and implement current knowledge in the field of work-related stress and health, incollaboration with the Swedish Heart-Lung Fund, the Swedish Workers' Educational Association and the Swedish Federation of Social Insurance Offices, with financial support from AMF Insurance.
Lennart Levi
Chair, World Psychiatric Association's
Section of Occupational Psychiatry
lennart.levi@eurostress.se
posted 1/25/01
A new section entitled Occupational Cardiology: A Paradigm Shift for Clincal Practice has been added to the Job Stress Network. Please note that this site is under construction, and new materials will be added as they become available.
posted 11/18/00
Finn Tuchsen has written to us to update information on the Danish HealthyBus Project. Important steps towards interventions have been committed to and will be implemented in the near future. This information is available on the Internet in English and can be accessed by clicking here.
posted 11/15/00
A new section about the Occupational Stress Index has been posted on the Job Stress Nework. This includes an Introduction, the General Occupational Stress Index, and the Professional Drivers Occupational Stress Index. In addition, there is a question and answer section by Dr. Karen Belkic on issues concerning professional drivers.
posted 9/18/00
is now available through OEM PRESS: (800) 533-8046
In addition, Chapter 1 and Chapter 14 may be viewed within our website.
posted 4/28/00