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This paper aims at revisiting the empirical evidence on the recent trends of countries' integration in global value chains (GVCs) in Europe. It investigates two potential sources of unbalances that these processes might relate to (i) the sectoral specialization of the patterns of international fragmentation, whether high-technology manufacturing or knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), and (ii) the occupational categories that have benefited or been penalized by these trends. A rich empirical mapping of these trends in the European countries is provided, based on World Input–Output Database and European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) data. The results on the overall and sectoral-specific trends of integration in GVCs and the associated changes in the shares of managers and manual workers show dual-speed and qualitatively different integration patterns in Europe, with Eastern European (EE) countries rapidly integrating in high-tech manufacturing and the core of Western countries strengthening their mutual integration in the KIBS area. Despite the relatively "good quality" integration of EE countries, the evidence does not seem to reveal a mirroring upgrading of employment structures. While this empirical contribution does not attempt to identify causal relationships, the picture provided in the paper shows that, overall, integration in GVCs seems to reproduce and perhaps exacerbate the initial asymmetries in the sectoral and employment structure, with employment shares of manual workers reducing on the whole and knowledge-intensive occupations concentrating in Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the factors influencing migration, the labour migration process and the status of migrant laborers in the informal sector, particularly those working in brick kiln factories. It will shed light on the precarious nature of their work, often characterized by informal and verbal contracts. The paper examines occupational and environmental health hazards affecting the labourers and their impact on their well-being, the vulnerability of women in the precarious work environment and the associated health risks in brick kiln factories in India. Design/methodology/approach: The study relies primarily on primary data collection, supplemented by secondary literature and documents. Balangir district was chosen as the research region due to its historical deprivation, underdevelopment and the historical prevalence of environmental distress, leading to distress-driven migration. To gather primary data, 40 respondents were selected from five selected blocks in Balangir district, resulting in a total of 200 respondents. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with 35 individuals across the selected blocks, with approximately seven participants from each block. In addition, interviews of 10 kids were taken and around 10 key informants including the trade union leaders, intellectuals and civil society activists. Findings: Migrant labourers, including men, women and children, face significant health issues and are exposed to similar occupational health hazards. Internal migrant women workers are more vulnerable as they face critical health risks during pregnancy in host areas due to unfavourable working conditions and limited access to health-care services. Factors such as strenuous work, long working hours, poor nutrition and inadequate maternal care contribute to adverse outcomes such as spontaneous abortion, premature delivery and abnormal postnatal development. Research limitations/implications: The brick kiln industry presents a distressing reality for men who are highly vulnerable to occupational accidents, and women workers are exposed to sexual abuse, exploitation and violence. The prevalence of physical harassment, ranging from leering to rape, is alarmingly high among women. These incidents not only inflict physical harm but also cause severe psychological trauma and increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Despite the existence of laws aimed at protecting women's rights and addressing sexual offences, the workers often remain unaware of their rights. This lack of awareness further compounds the vulnerability of women workers and perpetuates their exploitation in the workplace. Practical implications: To address health issues comprehensively, interventions should encompass the entire migrant population, including men and children. Strategies should focus on improving access to health-care services, promoting occupational health and safety measures, ensuring proper immunization and nutrition for children and addressing the broader social determinants of health. Empowering women with knowledge about reproductive health and rights, raising awareness about available health-care services and strengthening health-care providers' capacity to cater to migrant populations are crucial steps towards addressing health disparities. Social implications: Urgent interventions and policies are needed to address the health vulnerabilities of internal migrant workers and women workers. It is required to ensure health-care accessibility, improving working conditions, ensuring access to maternal care and essential supplements and providing health-care services for both pregnant women and their children, regardless of migration status. Originality/value: The study focused on precarious health and occupational hazards and accidents faced by migrant workers. It highlights women migrant labourer's and children's vulnerability in the Brick Klin sector, which is a value addition to the existing knowledge in social science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The shipbreaking sector in Bangladesh has spurred extensive academic and policy debates on relations between shipbreaking industries, environmental degradation and the health security of their workers. As shipbreaking is an economically significant industry in Bangladesh, it needs to implement both domestic and global mechanisms for environmental conservation and the protection of the labourers' health from environmental risks. The purpose of this paper is to primarily explore the environmental and health security issues in shipbreaking activities in Bangladesh. It also identifies the challenges in implementing the rules and regulations for protecting the health of the workers at shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh and preserving the marine environment. Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative paper based on secondary materials, including journal articles, books and national and international reports. It critically reviews the existing literature, rules, regulations and policing on shipbreaking with a particular focus on the environment and health security of the workers. Findings: This paper finds that the implementation of the rules and regulations in shipbreaking in Bangladesh is complicated because of weak implementation mechanisms, political and economic interests of the yard owners, lack of coordination among different agencies, lack of adequate training and awareness among the workers and workers' poor economic condition, which contribute to the degradation of marine and local environments and trigger health hazards among the workers. Therefore, degrading the environment and undermining occupational health and safety regulations have become regular; thus, accidental death and injury to the workers are common in this sector. Originality/value: This paper is an important study on the issues of workers' health and safety and environmental hazards in the shipyard. It reports how the health security of the workers in shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh is vulnerable, and environmental rules are challenged. Finally, this paper frames some policy implications to safeguard the workers' health rights and the marine environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the constructed rural community residents' health information literacy evaluation system, this paper proposes a rural community residents' health information literacy evaluation method based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets. Based on the intuitionistic fuzzy set, the multistage interactive group evaluation method whose data form is a point set has been expanded, and the intuitionistic fuzzy set that expresses objective things more delicately and truly is used to reflect the evaluator's preference, which can well simulate the human decision-making psychology and improve the applicability of the interactive group evaluation method. How to accurately measure the value information of relevant intuitionistic fuzzy numbers in uncertain environment has become a difficult problem. Therefore, it is very important to excavate important information in intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, deal with intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, and study the theory and method of multicriteria decision-making under fuzzy information. In this paper, we conducted a research on the health information literacy evaluation model of rural community residents based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets and multicriteria, and found that the formation rate of health behaviors of manual workers is relatively low, and the formation rate of healthy behaviors of female, elderly, and highly educated people is relatively high. A high level of education is conducive to improving the level of residents' health knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health scientists have claimed that urban transit workers suffer from higher rates of stress-related disease than workers in most other occupations. This paper examines how a network of scientists and labor organizers constructed the problem of transit worker stress as a global phenomenon. According to study participants, transit workers worldwide are subject to a similar set of stress-related risks, which can serve as a basis for worker solidarity. This paper analyzes how the concept of stress has been used to identify pathogenic environments and considers anthropological claims that the concept often abstracts and depoliticizes harmful arrangements. The findings show that scientists and labor organizers use the stress concept to construct a figure of a universally at-risk transit worker that serves the ends of transnational labor organizing. At the same time, by focusing on the case of San Francisco's transit workers, this analysis shows that a persistent association between stress and 'hard work'—in both lay and scientific discourses—may block recognition of stress-related harms for transit workers who are accused of being lazy and overpaid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality (VR) training offers the capability to industrial workers to acquire skills and address complex tasks by immersing them in a safe and controlled virtual environment. Immersive VR (IVR) training is adopted in many diverse settings, yet little systematic work currently exists on how researchers have applied it for industrial skills training and if it holds the potential to be applied remotely. In this review, 78 representative studies were analysed to answer three key questions: Is IVR an effective training method for industrial skills training? How is research in this field applied? And how can we make IVR training more effective and applicable for remote training? We can testify that IVR is a promising training method with high effectiveness scores. However, our analysis has uncovered several gaps in the application of IVR training, like the lack of learning theories in the design process and limited metrics beyond time and scores. Additionally, our review also exposed unexplored but intriguing avenues of research, like the utilisation of biosensors for users' data collection, haptics that increases realism and applications with remote training potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Occupational health factors such as shift work, sleep, fatigue, and work environment jeopardise the health and safety of gas station workers. This calls for new research to investigate how the working environment and characteristics impact the occupational health of workers at gas stations. However, minimal research has been conducted in this field, especially those involving psychological and behavioural factors, occupational stress, and so forth. OBJECTIVE: This review was performed to investigate the present condition of the occupational risk of gas station workers in this safety-critical position. METHODS: Five databases (Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Google Scholar, and PsycINFO) were searched for relevant peer-reviewed studies. Results were selected according to these criteria: studies on fatigue, shift work, sleep, and physical and mental health of gas station employees; published on or before November 11, 2021; papers in English. RESULTS: Twenty studies were considered for the final analysis. The results showed that shift work at gas stations leads to psychological and physiological problems. The psychological consequences included anxiety, stress, and depression, while the physiological consequences included biochemical changes and lifestyle consequences. CONCLUSION: Shift work and the specific working environment of gas station employees adversely affect their sleep, stress levels, physical and mental health, and turnover intention. This systematic review allowed us to consider the occupational risk factors that can lead to sickness or accidents and contribute to reducing these risk factors. Realistic countermeasures ought to be established and interventions must be explored to mitigate risks to life, property, and the environment in operating gas stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the worldwide ergonomics community increases its sophistication in solving global problems, specific systemic challenges still plague Indians in urban mega-cities such as Mumbai. This paper aims to highlight the gaps using the knowns-unknowns framework, which exists in the Indian ergonomics community's capability to address such systemic challenges. Within this framework, the epistemological category of 'unknown-knowns' is explicated further using a case study of urban accidental deaths and injuries in Mumbai, India. These systemic casualties are essential to note because they are not only hidden from public awareness but can be avoided by proper ergonomics interventions. The article concludes with four main directions for the Indian ergonomics community in solving systemic problems in terms of, (a) capacity-building, (b) advocacy; (c) developing all realms of ergonomics with particular emphasis on complex systems; (d) developing India-centric pathways for ergonomics as a discipline. Practitioner's summary: This paper aims to highlight gaps in the academic Indian ergonomics community's capacity to solve public systemic problems. An India-centric way forward for awareness, engagement, and academic capacity building is suggested to develop a comprehensive national ergonomics mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines the prevalence of long COVID across different demographic groups in the US and the extent to which workers with impairments associated with long COVID have engaged in pandemic-related remote work. Methods: We use the US Household Pulse Survey to evaluate the proportion of all adults who self-reported to (1) have had long COVID, and (2) have activity limitations due to long COVID. We also use data from the US Current Population Survey to estimate linear probability regressions for the likelihood of pandemic-related remote work among workers with and without disabilities. Results: Findings indicate that women, Hispanic people, sexual and gender minorities, individuals without 4-year college degrees, and people with preexisting disabilities are more likely to have long COVID and to have activity limitations from long COVID. Remote work is a reasonable arrangement for people with such activity limitations and may be an unintentional accommodation for some people who have undisclosed disabilities. However, this study shows that people with disabilities were less likely than people without disabilities to perform pandemic-related remote work. Conclusion: The data suggest this disparity persists because people with disabilities are clustered in jobs that are not amenable to remote work. Employers need to consider other accommodations, especially shorter workdays and flexible scheduling, to hire and retain employees who are struggling with the impacts of long COVID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of employers implement worksite health promotion programs (WHPPs). In particular, blue-collar workers may benefit from these WHPPs. However, they are less likely than other workers to participate and little is known about which factors affect their participation. The aim of this scoping literature review is to produce an overview of studies on factors associated with blue-collar workers' participation in WHPPs. Five databases were searched: BSU, PsycINFO, Medline, Web of Science and CINAHL. The review included peer-reviewed empirical studies on determinants associated with blue-collar workers' participation in WHPPs. Factors were extracted and categorized. Similar determinants were clustered and the direction of the associations was further examined. Nineteen papers describing 11 qualitative and 4 quantitative studies met the eligibility criteria. Seventy-seven determinants were analyzed (in quantitative studies) or reported (in qualitative studies). In most studies, only participant characteristics were investigated. Participation may be enhanced by addressing needs, tailoring from a broad range of activities, offering group activities, requiring little effort and commitment at the start, using incentives, leading by example and combining WHPPs with occupational safety interventions. WHPPs seem to be able to reach blue-collar workers, but it remains particularly challenging to reach shift workers and those who do not yet experience health complaints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore the factors influencing the emergence and growth of informal e-waste activities and to examine workers' motivation for involvement in informal e-waste activities. Semi-structured interviews and observations among actors in the recently established Dagomba-Line e-waste site in Kumasi, Ghana were employed to gather relevant data. Emergence and growth of e-waste activities are largely influenced by spatial, political, socio-cultural and economic factors. The reuse and open disposal of e-waste are the common practices due to the cost of transportation to a final disposal site. Similar to findings at the well-established Agbogbloshie e-waste site, also in Ghana, scavengers are found at the bottom of the e-waste financial ladder. The major motivating factor for engaging in e-waste handling is poverty. Additionally, some respondents mentioned the lucrative nature of the activity, landlessness, and peer influence as a motivation. The results showed that younger workers (below 35 years) were more likely to be engaged in the activity for reasons of peer influence and poverty and major source of livelihood. The paper recommends that policy and planning should reflect ways of delivering and creating stable socio-economic conditions that promote an inclusive and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes to unravelling the perceptions of urban commercial drivers regarding their vulnerability to catching the SARS-CoV-2 virus while at work. It further examines how the perception of vulnerability influences personal use of face masks by drivers, as well as on their insistence on appropriate masking behaviour by other persons on-board public transport. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in informal public transport in Africa could facilitate the spread of the corona virus. However, the use of face masks, among other enhanced mitigation measures significantly contain and minimize the spread of the virus. Primary data, obtained through surveys at five major public transport terminals in Accra, was analysed and interpreted using the Health Belief Model as an explanatory framework. Results indicate that most drivers have a high vulnerability perception to Covid-19. It further emerged that older drivers, in particular, consistently wore face masks and insisted on other persons in their commercial vehicles to follow suit. Socio-demographic factors, and the need to ensure one's personal safety and those of loved ones were critical determinants of face mask use among surveyed drivers. The study thus recommends that public awareness campaigns should strategically focus attention on the younger generation of drivers (i.e. 18–39 years) who perceived themselves to be immune to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Also, the collaborative efforts of state and non-state actors, like the transport operator unions, must be further strengthened if the gains made so far against Covid-19 is to be sustained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates conditional demand models to examine the impact of immigration and different measures of offshoring on the labour demand and demand elasticities of native workers in four different types of occupational groups: managers/professionals, clerical workers, craft (skilled) workers and manual workers. The analysis is conducted for the period 2008–2017 for four economies Austria, Belgium, France and Spain. Our results point to important and occupation-specific direct and indirect effects: both offshoring – particularly services offshoring – and immigration have negative direct employment effects on all occupations, but native clerks and manual workers are affected the most, and native managers/professionals the least. Our results also identify an important elasticity-channel of immigration and offshoring and show that some groups of native workers can also gain from globalisation through an improvement in their wage-bargaining position. Overall, our results indicate a deterioration in the bargaining power of native manual workers arising from both immigration and offshoring and an improvement in the bargaining position of native craft workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The weak preventive culture among workers in the construction sector leads to the underestimation of risks posed by the presence or handling of chemical agents on-site and, consequently, harms workers' health. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this paper are to classify exposure to chemical agents present or used on-site, determine workers' perception of said agents and establish the influence that socio-demographic variables have on chemical agent exposure and the perception of such exposure. METHODS: A total of 490 workers in the Spanish construction sector participated in this study. The data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire that explored socio-demographic characteristics, the degree of exposure to chemical agents, attitudes toward exposure and the prevention of consequences. The underlying dimensions of perception were researched using an adapted version of the questionnaire used by the Paul Slovic group to apply the psychometric paradigm. RESULTS: The levels of exposure to and handling of chemical agents found in the sample were high and moderate, respectively. The participants were found to have advanced knowledge about the effects of exposure, with the majority of the workers considering the probability of suffering a serious disease to be low. Statistically significant associations were found between the socio-demographic variables identified in the sample and the various exposure characteristics. A factor analysis performed on the underlying dimensions of perception provided a final version of the instrument comprising two factors. CONCLUSION: Measures are needed to improve the preventive culture among workers in the construction sector and reinforce on-site preventive measures aimed at preventing or minimising the consequences of exposure to chemical agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses quasi-experimental variation in payroll tax rates in Finland to investigate how firms use their input factors. We find that higher payroll tax rates lead to large employment responses and have no effects on employee-level earnings. As payroll taxes increase, firms substitute away from low-skilled, routine, and manual workers. Higher firm-level payroll tax rates also slightly decrease the total output of firms. Our results imply that firm-level production and input factor choices are clearly affected by payroll taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of smart factories, digital twin may be a key for improving ergonomics analyses related to manual assembly activities. The use of digital technologies can help in bypassing some biases related to observational methods and speeding up the ergonomics analyses. This paper proposes a framework based on the development of a digital environment for carrying out ergonomics simulations of complex working systems in which a number of workers and other variables have to be considered for ergonomics evaluation. Based on such framework, a case study considering heterogeneous workers in a manual car assembly system has been analysed, and the impact of the implementation of different job rotation strategies has been studied. The tool is demonstrated to be effective in evaluating the physical ergonomic risk of a large number of configurations, and the results highlighted that proper job rotation strategies may affect the final scores of the considered indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies across the globe have intensified the digital interconnectedness of their manufacturing processes. Much attention was devoted to how industrial employment will be affected in this new production paradigm. In this paper, we use survey data collected from German industrial workers in 2014 and 2020 to contribute to the literature on digitalisation and industrial employment. This is the first scientific study on Industry 4.0 that empirically deals with the development of key parameters of industrial employment over time. Our findings support the argument that whilst increased digital interconnectedness creates more opportunities for highly skilled workers, the extent to which manual workers will be substituted is often overestimated. Second, our data suggests that the operations of larger companies tend to be more highly digitally interconnected than those of smaller firms. We also provide evidence that German industrial workers are less likely to expect substantial job losses through digitalisation than in 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversation and dialogue are used as a central process within youth work. Whilst much has been written about the micro-skills of conversation, less attention has been paid to the philosophical realm. This paper examines how dialogue in youth work can be deepened when juxtaposed with the philosophies, principles and theories of conversation. Using qualitative and phenomenological methodologies, this study involved 32 youth workers from across Northern Ireland, in focus groups (N = 8) and interviews (N = 24). The findings illustrate how youth workers perceived dialogue in their practice, pointing to the connections with relationship-building, the development of critical consciousness and the equalizing of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Turkish Sleep Medicine is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the management of distal radial fractures (DRF) and the unanswered questions surrounding their treatment. It highlights the increasing use of anterior locking plating (ALP) for DRFs and emphasizes the importance of understanding fracture anatomy and the limitations of ALP. The article also explores the use of ALP in corrective osteotomies without bone graft and the need for further research in this area. Additionally, it examines the advantages and nuances of operative versus non-operative treatment for DRFs, including the duration of sick leave and long-term outcomes. The study concludes that while short-term outcomes may be improved with ALP, the number of sick days was higher in the operatively treated group. Furthermore, long-term outcomes for DRFs were generally good, regardless of radiological outcomes, but the likelihood of a malunion becoming symptomatic remains unclear. The article suggests that future studies should consider the overall alignment of the wrist to determine the relationship between alignment and outcome in all populations. [Extracted from the article]

Since the COVID-19 situation keeps going on started from 2019. Many solutions are to against the spreading of coronavirus disease. The nurses have died, and other medical workers are in critical condition from operating in the hospital. It is a deadly virus that kills many humans; Thailand's solutions have urged the public to be confident about the Government's handling of the 2019-novel Coronavirus. At the same time, everyone has to embrace the new normal lifestyle and social distancing while patiently waiting for scientists and doctors to discover vaccines and treatments to defeat COVID-19. This work proposes an innovation of wireless body temperature that instead of the used manual by medical workers in the hospital of "the contactless body temperature monitoring (CBTM) of the in-patient department (IPD)." The proposed CBTM implementation applied artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The specified infrared body temperature on the MLX90614 DCI used for the medical field was selected to embed the IoT-CBTM for IPD using the IoT platform. The MLX90614 is an accurate sensor that matches to use for medical promotion. The detected information data from IPD will be sent to the host computer and stored in the cloud internet service at a microwave band frequency of 2.5/5.0 GHz. This paper presents the accuracy test of the IoT-CBTM prototype calibrated with the manual body temperature verifying device under Thai Industrial Institute to close with the accuracy standard requirement. The experiments were repeated many times until raise up over 70% to get more reliability accuracy. The findings indicated that the proposed prototype achieved a reliability calibration of 74.7%. The actual use of IoT-CBTM is convenient to the nurse, doctor, and medical workers to collect body temperature data into the host computer, and they can monitor this information at all times in the working room, which is far away from the COVID-19 patients. Therefore, this novel innovation was achieved because it took to try out at a local health-promoting hospital in Songkhla Province, Thailand, which the IoT-CBTM system was satisfied by the medical staff because it can safe their time, and genuinely reaching the new norm on medical distancing real-time monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Berliner Journal für Soziologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With the rapid development of modern society, the rhythm of people's life and work is also forced to speed up. Stress from various fields makes people's health worse and worse. There are all kinds of pressures, and everyone in the torrent of the times has to face them. All kinds of pressures include life pressure, study pressure, and work pressure. Work pressure mainly comes from the pressure source, the individual's cognition of the pressure source, and the state of tension. Once too much work pressure is generated, it will bring unnecessary trouble to employees' lives and work and will also affect the company's interests. How to effectively alleviate work pressure is a problem that we urgently need to solve now. Specific problems are analyzed in detail. First, analyze the causes of work pressure. First, the pressure source is identified, and the pressure source generally exists objectively. It generally includes heavy work tasks, long working hours, and frequent job transfers. It is not easy to go through the employees themselves. Second is change, so this requires changing the individual's perception of the source of stress and the state of tension. In the continuous practice and research process of predecessors, some effective methods have been found, and music therapy is one of many methods, and music therapy has a wider range of effects and longer-lasting effects. This article mainly introduces how to effectively use music therapy in the work environment. It also includes a specific analysis of specific problems. The employees are mainly divided into mental workers and manual workers, and they are provided with different music therapy programs. The role of music therapy in workplace health management is such that it can effectively alleviate the work pressure of employees, enhance the feelings between employees, and improve the work efficiency of employees. Finally, the paper is summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coal miners have been reported to have higher rates of risky/harmful alcohol misuse; however, it is not known if metalliferous mining employees whose working conditions differ in workplace practices, also have increased rates of risky/harmful alcohol misuse. This study aimed to examine alcohol consumption in a sample of Australian metalliferous mining workers and to examine the demographic and workplace factors associated with risky/harmful alcohol use. Methods: All employees from a convenience sample of four Australian mine sites were invited to complete a paper-based cross-sectional survey between June 2015 and May 2017. The survey contained questions relating to social networks, health behaviors, psychological distress, demographic characteristics, and risky/harmful drinking. Current alcohol use was measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a validated measure of risky and/or harmful drinking. Factors associated with risky/harmful drinking were investigated using univariate and multivariable logistic regression. Findings: A total of 1,799 participants completed the survey (average site response rate 95%). Overall, 94.8% of males and 92.1% of females reported using alcohol in the preceding 12 months. The odds of risky/harmful alcohol use were significantly higher in those who were male, younger, and reported higher psychological distress. Conclusions/Application to Practice: This study identified that metalliferous mining employees engage in at-risk levels of alcohol consumption significantly higher than the national average despite workplace policies and practices that restrict alcohol use. Personal and workplace risk factors that may help target specific employee groups and inform the development of tailored, integrated multicomponent intervention strategies for the industry were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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INTRODUCTION Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a disease caused by many factors including occupational and environmental factors. Secondhand smoke (SHS) can affect cognitive function. However, there is limited recent epidemiological research on how SHS and occupational factors affect AD in Zhejiang province. METHODS We established a cohort of an AD high-risk population. In 2018, a cohort of 1742 elderly aged ≥60 years was established. In 2020, the cohort was followed up, and a total of 1545 people participated in the two surveys. Data collection included demographic and economic information such as age, gender, occupation, education level etc., and relative health behavior information such as smoking, drinking and tea drinking, etc. Basic physical examination data included height, weight, blood pressure, etc. At the same time, related cognitive status was assessed. Cox proportional hazards regression models, both unadjusted and adjusted models, were used to determine associations between cohort characteristics and AD. RESULTS The results showed that SHS exposure and occupational characteristics were associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairments in seniors. Subgroups who used to work as blue-collar workers, who never worked, who kept standing for most of the time at work, and who were engaged in hard physical labor prior to retirement, had high incidence rates of AD. CONCLUSIONS It was revealed that SHS, standing for most of the time and hard physical labor were associated risk factors of AD among seniors, compared with white-collar work. We recommend that the government establish a community supervisory mechanism to persuade smokers to quit or control smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers: Revista de Sociologia is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In recent years, human workers in manual assembly lines are increasingly being supported by the deployment of complementary technology. Collaborative robots (or cobots) represent a low-threshold opportunity for partial automation and are increasingly being utilised by manufacturing corporations. As collaborative robots can be used to either conduct tasks in parallel to the human worker or collaborate with the worker on an identic task, industrial planners experience an increasingly complex environment of assembly line balancing. This contribution proposes three different decomposition approaches for Benders' decomposition algorithms exploring the multiple possible partitions of the formulation variables. We evaluate the performance of the algorithms by conducting extensive computational experiments using test instances from literature and compare the findings with results generated by a commercial solver and a metaheuristic solution procedure. The results demonstrate the Benders' decomposition algorithms' efficiency of finding exact solutions even for large instances, outperforming the benchmark procedures in computational effort and solution quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is not a clinical study, but it has some important conclusions for occupational health. Strategies for reducing occupational stigma should be prioritized to increase gig workers' workplace well-being. Giving gig workers more control over their work is likely to buffer the detrimental effect of occupational stigma on work-contingent self-esteem. Objective: In this article, the influence of occupational stigma on workplace well-being of platform-based food-delivery workers is examined. The mediation effect of work-contingent self-esteem and the moderating effect of job control are also assessed. Methods: Questionnaire data from 362 platform-based food-delivery workers were gathered at three time points, and multiple regression analyses were used to test each hypothesis. Results: Occupational stigma reduces workplace well-being of platform-based food-delivery workers, and this relationship is mediated by work-contingent self-esteem. Job control exerts a negative moderating effect on the relationship between occupational stigma and platform-based food-delivery workers' work-contingent self-esteem. Conclusions: Strategies for reducing occupational stigma should be prioritized to increase workplace well-being in gig workers. Giving them more control over their work will likely alleviate the detrimental effect of occupational stigma on work-contingent self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of Augmented Reality Smart Glasses (ARSGs) in order-picking tasks in warehouses and explores their impact on workers' well-being. While previous research has primarily focused on the performance advantages of ARSGs, this study provides a new perspective by investigating the human factor and perceptions of worker well-being in two empirical studies. The results corroborate previous findings that ARSGs enhance order-picking efficiency by improving workers' speed and reducing error rates. Additionally, the results reveal that using ARSGs directly increases perceptions of well-being compared to traditional support tools. However, contrary to expectations, ARSG use does not generally lead to higher job satisfaction or perceived productivity enhancements for all workers. Technology savviness is identified as a crucial individual factor that shapes these effects, with tech-savvy workers benefiting more from ARSG use. Overall, this research underscores the importance of tailoring ARSG implementation to the specific needs and characteristics of the workforce and highlights the need for further investigation into the beneficiaries of ARSG technology. • Augmented reality smart glasses (ARSGs) improve efficiency in order-picking tasks, enhancing speed and reducing error rates. • ARSG use directly increases workers' perceptions of well-being compared to traditional support tools. • This is driven by increased job satisfaction and perceived productivity, but only for workers with high technology savviness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Funeral workers (FWs) work within increasingly medicalized and commodified death-management systems. This study explored Worker Health and Safety (WHS) impacts in contemporary death management on Australian and Irish FWs. Mixed methods combined a survey and interviews. Survey data were descriptively summarized, interviews thematically analyzed, and a schematic systems model developed of the combined results. Survey participants (n = 45) reported psychosocial hazards from work pressures, competition, and fatigue. Psychosocial hazards were more frequently reported than physical hazards by Australian FWs. Physical hazards were of greater concern to Irish FWs. Themes from 11 interviews were: Personal Attributes, Work Demands, and Socio-Cultural Context. All FWs reported conflicts between individual capacities, work demands, and resources, resulting in hazardous personal states including difficulty sleeping and stress. Respectfully manually handling human remains and "event management" demands for increasingly elaborate funerals created negative WHS impacts. This research informs risk management for FWs and other workers in the increasingly complex death-care industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how livelihood security is co-produced through multiple strategies in Southeast Asia's agrarian transformation, by considering the case of Cambodian migrant workers, who cobble together their livelihood through a combination of land, labour and debt. These workers leverage small landholdings as collateral to take on debts to finance migration to Thailand, where low wages and insecure employment inhibit their ability to repay such debts. The traditional social welfare role of land as a safety net is superseded by the use of land as collateral to access microfinance loans, which are also commonly used to respond to livelihood shocks. In this financialised context, social protection schemes insufficiently address the combined livelihood risks that are assumed by workers and do not provide meaningful protection to workers. Drawing on field interviews, we argue that these various supposed sources of livelihood security rather act to increase precarity for workers, by exacerbating labour discipline and dependence on employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sickness absence has been linked to short and long, as well as poor, sleep in a few studies. Such studies have started from a baseline measurement and followed up on subsequent sickness absence. In the present study, however, we focused on the change in biennial reports of sickness absence and sleep measures (using work-related variables as possible modifiers). We also searched for an interaction between predictors and gender since women report more sleep problems. Methods: A total of 5377 individuals (random sample from the Swedish working population) participated across five biennial points of measurement. Data were analyzed using mixed-model logistic regression. Results: The multivariable analysis of variation across the five time points showed that the significant sleep-related predictors of sickness absence (at least one occurrence during the preceding year) were sleep duration during days off (OR = 1.16, 95% Cl = 1.08;1.24) and sleep problems (OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.33;1.51). These also remained significant after the addition of psychosocial work factors. Sensitivity analyses indicated that a 9 h sleep duration during days off may represent a critical level in terms of increased sickness absence and that late rising contributed to the association between sickness absence and long sleep duration during days off. Women reported a higher sickness absence than men (OR = 2.16, 95% CI = 1.74;2.68) and had a higher probability of sickness absence for long sleep during days off and during the workweek than men. Conclusions: It was concluded that increases in sleep problems and sleep duration during days off are longitudinally associated with changes in sickness absence and that women have a closer link between the two. This suggests that treatment for sleep problems may reduce the risk of sickness absence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study's objective was to explore occupational well-being of brick kiln workers. The impetus of this research is to improve the brick kiln laborers' well-being. The study's population of concern included the four districts of Punjab, Pakistan. Two districts selected from the South, Punjab, Multan and Jhang, and two from east of the Punjab are Sialkot and Kasur. The in-depth interviews (qualitative) & interview schedule (quantitative) methods were used to collect data. For the qualitative part, 10 stakeholders were selected purposively for in-depth interviews. For quantitative part, the convenient sampling technique was used for data collection. Both, qualitative data and quantitative data were analyzed through diverse statistics procedures as per requirements of study. Results show that occupational well-being was moderately positively correlated with theoretical model of Keyes. The findings are based on qualitative part with theme interpretation, and next quantitative part is divided into two distinct segments, namely descriptive data analysis and inferential data analysis. Data was analyzed by using SPSS & smart PLS-SEM, which are main tools used to scrutinize structural equation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic workers (DWs) are integral to the daily lives of a significant portion of India's urban population, with an estimated 3.9 million individuals employed in domestic roles in urban areas, mostly women. This article explores the perceptions of home, house, and safe spaces among migrant women DWs in Delhi. Through in-depth interviews, it delves into their lived experiences as both breadwinners and survivors of domestic violence, revealing that (a) house and home are differently conceptualized by these workers; (b) their homes are perceived as warzones, reinforcing patriarchy through incidents of domestic violence and gendered subordination; and (c) women DWs navigate the complexities of conflicting identities as breadwinners and survivors within unequal gendered relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In spite of millions of quasi-formal workers in the European Union (EU), there is still limited understanding of what motivates workers to participate in these detrimental employment schemes, and why certain groups of workers exhibit higher inclination towards it. This article takes a novel approach by putting prospective envelope wage earners in the centre of this analysis. Design/methodology/approach: Data from the 2019 Special Eurobarometer on undeclared work are used, and two-level random intercept cumulative logit modelling is applied. Findings: One in seven fully declared EU workers would have nothing against receiving one part of their wages off-the-books. Manual workers and individuals whose job assumes travelling are the most willing to accept such kind of remuneration, and the same applies to workers with low tax morale and those who perceive the risk of being detected and persecuted as very small. On the other hand, women, older individuals, married persons and employees from large enterprises express the smallest inclination towards envelope wages. The environment in which an individual operates also plays a non-negligible role as the quality of the pension system and the strength of social contract were also identified as significant determinants of workers' readiness to accept envelope wages. Originality/value: This article fills in the gap in the literature by analysing what workers think about wage under-reporting and what factors drive their willingness to accept envelope wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Data from different countries suggest a higher prevalence of anxiety, depression and suicides among manual and trade workers in the construction industry than in the general population. The present review examines the causes and effects of poor mental health and the effectiveness of interventions to improve manual and trade workers' mental health in the construction industry. It also identifies gaps in research and makes several suggestions for practice and future research. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted to examine and consolidate evidence reported in 54 relevant journal articles published between 2010 and 2021 on the mental health of manual and trade workers. Findings: Three major themes emerged in the review of the 54 journal articles: causes of poor mental health, effects of poor mental health and interventions to improve mental health. The leading causes of poor mental health among construction manual and trade workers are poor work-life balance, high job demand, poor cultural norms and mental health stigma, chronic bodily pain, lack of social support, workplace injustice and job insecurity. The prominent effects of poor mental health are suicidality, drug and alcohol addiction, poor workplace safety and poor work performance. Moreover, the study found that some of the strategies recently implemented in the construction industry to improve mental health are deemed ineffective, or their effectiveness remains inconclusive. Research limitations/implications: The review's scope is limited to research on manual and trade workers, and it did not investigate the mental health of construction professionals and construction management students. Originality/value: The review provides valuable insights into the causes and effects of poor mental health among manual and trade workers and the effectiveness of mental health interventions in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In South Korea, Korean Chinese workers experience ethnic discrimination although they share physical similarities and ethnic heritage with native-born Koreans. This study aimed to examine whether perceived ethnic discrimination is associated with poor self-rated health and whether the association differs by gender among Korean Chinese waged workers in South Korea. Methods: We conducted a pooled cross-sectional analysis using data of 13,443 Korean Chinese waged workers from the Survey on Immigrants' Living Conditions and Labor Force conducted in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Based on perceived ethnic discrimination, asking for fair treatment, and subsequent situational improvement, respondents were classified into the following four groups: "Not experienced," "Experienced, not asked for fair treatment," "Experienced, asked for fair treatment, not improved," and "Experienced, asked for fair treatment, improved." Poor self-rated health was assessed using a single question "How is your current overall health?" We applied logistic regression to examine the association between perceived ethnic discrimination and poor self-rated health, with gender-stratified analyses. Results: We found an association between ethnic discrimination and poor self-rated health among Korean Chinese waged workers. In the gender-stratified analysis, the "Experienced, not asked for fair treatment" group was more likely to report poor self-rated health compared to the "Not experienced" group, regardless of gender. However, gender differences were observed in the group stratified by situational improvements. For male workers, no statistically significant association was found in the "Experienced, asked for fair treatment, improved" group with poor self-rated health (odd ratios: 0.87, 95% confidence intervals: 0.30–2.53). Conversely, among female workers, a statistically significant association was observed (odd ratios: 2.63, 95% confidence intervals: 1.29–5.38). Conclusions: This study is the first to find an association between perceived ethnic discrimination and poor self-rated health, along with gender differences in the association between situational improvements after asking for fair treatment and poor self-rated health among Korean Chinese waged workers in South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latex allergy is a disease with increasing prevalence and importance and can be seen in the whole population, especially in healthcare workers and those working in rubber production. It can lead to clinical pictures ranging from allergic urticaria to dermatitis, rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma, and even anaphylaxis. Various methods are used for the diagnosis, including the skin prick and patch tests, latex-specific immunoglobulin E, and nasal provocation. Latex fruit syndromes may also occur due to cross-reactivity with latex. Preventive measures and patient education constitute the most important part of the treatment. Medication, latex immunotherapy, and the use of omalizumab are among the main treatment modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The largest portion of migrant labor in Thailand originates from Myanmar, with almost half consisting of female workers. Most female migrant workers (MWs) are of reproductive age and often experience physical illnesses, including pregnancy and childbirth. Although access to prenatal care and delivery services for Myanmar MWs has been previously studied, their challenges in accessing other reproductive health services (HSs) have not yet been explored. Purpose: This study aimed to explore problems in accessing health services experienced by women of reproductive age (WRA) who were members of the Myanmar migrant workforce in Thailand. Methods: The present study employed a qualitative research design. The samples consisted of 20 informants aged 18-49 years old, who were Myanmar WRA working as migrant laborers for more than one year. They were subdivided into two groups: 10 participants provided information through in-depth interviews, and the other 10 participated in focus group discussions, with each group comprising 5 individuals. The researchers selected informants using criterion sampling. Data analysis utilized the Diekelmann and Allen method. Results: The findings revealed two general themes, including care ineligibility and problems in accessing health services. The six major issues among Myanmar WRA include inability to purchase or renew health insurance cards (HICs), HIC or social security wage deduction avoidance, communication issues, hospital inexperience, the transit fare, and admission refusal. Conclusion: Despite available health services, migrant women from Myanmar encounter barriers such as inability to purchase health insurance cards, wage deduction concerns, communication issues, hospital unfamiliarity, transportation expenses, and admission refusal. Addressing these barriers through policy interventions and support mechanisms is crucial for enhancing healthcare access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Foreign domestic workers (FDWs) face challenges that impact their psychosocial well-being and health behaviours. This study utilized bibliometric analyses to examine research trends on the psychosocial and health-related behaviours of FDWs in the Asia Pacific region. The bibliometric analysis comprised citation analysis and co-occurrence analysis. A systematic literature search in academic databases, including Scopus, identified 73 relevant articles published from 1996 to 2023. The growth trend revealed a steady increase in the number of publications on FDWs' psychosocial and health-related behaviours in Asia over the years, with significant growth from 2018 to 2023, indicating an increasing interest in this research area. The citation analysis identified influential studies, active authors, and sources with high publication numbers in this research area. The analysis also examined the geographical distribution of studies, identifying the countries and organizations in Asia that contributed significantly to FDW research. The co-occurrence analysis of keywords identified key themes and concepts in the literature. The most active keywords identified include "COVID-19", "Depression", "Foreign Domestic Workers", "Mental Health", and "Quality of Life". In conclusion, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the current trends and state of knowledge on the psychosocial and health-related behaviours of FDWs in the Asia Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective was to investigate self-reported hand eczema, and skin complaints at other skin locations among workers exposed to particulate matter, especially ultrafine particles. Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study on workers from one ferro-silicon smelter plant, eight chimney sweeper stations and one firefighter station across Norway. Participants answered an extended version of the Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire (NOSQ-2022), with additional questions about whole-body skin complaints and visible dust deposition. Results are presented as descriptive data using firefighters as reference group. Odds ratio (OR) was calculated using logistic regression on lifetime prevalence of hand eczema adjusted for potential confounders and mediators. P-values were calculated using likelihood ratio test against the crude OR. Results: A total of 186 participants answered the questionnaire: 74 chimney sweepers, 52 firefighters and 60 smelter workers. Participation rate was 95.0, 94.5 and 63.6%, respectively. Lifetime prevalence of hand eczema was 9.5, 9.6, and 28.3%, respectively. The point prevalence of hand eczema was 1.4, 1.9 and 10.0%, respectively. We estimated OR for lifetime hand eczema in smelter workers to 4.36 [95% CI: 1.31–14.43, p = 0.016] and for lifetime skin complaints in other locations to 2.25 [95% CI: 0.98–5.18, p = 0.058]. The lifetime prevalence of skin complaints at other locations was 18.9, 23.1 and 40.0%, respectively. The point prevalence was 14.9, 9.6 and 16.7%, respectively. These estimates were not statistically significant but indicates that smelter workers have more skin complaints also at other locations. Conclusion: This study reports a more than four-fold increased risk of hand eczema in smelter workers, and possibly a higher risk of skin complaints in other body locations, compared to the other occupations. Longitudinal studies with larger population are needed to verify the marked increased risk of eczema among smelters and establish causation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over the past 5 years, the number of Vietnamese migrant workers in Japan has grown rapidly to become the largest group of migrant workers in the country. They hold various statuses of residence and are subjected to multifactorial stressors. Aims: The current study's aim is to investigate the association between psychological distress experienced by Vietnamese workers and their work environment. Another aim is to discuss issues involving migrant workers by comparing the characteristics of workers in the major statuses of residence. Methods: The study applied a cross-sectional design, and included a nationwide self-administered online questionnaire that was conducted in Vietnamese in 2022. The questionnaire included the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), workplace interpersonal factors as well as factors related to work and health. A multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate factors associated with psychological distress. Results: Of 933 Vietnamese workers, 37% were grouped as distressed under the K10 cutoff. Fewer opportunities to speak with Japanese co-workers, lower welfare and workload ratings, and the visa statuses including 'Technical Intern Training' were significantly associated with psychological distress. Unexpectedly, those in 'Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (ESI)' category who are deemed to hold better conditions demonstrated the highest amounts of distress. Conclusion: Outside of unsatisfactory working environments, differing situations depending on status of residence could produce various sources of distress. The difficult aspects of Japan's distinct culture seem to contribute to their distress, especially for those who have more interactions with Japanese co-workers. A push for a multicultural society, where migrant workers can pursue proactive life designs of their own choosing, is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]