Just recently published report on stress at work in Europe, with data on a wide range of countries and subjects. European Risk Observatory Report Nr.9, publication from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in Bilbao, Spain.

OSH in figures: Stress at work- facts and figures

“Stress at work is common throughout Europe. In surveys carried out every five years by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, respondents name it as the second most common threat posed by the working environment. Only musculoskeletal problems are seen as more likely to damage workers’ health. According to the fourth European Survey of Working Conditions, carried out in 2005 in all Member States, stress was experienced by an average 22% of working Europeans. In 2002, the annual economic cost of work-related stress in the EU15 was estimated at EUR 20,000 million.”

After 2 years of research an writing and the interesting process of submitting and revising my first scientific article, I am proud to announce that it is online now. You can read the full article, because it is open access. The subject is the reporting of occupational diseases by Dutch OPs and the effect of a relatively small intervention trying to improve that. 

Information and feedback to improve occupational physicians’ reporting of occupational diseases: a randomised controlled trial

Annet F. Lenderink · Dick Spreeuwers · Jac J. L. van der Klink · Frank J. H. van Dijk Int Arch Occup Environ Health DOI 10.1007/s00420-009-0468-8

Someone gave me a link to this little movie on YouTube about the effects of the new way of working (“het nieuwe werken” – HNW). Empty offices, empty high ways, empty parking lot. The movie produced by Getronics is launched because of their campaign on the new way of working: mobile, from home, smarter etc. Whether this will end this way, I don’t know, but it’s funny. It’s called in Dutch ‘Het einde van de kantoortijden is nabij’
which means ‘the end of office hours is there’. Enjoy!

Although this blog may seem mainly occupied with dangers and risks of work and working, I am convinced that work is essentially good for us in many ways. Working is better for our health than being without employment. One of the important studies into this subject came from Gordon Waddell and Kim Burton: IS WORK GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING? (2006). You can read the review online, but here is their main conclusion:

“There is a strong evidence base showing that work is generally good for physical and mental health and well-being. Worklessness is associated with poorer physical and mental health and well-being. Work can be therapeutic and can reverse the adverse health effects of unemployment. That is true for healthy people of working age, for many disabled people, for most people with common health problems and for social security beneficiaries.
The provisosare that account must be taken of the nature and quality of work and its social context; jobs should be safe and accommodating. Overall, the beneficial effects of work outweigh the risks of work, and are greater than the harmful effects of long-term unemployment or prolonged sickness absence. Work is generally good for health and well-being.”

Two recently published studies on the relationship between exposure to detergent enzymes and respiratory disease, confirming a relationship between the enzymes and occupational rhinitis or asthma. One from the UK and one from the Netherlands.

A few weeks back the very good blog The Pump Handle published a piece on nanoparticles, called: Case report: nanoparticles in workers’ lungs

“Three physicians and researchers from the Capital University of Medical Sciences (Beijing, China) have published a case report in the European Respiratory Journal describing severe lung disease in seven female workers employed at a shop where they applied polyacrylic coatings to polystyrene boards.  The lung disease is just one part of the story—two of the women died (ages 19 and 29)—the other part is that pathology samples from the workers’ lungs identified 30 nm (nanometer) in diameter particles.  Further investigation found that the coatings used by the workers contained nano partcles, too.”

It’s really worth reading because it gives you also some insights in the reactions on the article. The abstract of the original study is underneath:

Exposure to nanoparticles is related to pleural effusion, pulmonary fibrosis and granuloma
Y. Song, X. Li, X. Du
Eur Respir J 2009, doi:10.1183/09031936.00178308

Hope you like the new appearance of my blog. If so, let me know, if not also.

Study undertaken during the races in Hamburg UCI ProTour Cyclassics in 2006 among professional cyclists (182) and recreational participants cycling 55, 100 or 155 km looking at injury patterns. A total of 193 injuries in 70 participants were registred, mainly localized at extremities (94.4%, mainly shoulder girdle). Ten percent suffered serious injury, significantly more frequent in women than in men. 84.4% of the accidents occurred in groups. The mean speed at the time of the crash was 37.3 km/h (range: 0-57). The researchers conclude that accidents were more likely to occur in inexperienced drivers, in the shortest distance, with straight conditions and in well-known dangerous areas.

Acute injuries in road bicycle racing. Injury surveillance at the Hamburg UCI ProTour”Cyclassics” 2006
Ueblacker P, Rathmann W, Rueger JM, Püschel K.
Unfallchirurg. 2008 Jun;111(6):414-20. German

Interesting view on Health 2.0 made by Lucien Engelen from the Reshape 2009 conference in Nijmegen (Netherlands). Hope you can understand, because it is partly in Dutch. It’s called Internet and Health Care.

In the past weeks alarming news items came up about the high suicide rate among France Telecom workers. The Unions blamed reorganisations and management methods, but the company claims the number of suicides is not higher than might be expected. The WHO figures mentioned in several online articles say the same: France Telecom employs just over 100,000 people in France. The French suicide rate is 26.4 a year for every 100,000 men and 9.2 per for every 100,000 women. On those figures, the company points out, the number of suicides in France Telecom since February 2008 is below the national average.

sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8252547.stm and http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?

Nevertheless countries worry about work-related suicide, especially in connection with the economic crisis. US Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries,August 2009: “Workplace suicides rose from 196 cases in 2007 to 251 cases in 2008, an increase of 28 percent and the highest number ever reported by the fatality census.” 

On the website Hazards Magizine, there is a special page gathering links and news about work and suicide http://www.hazards.org/suicide/

In Japan besides work-related suicide (karojisatsu) there is death by overwork (karoshi). Also here they see record numbers:

Japan: Record numbers worked to death
Record numbers of Japanese workers were worked to death last year, according to official compensation figures. A total of 269 cases qualified for state compensation last year, one up on the preceding year and a record high for the third straight year.
According to the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry, among the cases approved for state compensation were 66 work-related suicides (karojisatsu) or attempted suicides. This was down 15 on the previous year, but was still the second highest ever annual toll, according to the ministry. Meanwhile, the deaths of 158 workers from brain or heart disease (karoshi) were recognised as caused by overwork in the reporting year, up 16.  Among the 66 suicides or attempted suicides, 24 were in their 50s, 15 in their 40s and 11 in their 30s.