Transportation; warehousing; and utilities

An Expanded Conceptual Model for Research on Work, Safety, Health, and Well-being

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Work, Health, & Well-being is a NIOSH Total Worker Health? Center of Excellence. Its mission is to protect and promote the safety, health, and well-being of workers through integrated workplace policies, programs, and practices that foster safe and healthy conditions of work. Building on its systems-level conceptual model centered on the conditions of work, the Center has expanded this model to include employment & labor patterns and the social/political/economic environment. The Center?s three unifying themes, informed by our conceptual model, provide a framework for setting priorities to ensure that our research and dissemination efforts make a difference in improving the conditions of work.

Using workers’ compensation systems to improve workplace safety and health

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Center for Workers’ Compensation Studies (CWCS) is to maximize the use of workers’ compensation (WC) claims data and systems to improve workplace safety and health through partnerships. This poster presentation will describe recent and ongoing CWCS surveillance and research studies to achieve several key goals (see https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/workercomp/cwcs/publications.html).

Working on the railroad during COVID-19: A case study analysis on employee perceptions of safety culture

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

This mixed-methods case study analysis investigates employees? perceptions of their organization?s COVID-19 response, and seeks to examine how these perceptions relate to the organization?s safety culture. Qualitative and quantitative archival survey data collected from one large freight-carrying railroad with sites across the U.S. was utilized to conduct analyses. The top five themes extracted from a bottom-up qualitative analysis of employees? open-ended responses about their organization?s COVID-19 response are presented and discussed (n = 196). Initial quantitative analyses that examine these responses in relation to employees? perceptions of their organization?s safety culture suggest that an organization?s existing safety culture may relate to its handling of the pandemic; a finding that bolsters existing literature on the many benefits of a strong organizational safety culture. Additional analyses are currently being conducted to further explore how the top five themes that emerged from open-ended comments relate to more-specific indicators of safety culture. In this way, we may be able to more finely-tune the practical implications of this work.

NIOSH Chronic Disease Prevention Program: Expanding Partnerships to Prevent Occupational Disease

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

This presentation provides information on the mission and function of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health?s (NIOSH?s) Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular and Other Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CRC). The poster will describe current research priorities related to reducing and preventing occupational chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, renal diseases, and neurological diseases as well as adverse reproductive outcomes. Collaboration with researchers, labor unions, professional and trade associations, and others is critical to the CRC and this poster will help to promote partnerships external to NIOSH.

NIOSH Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

Industries and occupations that are the focus of the Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies specialty program include shipyards, marine terminals, marine transportation, commercial fishing, aquaculture, seafood processing and commercial diving. Maritime workers are engaged in highly varied and diverse work settings and are exposed to a complex mixture of health hazards. Stress and its adverse short-term and long-term safety and health consequences are known to occur in many maritime industries and occupations, but it is not well recognized or characterized, nor adequately researched or addressed. The objective of this presentation is to highlight occupations and industries within the Maritime Specialty program where exposure to fatigue and stress are of concern.

NIOSH Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities Program

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

The TWU program collaborates with partners to identify relevant research and to help disseminate research findings and translate them into practice. The program publishes research in scientific journals and translates findings into materials that can be used by a variety of partners and stakeholders to improve the safety, health, and well-being of TWU workers. Products include scientific journal articles, fact sheets, blogs, infographics, and social media messages.

Robotics Safety and Health Research at the NIOSH Center for Occupational Robotics Research

November 12, 2021November 12, 2021

Extensive research has been conducted by NIOSH and others on the safety of robots since they were first introduced to workplaces more than 40 years ago. However, this research focused on traditional robots that were isolated from human workers using guards, cages, or other controls. As robots have become more advanced, interactions with humans have become more common, and new ways of assessing and controlling the hazards associated with a robotic workplace are needed. The Center for Occupational Robotics Research (CORR) was established in 2017 as a virtual center within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to work in partnership with other federal agencies, academic researchers, employers, and others to conduct research and disseminate guidance on the safety and health concerns of working around robots.

Wearable sensors: benefits and challenges for safety, stress, and health in the workplace

November 12, 2021November 12, 2021

Emanuele Cauda, PhD, NIOSH; John Snawder, PhD, NIOSH; Pramod Kulkarni, PhD, NIOSH Wearable sensor technologies (wearables) are a topic of great interest for the NIOSH Center for Direct Reading and Sensor Technologies (CDRST). The CDRST is one of the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)Core and Specialty Programs. Wearables are used in several applications …

A Spanish Translation of Zohar and Luria’s Safety Climate Scale and a Test of Measurement Equivalence

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021

The purpose of this study is to provide a Spanish-language version of Zohar and Luria?s (Zohar & Luria, 2005) commonly-used safety climate scale using a rigorous translation-back translation process. Given the widespread use of the Spanish language across the globe and that as of 2020, 17.6% percent of the United States working population is Hispanic (BLS, 2021), there is a need for valid safety climate scales written in Spanish. This study demonstrates that a test of measurement equivalency can provide confidence of the translation process from one language to another. There is significant evidence supporting the reliability and validity of this safety climate scale.