Construction Industry Briefing: Issue 18(January 09)
The following topics are covered in this issue: Noise, Knee Injury, Disability, Occupational Eye Injuries and Safety
A recent article published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene presents the results of a noise survey of four Canadian lumber mills. The authors conclude that 'workers in lumber mills are highly exposed to noise, and although the prevalence of the use of hearing protection is high, their use is unlikely to provide complete protection again noise-induced hearing loss at the observed exposures.' The abstract can be viewed from the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18989837
An article published in the same issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene examines the 'Variability in risk factors for knee injury in construction'. The authors state that 'over 15,000 discrete observations of leg postures and weights handled were made on 120 construction workers in five construction trades, in nine operations over 79 days.' The abstract is available on the PubMed web site at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085603
A paper that analyses the effects of work-related factors and individual characteristics on work ability and determines the predictive value of work ability on receiving a work-related disability pension has been published in the January 2009 issue of the 'Occupational Medicine' journal. There is a link from the abstract page below to the full free text of the article.
http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/59/1/32
An article published in 'Occupational Medicine' analyses the type of occupational eye injuries that occur and records the use of eye protection in patients presenting to a busy district general hospital in Scotland. The full text of the paper is available from the link below:
http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/kqn168v1
'Safety culture: a multilevel assessment tool for the construction industry' is the title of a paper presented at an International Conference in Australia. The full article can be viewed via the following link:
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15284/
If you would like us to feature any specific construction occupational health issue then let us know.
CONSTRUCTION BRIEFINGS ARCHIVE
Construction Briefing (March 2007)
Construction Briefing (April 2007)
Construction Briefing (May 2007)
Construction Briefing (June 2007)
Construction Briefing (July 2007)
Construction Briefing (August 2007)
Construction Briefing (September 2007)
Construction Briefing (October 2007)
Construction Briefing (November 2007)
Construction Briefing (December 2007)
Construction Briefing (January 2008)
Construction Briefing (March 2008)
Construction Briefing (April 2008)
Construction Briefing (June 2008)
Construction Briefing (August 2008)
Construction Briefing (September 2008)
Construction Briefing (November 2008)