Aims To evaluate the possible benefits to employees of receiving a health promotion magazine.

Methods Three issues were distributed by post over a 9 month period to employees at an aluminium smelter. Pre- and post-distribution questionnaires were mailed to employees and their partners, asking questions about health knowledge and behaviour. Statistical analysis was undertaken using chi-square and Fisher's exact test.

Results Overall 243 of 640 employees (38%) responded to the initial questionnaire and 129 (20%) to the final questionnaire. Pre-existing knowledge about preventive health issues was high; 61–100% of employees selected the correct answer to questions about diet, smoking and exercise. Following distribution of the magazines, there was an increase in employees’ knowledge of sugars in ‘fat-free’ foods (P < 0.05), the benefits of fish oil (P < 0.01) and in how often health was considered when buying food (P < 0.05), as well as an increase in partners’ knowledge of dietary fats (P < 0.001). Overall 84% of employees and 87% of their partners who returned the final questionnaire and indicated they had read the magazine showed enthusiasm for continued delivery.

Conclusions The results suggest that the pilot intervention was beneficial; however, the findings must be interpreted with caution given the modest response rates.

Methods Participants (151 divers and 120 offshore workers) completed a questionnaire for symptoms and screening audiometry. Audiograms were assessed for total threshold shift at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 kHz and the prevalence of referral (within population 5th centile) or warning levels (within population 20th centile) of hearing loss. Audiograms were assessed for an NIHL pattern at four levels by two occupational physicians.

Results Hearing loss symptoms were commoner in divers at all levels of hearing loss regardless of differences between groups on audiometry. Hearing loss in offshore workers was within the population age-adjusted norm. Thirteen per cent of divers were within the 5th percentile for threshold shift for the population norm in contrast to 4% of offshore workers and this was predominantly left sided (OR 3.16, 95% CI 1.13–8.93). This difference was lost after adjustment for history of regular exposure to explosion or gunfire. Divers were more likely to have a pattern of severe NIHL on the left (OR 4.61, 95% CI 1.39–15.39, P < 0.05). Approximately 50% of participants with severe NIHL did not have a referral level of hearing loss.

Conclusions Divers suffer more NIHL than a control population. Current guidance on the assessment of total threshold shift for the detection of significant NIHL was inadequate in the sample studied.

Aims To assess the impact on the quality of life (QOL) of HCWs who are allergic to latex products before removal from latex exposure and after removal from exposure.

Methods We studied 39 latex allergic HCWs from the Health & Safety Executive south area. Twenty-nine attended for an assessment with the occupational physician and were asked to fill out a questionnaire. Spirometry, immunoglobulin E levels and latex radioallergosorbent test levels were measured.

Results In total, 29/39 (74%) of patients responded. All of the participants had a type 1 allergy to latex. All individuals reported a significant improvement of symptoms once latex was removed from their working environment. Of those that reported skin complaints, 83% reported that their skin no longer had an impact on their QOL once latex was removed. Over 90% (n = 26) of all participants stated that their eye/nose symptoms had no longer an impact on their QOL and 86% (n = 25) of all participants stated that their respiratory symptoms had no impact on their QOL following the removal of latex from their working environment. Overall, 45% of the respondents had changed jobs: 61% of this group changed to a completely nonclinical post.

Conclusions On average, 86% of latex allergic HCWs reported that their QOL had improved significantly since their removal from latex. In employees who are latex allergic/sensitized, taking latex avoidance measures results in cessation or diminution of symptoms.

Aims To determine laboratory worker adherence to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices smallpox vaccination recommendations, assess potential barriers to vaccination and determine the influence of training on laboratory worker attitudes.

Methods Ninety-two laboratory workers in Pennsylvania were contacted and asked to complete an online survey about VV usage; 45 responded.

Results Eighty-seven per cent had received a smallpox vaccination in their lifetime; 73% received vaccination in the past 10 years. More workers had been given training regarding the potential risks, versus the potential benefits of vaccination, and most perceived that adverse outcomes were more likely to occur following vaccination versus accidental infection.

Conclusions The results of this study suggest that the main barrier to vaccination may be fear associated with possible vaccine adverse effects and a willingness to risk accidental infection rather than be vaccinated. More information and training about the potential benefits of vaccination, as well as the potential adverse outcomes associated with accidental infection, is therefore warranted.

Aims To look for evidence of vestibular disorders in working divers and to relate this to diving exposure or injuries.

Methods A cohort of 67 men aged 28 ± 5 years (mean ± SD) completing a basic course for working divers answered a questionnaire and underwent clinical otoneurological examination, electronystagmography (ENG), including alternate bithermal caloric tests and platform posturography. The procedure was repeated after 3 and 6 years.

Results At follow-up, none of the divers had experienced inner ear barotraumas or inner ear DCI. Two cases of untreated probable DCI were diagnosed retrospectively in 27 232 dives. Middle ear barotrauma was reported by 36%. There was no correlation between diving frequency and postural sway at follow-up. Transient dizziness during or shortly after a dive was reported by 63 and 15%, respectively. The prevalence of dizziness on land and ENG abnormalities did not change during follow-up. No vestibular disorders were diagnosed.

Conclusions Transient vestibular symptoms and middle ear barotraumas are common in diving. This study found no evidence of long-term vestibular effects. Vestibular disorders in divers are probably related to singular events, like inner ear barotraumas or inner ear DCI, rather than frequent diving per se.

Aims To assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and associated risk factors among PSRs in order to assist their occupational health management through raising risk awareness.

Methods A self-completed questionnaire distributed to 205 PSRs within a UK pharmaceutical company was used to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms, psychosocial factors, work tasks undertaken and company car use. To assist understanding of work tasks and organizational factors, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a sample of 12 key personnel.

Results The questionnaire response rate was 68%. PSRs reported high mileage and 100% reported working from the car in a typical day. Forty-seven per cent reported both manual handling for ≥4 h/day and ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ working from the car. Fifty-seven per cent reported low back symptoms in the last 12 months. Interview data revealed issues relating to car choice, storage in the boot and working from the car, which should be considered when developing priorities for preventive management of MSDs.

Conclusions Musculoskeletal symptoms appear to be a problem for PSRs, with risk factors reported as prolonged driving, sitting in the car, working from the car and manual handling. Interventions to facilitate their occupational health management should focus on raising awareness of the risks of prolonged driving and working from the car.

Aims To establish the causes, rates and trends in suicides at work among seafarers in UK merchant shipping from 1919 to 2005 and to compare suicide rates with the general UK population and with seafarers employed in non-UK shipping.

Methods Examination of seafarers’ death inquiry files, death registers and death returns (for a total population of 11.90 million seafarer-years); literature reviews and national suicide statistics.

Results The suicide rate (for suicides at work and unexplained disappearances at sea) in UK shipping fell from 40–50 per 100 000 in the 1920s to <10 per 100 000 in recent years, with an interim peak during the 1960s. Suicide rates were higher for ratings (all ranks below officers) than for officers, for Lascars (Asian seafarers) than for British seafarers and for older than for younger seafarers and were typically lower than those in Asian and Scandinavian merchant fleets. The suicide rate (for suicides at work) among seafarers was substantially higher than the overall suicide rate in the general British population from 1919 to the 1970s, but following reductions in suicide mortality among seafarers, it has become more comparable since.

Conclusions Although merchant seafaring was previously a high-risk occupation for suicides at work, there has been a sharp fall in the suicide rate in the past 40 years. Likely reasons for this include reductions over time in long intercontinental voyages and changes over time in seafarers’ lifestyles.

Aims To investigate the case for regulatory medical standards for commercial fishermen and to identify priorities for the prevention and management of occupational injuries at sea.

Methods We surveyed a convenience sample of fishermen at three major fishing ports in South West England using a standardized interview-administered questionnaire.

Results Interviews were completed by 210 (68%) of 307 fishermen approached. Over their careers, 56 subjects (27%) had been returned to shore as an emergency for medical reasons, a rate of 14.6 (95% confidence interval 11.5–18.2) per 1000 man-years. Most emergency evacuations were for acute injuries, and only five were for illness. A few participants suffered from chronic disease that would call into question their fitness to go to sea. Fifty-five fishermen had suffered injuries in the past 12 months, including 12 that had caused loss of more than 3 days from work. Subjects had self-stitched 4 of 15 reported hand lacerations, while others had been bound with ‘gaffer’ tape.

Conclusions Prevention of hand lacerations should be a high priority, with first-aid training and equipment for fishing crews to improve their care when prevention fails. No firm conclusions can be drawn about the value of regular medical screening for commercial fishermen, but such screening should be considered a lower priority than accident prevention.

Aims To analyse factors associated with visits to seek primary care from occupational health physicians (OH physicians) and compared with visits to physicians in municipal health centres, private clinics and hospital outpatient clinics.

Methods The subjects of this population-based cross-sectional survey comprised 1753 randomly selected employed Finns aged 25–64 years covered by OHS including primary care. The associations between visits to physicians during the past 6 months and factors related to work and perceived health were tested using Poisson regression analysis.

Results Provision of primary care in OHS increased visits to OH physicians but decreased visits to municipal health centre physicians. Among both genders, long-standing illnesses impairing work ability had the strongest associations with visits to all physicians. Among men, the factors associated with visits to OH physicians were long-standing illnesses without effect on work ability, requirement of sickness certificate from the first day of sickness, OHS arranged in private clinics and moderate stress symptoms. Among women, lower vocational level, OHS arranged in private clinics or joint-model OHS units, moderate stress symptoms and workplace harassment were associated with visits to OH physicians.

Conclusions Primary care in OHS enables OH physicians to reach workers with work-related health problems, thus enabling interventions on working conditions and work ability. Moreover, OHS seem to be a very important health care provider in Finland.

Aims To undertake a systematic review of the literature examining the effectiveness of different approaches to training in manual handling.

Methods Peer-reviewed publications along with published conference proceedings published in English, between 1980 and 2009, on the topic of manual handling training comprised the search criteria. A published checklist for reviewing papers was selected, which formed the basis for assessing the quality of the papers reviewed.

Results A total of 1827 papers were located. Following elimination of duplicates, 221 papers were collected and reviewed. Of these, 53 papers were intervention studies with the primary aim of investigating the effectiveness of manual handling training. The review identified little evidence supporting the effectiveness of both technique- and educational-based manual handling training. In addition, there was considerable evidence supporting the idea that the principles learnt during training are not applied in the working environment. Strength and flexibility training shows promise; however, further research is needed to ascertain whether such an intervention is sustainable over the long term.

Conclusions The evidence collected indicates that manual handling training is largely ineffective in reducing back pain and back injury. High priority should be given to developing and evaluating multidimensional interventions, incorporating exercise training to promote strength and flexibility, which are tailored to the industrial sector.

Aims To explore which personal and work-related psychological factors predict early retirement intentions among older women and men and to investigate the stability of these predictors through use of longitudinal data.

Methods This research is based on an 11-year follow-up study of ageing Finnish municipal employees. Data on 1101 employees’ early retirement intentions were analysed with binary logistic regression analysis in separate longitudinal and cross-sectional models.

Results Gender differences in early retirement intentions were detected both at baseline and at follow-up. Negative perceptions about work and low work and general life satisfaction were associated with early retirement intentions among women. For men, good self-rated work ability and perceived good health were negatively associated with early retirement intentions. In addition, negative perceptions about work predicted early retirement intentions among men.

Conclusions Adverse work- or health-related factors detected in middle age predicted subsequent early retirement intentions.

Aims To evaluate how the results of simple muscle performance tests correlate with self-reported work ability and physical functioning in middle-aged men.

Methods Muscle performance was measured with handgrip, sit-up, arch-up, squatting and lifting tests. The Physical Functioning scale and the Role Limitations due to Physical Health Problems scale of the RAND-36 health questionnaire were used to assess functioning and the Work Ability Index (WAI) questionnaire to assess perceived work ability in a subgroup of 51 subjects.

Results A total of 104 men aged 45–55 years employed in physically active work participated. Muscle performance was weakly associated with WAI and functioning measures, accounting for 10% of the variance at most. Dynamic lifting test results for both arms correlated with WAI scores (right: r = 0.31, left: r = 0.34). Scores of the dynamic lifting test for both arms correlated with the Physical Functioning scores (right: r = 0.23, left: r = 0.28) and with the Role Limitations due to Physical Health Problems scores (right: r = 0.25, left: r = 0.28). Results of the squatting test were associated with the Physical Functioning scores (r = 0.24).

Conclusions The study failed to provide support for the use of muscle performance tests in work-related fitness evaluations in middle-aged men employed in physical jobs.

Aims To evaluate potential associations between maternal shift work and long working hours during pregnancy and gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia.

Methods Multistage stratified systematic sampling was used to recruit 24 200 post-partum women from the Taiwan national birth registration database in 2005. Subjects underwent home interview 6 months after their deliveries by structured questionnaire to obtain characteristics of maternal employment and potential confounders. Diagnosis of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia was obtained from the birth registration.

Results There was no association between employment status and gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia. Also, no significant association between gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia and maternal shift work or long working hours during pregnancy was found in all or primiparous women.

Conclusions There was no convincing evidence that maternal shift work or long working hours had a higher risk of gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia. However, further research is warranted to confirm these negative findings.

Aims To determine the actual and reported use of hearing protection devices (HPDs) in noise-exposed gold mine workers and their reported knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to NIHL and HPDs.

Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in which 101 noise-exposed mine workers were interviewed and their use of HPDs observed.

Results Thirteen percent of respondents erroneously indicated that their workplaces were not noisy, 16% did not appreciate noise as a hearing loss hazard, 6% did not know that HPDs protect hearing and 3% believed that HPDs did not protect hearing. While 93% of respondents reported using HPDs, only 50% were observed to be doing so. Observed use was less among lower skilled workers, and, despite training, 8% of respondents claimed never to have been informed about the benefits of HPDs. Consistent and continuous use was reported by 24% and 31% of respondents, respectively. Reasons for not using HPDs included discomfort. Most respondents (57%) preferred training methods other than the current computer-assisted training.

Conclusions The persistence of NIHL may be explained by limited use of HPDs, along with the suboptimal knowledge of noise as a hazard, workplace noisiness and the benefits of HPDs among some workers. Concurrent with engineering controls, a range of HPDs should be available free of charge, and HPD training reviewed particularly for lower skilled workers.

Aims To identify work- and health-related predictors of the discrepancy between CA and BA.

Methods The sample analysed in this study consisted of 371 subjects of different occupational groups (teachers, office workers, nursery school teachers and managers). BA was measured with the vitality measuring station, which recorded 45 vitality indicators of physical, mental and social functions.

Work ability index, effort–reward imbalance and relaxation inability were measured to determine work- and health-related predictors.

Results The greatest discrepancy between CA and BA (9 years) was found for the subgroup of managers, followed by female teachers (5 years). Managers showed also the best results in work ability, the effort–reward balance and relaxation ability.

By means of multiple regression analysis, particularly mental attitudes and resources towards work, occupational reward and the body fat percentage were identified as relevant predictors for the discrepancy between CA and BA.

Conclusions Our study indicates that not only health- but also work-related factors are associated with vitality and BA of employees. We assume that measures focused on promoting of health (healthy diet and physical activities) and improving working conditions (e.g. job satisfaction and social support and stress prevention) may also affect the ageing process positively.