Research Projects Funded in 2003
Management Practices and Work Organization
Prevention of Work-Related Injuries
Prevention of Work-Related Diseases
Improvement in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation
Knowledge Transfer and Exchange
Management Practices and Work Organization
Attitudes and Incident Causal Modeling for Construction
The purpose of this study is to initialize a construction-focused program for safety management. The research aims to uncover attitudes toward contractor safety initiatives, labour safety training, risk aversion or acceptance, peer impacts, acceptable working conditions, and injury expectations before and after accident events, including minor injuries and near misses. The objectives of the project are to (1) document attitudes towards safety on construction sites during normal working conditions, (2) collect detailed information about events and conditions leading to injury and non-injury incidents from several perspec-tives, including physical, operational, and psychosocial factors and understand how these factors might lead toward or away from injury, and (3) develop a probabilistic model of workplace safety.
Principal Investigators: Brenda Y. McCabe (University of Toronto)
Co-Investigators: Douglas Edward Hyatt, Catherine Loughlin (University of Toronto); Susan Tighe (University of Waterloo)
Sponsoring Institution: University of Toronto
Two-Year Funding: $252,000.00
Safety Climate, Measurement, Intervention, and Evaluation in a Manufacturing Setting
Occupational health and safety research has been dominated by medical and engineering approaches although social and behavioural factors contribute substantially to occupational injuries and disorders. A positive safety climate is one factor capable of tipping the balance in favour of safe behaviour by creating an environment where safe behaviour is considered a high priority. If first-line supervisors and workers realize that management attends to safety performance as much as speed and quality, their safety performance should change accordingly. This study will adapt measures of safety climate to the Ontario manufacturing sector and examine their relationship to safety behaviour and injury outcomes in two workplaces. These will then be used to improve safety climate in work groups before an accident has occurred and evaluate the impact of the intervention on improving subsequent safety behaviour and injury reduction.
Cancelled
Principal Investigators: C. Gail Hepburn (Institute for Work and Health)
Co-Investigators: Dov Zohar (Israel Institute of Technology); Donald Cole, Dee Kramer, Sue Ferrier (Institute for Work and Health)
Sponsoring Institution: Institute for Work and Health
Two-Year Funding: $262,443.00
Prevention of Work-Related Injuries
Evaluation of Whole-Body-Vibration, Seat Design & Performance, and Sitting Posture in Large Mobile Equipment
Building on results of previous research investigating the exposure to whole-body vibration of seated operators in transportation, mining, and construction, this project will comprehensively assess the vibration exposure of seated operators of Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) vehicles and haulage trucks, used in mining, and scraper vehicles, used in construction, which were shown previously to present significant exposure risk. The study will determine seat design characteristics that would diminish the vibration transmitted to the operator by the vehicle.
Results
Principal Investigators: Alan Salmoni (University of Western Ontario); Tammy Eger (Laurentian University); Paul-Imile Boileau (Institut de recherche en santé et en sécurité du travail du Québec)
Co-Investigators: Andre Plamondon, Alain Delisle (Institut de recherche en santé et en sécurité du travail du Québec); Joan Stevenson (Queen's University); Christian LaRiviere (PRIVICAP); Peter Vi (Construction Safety Association of Ontario); Sylvain Grenier (Laurentian University/Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers)
Sponsoring Institution: Laurentian University
Two-Year Funding: $245,443.00
Ground Fall Mitigation Capability and Enhanced Testing for Rockburst Susceptibility of Rock Liners
This study continues previously-funded work on characterizing support capabilities of conventional and innovative types of spray-on rock lining materials for preventing worker injury and excavation damage associated with ground falls and rock bursts in underground mines. The relative effectiveness of a wide range of spray-on support media for suppressing rock ejection, reducing liner damage, and inhibiting potential worker injury will be assessed using information gained through completion of a number of repeatable blasting trials.
Results
Principal Investigators: James Archibald (Queen’s University)
Co-Investigators: P.D. Katsabanis (Queen's University)
Sponsoring Institution: Queen’s University
Two-Year Funding: $150,002.00
Line-Of-Sight Issues with Tele-Remote and Conventional Load Haul Dump Vehicles
Mobile equipment such as Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) vehicles and haulage trucks are used extensively in the mining industry. However, the design of these vehicles, in combination with the constraints of the underground mining environment, have resulted in serious accidents, fatalities, and near-miss incidents. Researchers have tried to understand the causes of these events, but current methods fall short. Virtual reality (VR) attempts to fill that technological gap. This project will use Laurentian University’s new state-of -the-art Virtual Reality Laboratory (VRL) to recreate underground excavation and equipment profiles in 3-D stereo, analyze line-of-sight issues associated with LHDs, and demonstrate findings to industry, union, government, and research personnel through workshops in the VRL.
Results
Principal Investigators: Paul G. Dunn (Laurentian University/MIRARCO)
Co-investigators: Robert Whissel, Tammy Eger (Laurentian University)
Sponsoring Institution: Laurentian University
Two-Year Funding: $153,400.00
Upper Extremity Strength in the Aging Workforce
One method of reducing risk of injury for older people is to reduce the demands of the work they do. Unfortunately, there are very few sources of high quality upper limb strength data for older workers. It is therefore very difficult to answer the question, “How much is too much?”, and makes the design of jobs with reduced risk of injury very challenging. The goal of this study is to produce a database of upper limb strength, for men and women ranging in age from 30-69. This information may then be used by people employed in jobs that design, evaluate, or modify work, those that evaluate or rehabilitate workers for work return, and individuals that place or assign workers to specific jobs.
Principal Investigators: Mardon B. Frazer (University of Waterloo)
Sponsoring Institution: University of Waterloo
Two-Year Funding: $250,390.00
Prevention of Work-Related Diseases
Physician-Diagnosed Asthma, Respiratory and Cutaneous Symptoms, Immunologic Sensitization, and Exposures among Cleaners
Occupational asthma is the most common occupational lung disease in Canada, accounting for about 7%-10% of all asthma starting in adult life. Recent surveys from several countries have indicated that as a group, cleaners are at increased risk of developing asthma. It has been well established that the best health outcome relates to early recognition and appropriate management of work-related asthma, especially when this has resulted from a specific immune response to a workplace material, such as a particular chemical in a cleaning product. The study will assess how commonly asthma and respiratory symptoms occur in cleaners as compared with office workers who are not cleaners.
Principal Investigators: Susan Tarlo, Gary M. Liss (University of Toronto)
Co-Investigators: James Purdham, Andrea Sass-Kortsak (University of Toronto); D. Linn Holness (St. Michael’s Hospital)
Sponsoring Institution: University of Toronto
Two-Year Funding: $295,239.72
Improvement in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation
Driving Pedal Reaction Times Following Traumatic Right Below Knee Amputations
This study will measure the driving pedal reaction times of right below knee amputees using a number of different techniques of operating the foot pedals. The study will help determine whether right below knee amputees can safely operate vehicle foot pedals with their prostheses, and which technique of operating the foot pedals is associated with the fastest reaction times.
Results
Principal Investigators: Benjamin Meikle (St. John’s Rehabilitation Hospital); Michael Devlin (West Park Healthcare Centre)
Co-Investigators: Christos Boulias (West Park Healthcare Centre)
Sponsoring Institution: St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital
One-Year Funding: $11,921.00
Stress, Trauma, and Recovery in the Workplace: Early Stage Studies
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating anxiety disorder caused by exposure to psychological trauma. While a number of social and psychological factors can predict an individual’s risk of developing PTSD, biological markers for risk have not yet been determined. This study aims to compare the physiological changes that occur in individuals who develop PTSD with those that occur in individuals who recover from a traumatic incident by measuring both the levels of several stress hormones and neural activity at one to two weeks versus five to six weeks after a traumatic workplace accident. A better understanding of the etiology of PTSD will lead to earlier intervention and may also help in the development of better treatments.
Principal Investigators: Ruth A. Lanius (University of Western Ontario)
Co-Investigators: Peter Williamson, Richard Neufeld (University of Western Ontario); Nicholas Coupland, Kathleen Hegadoren, Brian Rowe (University of Alberta); Ravi Menon (Robarts Research Institute)
Sponsoring Institution: University of Western Ontario
Two-Year Funding: $300,000.00
Knowledge Transfer and Exchange
A Study of the Hands-Free Technique's Effectiveness in Reducing Operating Room Percutaneous Injuries and Contaminations and the Effectiveness of an Educational Video
This study will (1) develop an educational video about the use of the ‘hands-free technique’ in operating rooms as a means of reducing exposure risk to blood and body fluid, (2) evaluate, through a before-and-after study in five Ontario hospitals, if use of the hands-free technique does reduce risk of exposure, and (3) determine if viewing the video encouraged operating room personnel to increase use of the technique immediately and over time.
Principal Investigators: Bernadette Stringer (University of Western Ontario)
Co-Investigators: Ted Haines, Jennifer Blythe, Ved Tandan (McMaster University); Kenneth Harris, Francine Lortie-Monette (University of Western Ontario); Ramon Berguer (University of California Davis School of Medicine); Charlie Goldsmith (Centre for Evaluation of Medicines)
Sponsoring Institution: University of Western Ontario
Two-Year Funding: $234,063.00
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