PUBH6002: Global and environmental health PUBH6002: Global and environmental health Module 5 Week 1 Module 5: Injury, workplace environments and health Sources of injury Injury burden and prevention...

PUBH6002: Global and environmental health
PUBH6002: Global and environmental health
Module 5 Week 1
Module 5: Injury, workplace environments and health
Sources of injury
Injury burden and prevention
Haddon Matrix
Environmental influences of injury
Workplace risk
Assessment 2
Module 5 Week 1
This week we explore environmental influences on injury.
In Chapter 22 Frumkin defines injuries as damage that results from intolerable exposure to heat/cold
adiation (energy), or deprivation of elements necessary for life and function. Injuries are considered to be preventable, but continue to create a substantial public health and clinical care burden in both developed and developing countries.
This week introduces the concepts of injury burden, prevention and control, the Haddon matrix for evaluating injury, and considers injury prevention interventions and the delicate balance between freedom of choice and public health and safety.
What can cause injury?
Environmental hazards
Man-made
In nature
Attacks
Exercise
Natural events
Car accidents
Workplace hazards
Recreational activities
https:
i.ytimg.com/vi/jJgJiCCQORw/maxresdefault.jpg
What does it have to do with public health?
Almost half a million people a year were hospitalised in Australia as a result of an injury in 2011–12. The annual number of cases has risen from around 327,000 in 2002–03 to 454,000 in 2011–12. The overall rate of injuries resulting in hospital stays has also risen over recent years by an average of 1% a year since 1999–00.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015)
http:
www.aihw.gov.au/injury/
Injury rates around the world
https:
vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/
https:
vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/
https:
vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/
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Traffic Accidents and Injury
Traffic Accidents and Injury
Traffic Accidents and Injury in Australia
Watch: http:
www.abc.net.au/7.30/young-australians-count-costs-of-accidents/ XXXXXXXXXXfrom 2013
Read the article by Judith Ireland from 2017
What are the trends in traffic accidents in Australia?
Take a moment to google the burden of injury for your own country. Can you find this information? How does it compare to Australia?
Injury
‘Damage that results from intolerable exposure to energy (eg. Mechanical, electrical, thermal) or deprivation of elements necessary for life and function’ ( Hess & Razzak, 2010, in Frumkin)
Injury control: Prevention, acute care, rehabilitation
Preventable
Substantial public health burden (see Haagsma et al., 2016; Sethi, 2007)
Injury prevention and control
1. Define the health problem;
2. Identify causes, risk factors, and protective factors associated with the problem;
3. Develop and test interventions to reduce the problem’s impact; and
4. Implement successful interventions, evaluate their impact, and ensure widespread acceptance and implementation of prevention principles and strategies of control.
Frumkin Ch 22 pp XXXXXXXXXX
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    Phases    Host    Agent    Environment
    Pre-event    Alcohol, speed    Tires,
akes    Signs, signals,
    Event    Belt use, helmet use    Seat belt, air bags    Side slope, guard rails
    Post event     Health, Age     Fuel system, materials    EMS response, road shoulders
See page 811, Hess & Razzak, (2010)
Injury: Haddon matrix
Host, disease vector (agent) and environment: Interact to cause injuries
Temporal phases: pre-event, event, post event
First applied to road traffic injuries
Examine the matrix to identify opportunities to prevent or control injuries
Injury: Options analysis – injury control
Prevent creation of a hazard
Reduce the amount of hazard
Prevent the release of a hazard that already exists
Modify the rate of distribution of release of the hazard from its source
Separate, by time or space, the hazard from its host
Physically separate, by ba
iers, the hazard from its host
Modify surfaces and basic structures to minimize injury
Make that which is to be protected more resistant to damage
Mitigate damage already done
Stabilize, repair and rehabilitate the injured person
Haddon XXXXXXXXXXin Hess & Razzak, (2010), p812
Injury prevention example: Pedestrian injury
Polick et al XXXXXXXXXXhttp:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S XXXXXXXXXX#gr1
Activity
In groups of two choose a method of injury
Consider the societal, community, interpersonal and individual/intrapersonal elements required to facilitate effective injury prevention
Think back to our discussion of ethics in Week 1. What are the ethical implications of regulating or controlling the causes of injury at each level?
Work environments
Work environment and nature of employment: significant impact upon health
Workplace: unique environment – spend large amounts of time, diverse exposures, has specific legal and social implications
High-risk industries: mining, construction, agriculture, manufacturing
Risks of occupational injury and disease: high in poorer countries
Strategies for prevention of workplace injury and disease: process re-engineering, work environment controls, administrative controls, and behavioural controls - See Pe
y & Hu (2010) – chapter 20 in Frumkin
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‘Risky’ forms of labou
What forms of employment put people’s health at risk?
Which industries would you expect to experience the highest rates of workplace injury?
Read the article provided.
Is this what you would have expected?
Why do you think these industries are so dangerous?
How do you think it might compare to your home country?
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Assessment
Using guidelines in Assessment
ief: Conduct a Work Health Safety risk assessment. This can be your home work environment or a professional one (get permission if latter).
Write up this case study
1500 words +/- 10% - between 1350 and 1650 words
30%
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Assessment
Identify your workplace
Use template provided
Review the 6 steps to completing a work safety assessment
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Assessment
Work through the 6 steps:
Hazard identification
Risk identification
Risk Assessment
Risk Control
Documenting the process
Monitoring and reviewing
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Template
Use the template to identify:
Any hazards
Existing controls
Relative risk level
Controls needed to further reduce risk
A diverse workplace might include sub-populations with greater vulnerability to risk: identify and describe, and propose solutions for mitigating these risks
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Template
You could identify vulnerable populations under ‘task/scenario’ – and then complete columns, or you could do separate table for vulnerable populations
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Risk Assessment
See page 10, Work safe ACT (2012)
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Assessment
Write up your case study:
Identify and describe any key agencies or institutions that govern work health safety in this type of working environment, and any policies that are relevant to maintaining a safe work environment (policies can be organisational, discipline-specific and/or national).
Research this in regard to your specific workplace
Identify and describe your chosen workplace so the context is clear – do this early in your assignment
Assessment 2: Work Health Safety Assessment
Write up your case study:
2. Summarise the findings of your work health safety assessment, including details relevant to managing risk for vulnerable populations, and provide recommendations to resolve the work safety risks identified.
Write this up in the body of your report
Provide your completed table (template) – refer to in your text
Assessment Criteria
Knowledge, understanding and application (40%)
Understanding of the concepts that underpin Work Health safety assessment
Application of the six steps of risk assessment to identify and evaluate elements of risk in the environment
Analysis and application with synthesis of new knowledge (30%)
Development of recommendations appropriate to the risk and context
Ethic-Moral Reasoning (10%)
Awareness of vulnerable groups in the workplace i.e. disability, gender, ethnicity, and the effect of work health safety risks for those vulnerable groups
Academic conventions (20%)
Is well written with appropriate sentences construction and without typing, grammar and punctuation e
ors
Adheres to academic conventions and appropriate terminology
Uses APA style for in-text citation and references
PUBH6002: Global and environmental health
Module 5 Week 2
Module 5 Week 1
A substantial proportion of our time is spent at work, and as a consequence the work environment and the nature of employment has a substantial impact on health. This includes injury, as discussed in Week 1, but encompasses a range of other factors and influences on health.
The Work Health and Safety Act XXXXXXXXXXis a piece of Australian legislation that governs workplace health and safety (WH&S) policies that are required in each state and te
itory of Australia. The resources for this week discuss concepts relevant to WH&S, and directs you to the Safework Australia website resources.
The Safework Australia guide to the act provides a
ief explanation of the conditions laid out in the legislation. All states and te
itories except Victoria and Western Australia use harmonised Work Health and Safety (WH&S) legislation to govern safety in the workplace. The Safework Australia handbook on the principles of work design demonstrate how to implement the tenets of the act.
You may wonder why this Australia-specific content has been included – the Frumkin chapter is more general about workplace health but is also highly America-centric. The Australian legislation has a week to itself because we must include workplace relevant content, and is included here because many students already work in Australia or wish to work in Australia, and will be required to participate in some form of workplace health and safety exercise as part of their employment in this country. Familiarity with this will give them an advantage in navigating WHS when they encounter it, and possibly ease the way for employment.
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Work health and safety
Discussion: How can our place of work impact on our health?
Unemployment
Precarious employment
Informal employment/jobs
Child labour
Slavery/Bonded labour
Forms of employment: Five dimensions
Precarious Work
‘Non-standard’ employment that is:
Poorly paid
Insecure
Unprotected
Cannot support a household
Precarious work associated with poor health:
Lack of resources
Hazardous working environments
Informal employment
Lack of statutory regulation to protect:
Working conditions
Wages
Occupational health and safety
Injury insurance
Limited access to labour organisations
Informal employment: Poor health outcomes
Legal provisions for Workplace Health and Safety in Australia
National legislation: The Work Health and Safety Act (2011)
This governs the policies in each state
This mini-lecture compares Australian and UK safe work legislation – an interesting comparison, especially for those new to working in Australia: https:
youtu.be/4Re6rXdaaGE
Accompanying sheet here: http:
www.kitney.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Info-Sheet-WHS-in-Australia-LSBU-mini-lecture XXXXXXXXXXpdf
Each state has a state-specific policy for Work Health and Safety
Example: SA Work Health Safety Act: https:
vimeo.com/ XXXXXXXXXXfrom 0:34)
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What does Workplace Health and Safety involve?
A safe working environment is a workplace that is free of hazards and risks to the people working there.
Your employer is responsible for providing and maintaining a clean, tidy and safe working environment.
Clean and tidy work areas with ru
ish and de
is removed
Clean and level floors with no tripping hazards or open pits
Storage of tools, equipment and chemicals
Similarly, you are also responsible for checking that your work area is clean and tidy and that your actions and behaviour do not create an unsafe working environment.
How does a workplace do this?
Policies and procedures – employers are required to have a general WHS policy that describes their commitment to WHS and how responsibilities are delegated to everyone in the workplace.
Safe operating procedures (SOPs) are documents explaining how to work safely and efficiently in hazardous work situations, such as when operating machinery or using chemicals.
 
Machine guarding protects machine operators and others in the work area from the hazards