Posted on Jul 22nd, 2012 in
LOC ParticipantsSouthern California:
Peter Schnall, MD MPH
Marnie Dobson, PhD
Cass Ben-Levi
Vivian Rothstein
BongKyoo Choi, ScD, MPH
Javier Garcia-Rivas
HyoungRyoul Kim
Rev. Art Cribbs
Paul Papanek
Warner Hudson
Shane Que Hee
Dean Baker, MD, MPH
Haiou Yang
Linda Delp, PhD
Isabel Garcia
Paul Landsbergis, EdD, MPH, PhD
Erin Wigger
Northern California:
Charlotte Chang, DrPH, MPH
Barbara Burgel RN, PhD
Michael Wilson, PhD, MPH
OiSaeng Hong RN, PhD
Soo-Jeong Lee RN, PhD
Robert Harrison, MD, MPH
Beth Malinowski
Dorothy Wigmore, OHS
Robyn Gershon, MHS, DrPH
Deborah Gordon, PhD
Catherine Heaney PhD
Barbara Materna, PhD, CIH
Ellen Widess
Niklas Krause, MD, MPH, PhD
Julia Faucett RN PhD
Peter Schnall MD MPH
Jo Linder-Crow, PhD
Kevin Joiner
Julia Buss
Jordan Rinker, MD, MPH
Megan Gaydos SFDPH
Bob Nakamura
June Fisher, MD
Sylvia Guendelman, PhD, MSW
Len Syme, PhD
Posted on Jul 22nd, 2012 in
Panels
Our followup meeting regarding the APA NIOSH 2013 Conference will be held this coming Tuesday July 10th in the same location as the last meeting – that is in the McDonald Lab MRL 2-740 — from 10 am to Noon.
As you know we have had two very positive meetings regarding the forthcoming APA NIOSH meeting. Minutes from both have been distributed as we suggest reviewing them prior to the meeting.
Below is a list of proposed panels that various participants have suggested. We need to firm up our choices and identify panel participants and who will organize them. So please review the panels below from both SC and NC and think about your role or the of some colleagues we know.
Also, we must discuss this coming week:
Continuing education, sponsorship of panels and possible fund raising, student involvement as well as student involvement. Also conference related activities – such as special meetings, etc. and whether their is further interest in developing a statewide action plan/white paper.
HERE are the PROPOSED PANELS:
Proposed by SoCal participants:
Discussion on issues to focus on for panels (condensed into four main areas):
1. Impact of the economy on CA workers – how globalization affects workers/cross-country comparisons (with India, China (e.g. FoxConn) vs. CA workers: unemployment, increase in contingent work, work intensification (impact on surviving workers), increase in workplace violence, impact on public sector (budget cuts) lag behind private sector, impact on vulnerable workers (immigrant workers, contingent workers), major resource cuts, what is the future of OH in CA because of lack of resources…
a. High risk (vulnerable working populations in Southern CA linked with local labor organizations/union campaigns, to highlight) – transportation workers (port truckers, San Pedro, CA), waste recycling workers in Los Angeles, home care/domestic workers (CA bill of rights), car wash workers, janitors.
2. Total Worker Health in CA – how jobs/workplaces can promote health (examples of healthy work, salutogenic effects), are there successful examples of integrated workplace health protection and promotion in CA, critiques, employer-based health care – incentivizing health promotion (Section 1201 of Affordable Care Act – 20-30% of premiums back to employees to participate in “reasonably designed” workplace wellness programs), recent OSHA study shows safety inspections help productivity
3. Changing nature of work, definitions of work (might be linked with 1) – no permanent jobs, re-training across the life course (decreasing stability of jobs/insecurity), technology is erasing boundaries between work and life (robotics/automation, remote work, monitoring of performance), effects of an international economy (immigrant workers, outsourcing).
4. Role of Public Policy and Advocacy in CA Occupational Health – failure of the safety net for some workers already covered, but workers “off-the-grid” trying to get into the “safety net” at the same time it is failing (e.g. informal sector workers – janitors, car wash workers, gardeners, domestic workers), examples of countries that have better “safety nets”/labor standards (Scandinavian countries, Europe, Pacific Rim – are these better models), what government regulation is in place that could be leveraged to improve WHS in CA (e.g. Affordable Care Act, insurer/employee incentive programs, enforcement of existing OHS standards.
Panel formats – could include 1) California case examples (local), 2) Links beyond California (US/International examples), 3) advocacy/policy – government representatives, 4) future steps for CA (resources needed/policy needed)
Proposed by NorCal participants:
Possible conference panels suggested included:
1. by Kevin – A panel on occupations unique to California – film industry, Silicon Valley, Agriculture . Unclear one panel on each or all on one panel (will depend oninterest in organizing and available speakers)
2. By Niklas Krause – low wage workers (Niklas offered to help organize this, Julia volunteered to present)
3.Organizational vs individual change at the workplace, the strengths/weaknesses of the Total Worker Health concept
4. Kaiser’s approach to workers – Labor-management partnership
5. Obesity – what are the causes/ what are the cures. Possible two panels – varying views on each (or one on contributing factors, one on interventions). Peter Schnall offered to work on this.
6. Work hours as a theme – long hours, intensification, sleep deprivation – health outcomes. Multiple perspectives. Must workers sacrifice so that businesses are “more competitive”
7. by many – Health care industry – possibly including San Francisco General rebuild.
8. Drivers – Barbara Burgel indicated that June Fisher and Niklas Krause might be interested in a panel. This might be an example of the combinations of health issues (e.g. sleep loss, obesity (and sleep apnea), depression/anxiety, safety, work hours, job strain, smoking).
Deadline for panel abstracts will be October 1.
Peter Schnall and Julia Faucett
Details on the Center for Social Epidemiology’s 25th Anniversary Celebration coming soon….
California Colleagues,
As many of you know the 2013 Work Stress, and Health (WSH) Conference, co-sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will be held in Los Angeles May 16-19th 2013 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites. The conference title is
Work, Stress, and Health 2013: Protecting and Promoting Total Worker Health. The broad goal of this year’s conference is to highlight the concept of Total Worker Health
TM – a new approach to safeguarding the health and safety of workers. In accordance with this conference theme and in addition to usual conference topics (see below), the conference will give special attention to:
– Case reports and controlled studies on the effects of integrated health protection and health promotion interventions;
– Studies investigating the joint contribution of occupational and non-occupational factors to health and safety problems facing workers today;
– Strategies and best practices for implementing and evaluating integrated or holistic prevention programs;
– Merits, challenges, future directions, etc., relating to integrated prevention strategies;
– Training needs in order to advance research and practice relating to Total Worker HealthTM.
The CSE has been asked by the conference planners to help organize a Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The charge to the local organizing committee is open-ended and below is a potential list of things to do that have been suggested by Gwen Keita, Ted Scharf and Wes Baker.
This meeting gives us a wonderful opportunity to focus local, state and national attention on issues of occupational health and safety confronting Californians.
We are planning several conference related activities and will use these to build a state-wide coalition of interested persons committed to improvements in occupational health in California.
Possible activities for the next year include:
1) Identifying the occupational health needs of California now and for 2020
2) Develop panels for inclusion in next year’s conference including:
A) Labor views on the workplace and occupational health
B) Minority needs
C) An occupational health agenda for 2020
D) A debate over Total Worker Health (the conference theme) and the best ways to introduce change at the workplace
3) Expand and develop a network of individuals and companies committed to positive changes in California.
A) Examining the impact of austerity measures on California Occupational Health
4) Work on items from the list below suggested by APA/NIOSH
We have held meetings in Southern California and Northern California in conjunction with the California Work and Health Study Group to discuss these possibilities (see
LOC Meeting Minutes).
Please get back to me with your thoughts about all this and your interests.
Peter Schnall and Marnie Dobson for the CSE
Posted on Jul 18th, 2012 in
NewsEach year at the Western Occupational Health Conference (WOHC) a physician is honored for excellence in scientific writing. The award is presented to a member of the Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA) who has contributed significantly to furthering the body of knowledge in the field of occupational and environmental medicine.
Dr. Schnall is being presented with the award at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco, California on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 2:00 pm, during the WOEMA Annual Business Meeting.
For further information please visit the WOEMA website at: http://www.woema.org/awardjs.vp.html
Posted on Jun 22nd, 2012 in
Past EventsOctober 17 – 20
Universidad de los Andes
Bogota, Colombia
Website: http://cifa2012.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/evento
After 7 years of work around psychosocial factors, stress and mental health at work, the Network of Researchers on Psychosocial Factors at Work (RIFAPT) has decided to coordinate efforts once more with the Iberoamerican Network of Psychosocial Occupational Risks (RIPSOL), in order to collect and enhance the experience and reflection on the knowledge gained on this complex issue. In both networks involving various Latin American countries and since 2007 been promoting and developing research initiatives and training about psychosocial health at work.
With the organization and experience of three previous forums has been possible to advance the discussion, analysis and identification of the scope and limitations of this field we face. That is why today RIFAPT RIPSOL AC and are able to convene the 1st International Congress and 4. Forum of the Americas, whose main objective is to analyze, in the context of globalization, the challenges theoretical, methodological and intervention that we face going forward and the weight to the crises of capital has over labor, the definition public policy and health.From this perspective will be relevant to identify the challenges for addressing psychosocial factors at the same time, close gaps between theory, research and intervention.
Posted on May 11th, 2012 in
Recent Scientific FindingsContributed by Tony LaMontagne, ScD, MA, MEd, from the McCaughey Centre, Melbourne School of Population Health, University of Melbourne (AUSTRALIA).
This edition of News & Views highlights a recently-published open-access resource for policy-makers and practitioners that summarises the evidence on job stress and its impacts on human and organizational health as well as international best practice in job stress prevention and control.1 The current report builds on two previous job stress reports, all published open-access by the (Australian) Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.2,3
