Documents Oxley, Laraine 2 results

"The risk of childhood cancer has been inconsistently linked with parental exposure to occupational agents, partly because of poor exposure assessment. Interview data from the UK Childhood Cancer Study, an epidemiological case control study, was used to extend previous analyses of parental occupations. Specific work related exposures were examined as possible risk factors for childhood leukaemia and lymphoma for three exposure time windows (preconception, pregnancy, postnatal). A new exposure assessment method was designed to derive a final ‘reviewed' exposure status which was externally validated against an independent expert assessment.
As observed elsewhere mothers had a lower prevalence of exposure to chemical agents at work (18%) compared to fathers (44%). In order to refine exposure assessment all available data was examined. Parents self reported being exposed in over 24,000 jobs; the reviewed exposure assessment reduced the numbers of reported exposures, reclassifying 33% of mothers and 50% of fathers as exposed. Many statistically significant risks for self-reported exposure disappeared when applying the reclassified exposure. For the refined exposure assessment, maternal exposure to solvents during pregnancy remained a statistically significant risk for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia with a dose-response relationship. Paternal exposure to fertilisers during pregnancy and postnatally were associated with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and Hodgkin Lymphoma but without dose-response relationships.
The designed exposure assessment method represents a novel approach for evaluating parental occupational exposure for use in future studies. The findings for mothers for the generic group of solvents warrants further independent research. Overall, findings must invoke caution in the interpretation of risk estimates reliant on ‘self-reported' occupational exposure in epidemiological investigations."

"In Great Britain the majority of baggage handling is contracted out from the airline to ground handlers and is often viewed as a ‘stand alone' part of the aircraft turnround process. Little consideration has been given to the design and working of the interface between the aircraft (airline carrier), airport (operator), handling equipment (supplier/ manufacturer) and those persons undertaking the baggage handling work (ground handlers). Unless these factors are dealt with at an early stage, there is often little or no opportunity for the ground handler to address and reduce the risks. Fully effective risk reduction during the baggage handling activity will only be achieved if all the parties involved actively work together.
This report describes the work undertaken to gather further information on the musculoskeletal ill-health risks associated with baggage handling operations and to appraise the efficacy of new Extending Belt Loader (EBL) technology. The GB aviation sector health and safety steering group (Revitalising Health and Safety in Air Transport - RHSAT), which includes the HSE, identified the requirement for a working partnership. Staff from the HSE, HSL, East Midlands Airport (EMA), Menzies Aviation, Servisair, EasyJet, BMI Baby and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) formed a collaborative working group to take this work forward. The evidence presented in this report, and other studies including previous work by the HSE (Tapley & Riley, 2005 and Riley, 2008) provide a strong case for this task to be re-designed or mechanised to reduce the risk of injury."