Documents Messing, Karen 46 results

"This publication documents the relationship between gender inequality and health and safety problems. It reviews gender issues in research, policies and programmes on work and health, and highlights some specific issues for women, including the types of jobs they do, as well as their need to reconcile the demands of work and family. Biological differences between women and men also are considered in relation to hazards they face in the workplace. Implications of the findings and recommendations for legislation and policy are discussed. Women will be more and more involved in the global workforce, in both formal and informal work. In ensuring economic survival for themselves and their families they employ a variety of strategies, some of which entail great danger for their health. This review highlights the necessity to strengthen and put in place more and better programmes and practices so as to ensure women's health and safety at work, while facilitating their access to economic and social equality."

"OBJECTIVES:
Several studies have reported male-female differences in the prevalence of symptoms of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), some arising from workplace exposure differences. The objective of this paper was to compare two strategies analyzing a single dataset for the relationships between risk factors and MSD in a population-based sample with a wide range of exposures.
METHODS:
The 1998 Québec Health and Social Survey surveyed 11 735 respondents in paid work and reported "significant" musculoskeletal pain in 11 body regions during the previous 12 months and a range of personal, physical, and psychosocial risk factors. Five studies concerning risk factors for four musculoskeletal outcomes were carried out on these data. Each included analyses with multiple logistic regression (MLR) performed separately for women, men, and the total study population. The results from these gender-stratified and unstratified analyses were compared.
RESULTS:
In the unstratified MLR models, gender was significantly associated with musculoskeletal pain in the neck and lower extremities, but not with low-back pain. The gender-stratified MLR models identified significant associations between each specific musculoskeletal outcome and a variety of personal characteristics and physical and psychosocial workplace exposures for each gender. Most of the associations, if present for one gender, were also found in the total population. But several risk factors present for only one gender could be detected only in a stratified analysis, whereas the unstratified analysis added little information.
CONCLUSIONS:
Stratifying analyses by gender is necessary if a full range of associations between exposures and MSD is to be detected and understood."

"For a number of years past, the Montreal-based CINBIOSE centre (the Centre for the study of biological interactions in environmental health - University of Quebec) has been conducting research to make visible and gain recognition for aspects of women's work which are bad for their physical or mental health. This research stems from the concerns and needs voiced by women workers themselves. Most of it is conducted in partnership with the three main Quebec trade unions. Through their scientific research and commitment to making workplaces healthy and safe, the team aims to shed light on what has so far remained invisible. We thought this was a lead which should be brought to European attention. It shows the immense potential contribution of action-oriented research to improving equal opportunities and working conditions."

"Uno de los escollos mayores con el que topan una y otra vez las propuestas feministas para transformar la sociedad es la invisibilidad de los trabajos de las mujeres. En particular, también resulta invisible, en demasiadas ocasiones, el trabajo asalariado de las mujeres: las discriminaciones que resultan de la división sexual del trabajo, las peculiaridades de los empleos "feminizados", la carga de la "doble jornada", los problemas específicos de salud laboral, las difficultades para conciliar el tiempo de trabajo remunerado con los demás tiempos...
Este es el campo de problemas explorado por el presente libro. Se trata de una obra equilibrada, tanto por la amplitud social y geográfica de las experiencas reflejadas -Canadá, América Latina, Europa- como por la diversa profundidad de las calas investigadoras que aquí se presentan. Se ofrecen elementos prácticos para intervenir mejorando las condiciones de trabajo y salud de las mujeres; y todo ello con una metodología participativa que enriquece notablemente las experiencias.
El trabajo de la mujeres quiere contribuir a hacer más visible en la acción preventiva la presencia de la mujeres y los riesgos específicos que padecen; resultará de interés tanto para activistas del mundo laboral como para mujeres con una visión feminista de la realidad, y más en general para todas aquellas y aquellos interesados en transformar una sociedad sexista e injusta."

"La salute delle donne sul lavoro appare un problema difficilmente definibile sia per i datori di lavoro, i ricercatori o i responsabili, sia per le stesse lavoratrici. Questa difficoltà è in parte radicata nell'immaginazione tradizionale del lavoro femminile. La convinzione ampiamente diffusa che il lavoro delle donne sia esente da pericoli ha indotto ad attribuire i problemi di salute delle lavoratrici o alla loro inabilità o a turbe immaginarie, rallentando gli sforzi compiuti per migliorare le loro condizioni di salute nei luoghi di lavoro. L'aumento del numero di donne nel mercato del lavoro e la crescita dei settori con una forte presenza femminile hanno risvegliato l'attenzione dei responsabili della sanità e della sicurezza sul lavoro inducendo alcuni ricercatori ad esaminare gli elementi che caratterizzano i lavori femminili.
Da diversi anni, il CINBIOSE a Montreal, porta avanti questi studi con lo scopo di evidenziare e far riconoscere gli aspetti del lavoro che costituiscono un rischio per la salute e il benessere delle lavoratrici e dei lavoratori che condividono le stesse condizioni di lavoro. Le ricerche, condotte di concerto con le tre principali organizzazioni sindacali del Quebec, hanno un approccio originale per il fatto che si fondano sulle preoccupazioni e sulle esigenze espresse dai lavoratori e dalle lavoratrici stesse e cercano di mettere in luce, attraverso lavori scientifici, quello che ad oggi è rimasto ancora invisibile. Vengono quindi esaminati alcuni casi studio in cui partendo dalle problematiche sollevate dai lavoratori e dalle lavoratrici è stato possibile non solo individuare la causa dei problemi e migliorare le condizioni di lavoro di donne e uomini, ma anche ampliare le metodologie di ricerca in questo settore. La conoscenza di questi studi in Europa, potrebbe incentivare un'azione di ricerca nell'ambito del lavoro femminile anche nei settori produttivi europei al fine di evidenziare e risolvere problematiche lavorative che non sono a tutt'oggi manifeste.
Il libro prevede nella prima parte una descrizione delle condizioni del lavoro femminile a livello europeo e nella seconda parte i risultati dell'analisi dei casi studio condotta dal CINBIOSE in Quebec. "

"Les problèmes de santé des femmes au travail semblent difficiles à cerner tant par les scientifiques, les employeurs ou les décideurs que par les travailleuses elles-mêmes. Cette difficulté s'enracine en partie dans les représentations traditionnelles de l'emploi féminin. La conviction communément répandue que le travail des femmes, comparé à celui des hommes, est sans danger a conduit à attribuer tout problème de santé des travailleuses soit à leur inaptitude au travail soit à des troubles imaginaires, ce qui a contribué à freiner tout effort d'amélioration de leur santé au travail. La station debout prolongée, entraînant des troubles circulatoires, ou la répétition de gestes, pouvant provoquer des microtraumatismes, paraissent bien moins dangereuses que l'éventualité de tomber d'un échafaudage ou de se blesser en sciant du métal. Voilà plusieurs années que le CINBIOSE, à Montréal, mène des études afin de rendre visible et de faire reconnaître les aspects du travail des femmes qui constituent un risque pour leur santé physique ou mentale. Ces recherches se fondent sur les préoccupations et besoins exprimés par les salarié(e)s mêmes. Elles sont généralement réalisées en partenariat avec les trois principales centrales syndicales québécoises. Par ses travaux scientifiques et son engagement à rendre les lieux de travail sains et sûrs, l'équipe tente de mettre en lumière ce qui, jusqu'à ce jour, est demeuré invisible. Il nous est apparu que cet exemple méritait d'être connu en Europe. Il témoigne du très grand potentiel d'une recherche-action qui entend intervenir à la fois sur le terrain de l'égalité et sur celui de l'amélioration des conditions de travail. "

"For a number of years past, the Montreal-based CINBIOSE centre (the Centre for the study of biological interactions in environmental health - University of Quebec) has been conducting research to make visible and gain recognition for aspects of women's work which are bad for their physical or mental health. This research stems from the concerns and needs voiced by women workers themselves. Most of it is conducted in partnership with the three main Quebec trade unions. Through their scientific research and commitment to making workplaces healthy and safe, the team aims to shed light on what has so far remained invisible. We thought this was a lead which should be brought to European attention. It shows the immense potential contribution of action-oriented research to improving equal opportunities and working conditions."

"This article aims to analyse the integration of sex and gender (s/g) by ergonomics students during their internship at the master's degree level, following training sessions on s/g issues in the workplace. This exploratory research used a descriptive mixed-methods design, encompassing evaluation of students' intention to use the content from the training (n = 13 students), and a multiple case study (n = 5 ergonomics interventions). The results show that while students found the training relevant, they only minimally integrated s/g in their interventions and when they did, it was primarily from an anthropometric and physiological perspective. In addition to discussing the training format limitations, the article discusses barriers to this integration: combining learning about s/g issues with learning about activity analysis is challenging; employers' and workers' organisations may be reluctant to approach s/g issues; and it is difficult for an ergonomist to integrate these issues when the employer's request does not specify it."

"La littérature scientifique reconnaît l'origine multifactorielle des troubles musculo-squelettiques (TMS) liés au travail. Au-delà des facteurs biomécaniques et personnels, les facteurs organisationnels et psychosociaux contribuent également à la genèse des TMS liés au travail, mais les relations entre ces problèmes de santé et ces facteurs d'exposition sont complexes et largement méconnues. De plus, il y a un manque de consensus sur ce que signifient les « facteurs psychosociaux du travail » et ce qui constitue le contexte organisationnel du travail. Notre équipe s'est penchée sur ces questions. Cet article décrit, à partir d'exemples, l'évolution de la pensée au regard des facteurs psychosociaux au travail associés à la santé au cours des trente dernières années. Puis, il présente un modèle conceptuel de la genèse des TMS liés au travail qui incorpore des facteurs psychosociaux du travail et le rôle médiateur possible de la détresse psychologique."

"This paper aimed to demonstrate the contribution of the research performed by the musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) Research Axis group of the Quebec Occupational Health and Safety Research Network towards better understanding of work-related MSD (WMSD) development and prevention. Although the group targets its work to the Quebec population, its work has significant impact around the world, placing MSD axis members and knowledge and expertise created in Quebec on the international map. Results from the contribution of members are relevant, primarily in the demonstration of the implication of physical workload as well as organizational and psychosocial work-related factors in the development of WMSDs. Also, members have demonstrated that gender, sex, social class, age and ethno-cultural groups interact in various ways with WMSD determinants. Efforts are devoted towards improving understanding of the physiological responses linked with MSDs, which could also lead to new workplace practices in rehabilitation. The group emphasizes the integration of prevention procedures from the design stage to the workplace intervention. Members have proposed research-based tools for best practices at work and also an original conceptual model as a key, novel element of a theoretical conceptualization of WMSDs. Moreover, the group focuses on improving WMSD surveillance, using multiple sources of information, providing information on newly identified health risks and developing new methods of assessing risk in order to effectively prevent disability in the working population. Finally, results from research of the MSD axis group have implications for orienting legal processes, improving legal recognition of MSDs as occupational diseases, and contributing to the evolution of legal thinking. However, much remains to be done. To that end, the group plans and encourages new initiatives for further advancement. In conclusion, the originality of the work places the group in a favourable position to address the complexity underlying WMSDs, combining expertise that enriches fundamental, clinical and population-based research."