No abstract

The new network and reporting system was successful in providing more occupational health services, providing more workers with compensation for occupational diseases, and reducing underreporting of occupational diseases. Therefore, the experience in Taiwan could serve as an example for other newly developed countries in a similar situation.

Psychological factors may compromise return to work among workers with occupational injuries, and little is known about the long-term consequences of psychological symptoms relating to return to work. The study examined the impact of psychological symptoms on return to work as well as exploring factors associated with return to work among injured workers. A total of 572 workers who experienced occupational injuries were recruited in this prospective cohort study. Surveys of the psychological symptoms using the 5-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) were conducted at 3 and 12 months after the injury. All of the workers were invited to join the study at year 6 after the injury. Sociodemographic factors, psychological symptoms, injury severity, and return-to-work status were collected. Approximately 10% of injured workers could not return to work even 6 years after the injury. Severe psychological symptoms within 1 year after the injury presented a significant risk factor for not returning to work 6 years after the injury (adjusted OR = 0.7, 95% CI: 0.5–0.8). Furthermore, age, education level, length of hospitalization, and injury-induced changes in appearance had significant independent influence on return to work as well. These findings highlight the importance of the effects of mental health within 1 year post injury on return to work, and support the concept of early screening, detection, and intervention in at-risk occupational injured workers with severe psychological symptoms.

legislation, all employers have to perform a risk assessment to identify workers exposed to HBV and offer them vaccination. Immunisation should be done as early as possible after the start of their career to avoid HBV infection and the development of a carrier status. Methods We performed a cross-sectional survey of representatives from the Occupational Medicine section of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), to find out how policies have been put into practice in the European countries. Results Answers were received from 21 countries, representing 78% of the population in the EU-28. HBV vaccination was mandatory for medical and nursing staff in 10 countries, mandatory for other paramedical staff, medical and nursing students in nine countries, for paramedical students in eight countries. It was recommended in all other participating countries. Serotesting before vaccination was done in eight countries. The vaccination schedule most often used was 0, 1, 6 months (18 countries). Serotesting after vaccination was done in 18 countries, boosters were recommended in 14 countries. A non-responder policy, including testing for carrier state, was present in 18 countries. Discussion More consultation between key actors from MS at EU level could help to optimise the way this matter is dealt with in different MS in order to contribute to further reducing HBV transmission to HCWs Objective 1) To estimate the prevalence of insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality by different shiftwork status in a representative sample of the Taiwan working population. 2) To estimate PARs of sleep-related problems as related to shiftwork. Methods The data of 22 600 workers aged 20 to 65 years were retrieved from the Survey of Perceptions of Safety and Health in the Work Environment, a nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010. Insufficient sleep was defined as self-reported short sleep duration interfering with life or work activity. Sleep quality was categorised into very good, good, poor and very poor. Work shifts were classified into fixed daytime, evening, or night, rotating night shift, rotating shift not including night, and irregular. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate the ORs and then estimated PARs of sleep-related problems. Results Among all workers, shift status were as follows: fixed daytime shift 74.7%, fixed evening 10.6%, fixed night 2.3%, rotating night shift 5.3%, rotating shift not including night 2.0%, and irregular 5.2%. The highest prevalence of sleeprelated problems was observed among fixed night workers with insufficient sleep of 12.1% and poor sleep quality 3.5%. Fixed night shift was associated with the highest risk of both insufficient sleep (OR=3.20, 95% CI 2.41-4.18, p<0.0001) and poor sleep quality (OR=3.51, 95% CI 2.07-5.62, p<0.0001). The estimated PARs of insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality related to rotating night shift were 9.0% and 8.9%, respectively. Conclusions Night shiftwork was significantly associated with increased risk of insufficient sleep and poor...