The theme for 2007:
It's All About Valuing People

OHSAH is excited to note that Canada's Healthy Workplace Week will be taking place this year the week of October 22-28, 2007. Join us in celebrating Canada's healthy, safe, and happy workplaces.

For more information, please visit www.healthyworkplaceweek.ca.

• Wash your hands every time you don and doff gloves
• Use gloves properly
• Inspect gloves for tears and pinholes
• Change gloves frequently
• Understand task-specific glove usage procedures, especially when handling chemotherapeutic drugs
• Keep fingernails trimmed and remove jewellery

• Store gloves in areas with extreme temperatures
• Store gloves near heaters, air conditioners, sterilizers, or X-ray units
• Wash and reuse disposable gloves
• Use hydrocarbon-based products (hand moisturizer) when wearing gloves

Currently, there are 32 workshops scheduled, five of which are dedicated to affiliate training. We expect to add more workshops later in the year.

You can view the workshop schedules by clicking here and choosing the affiliate schedule, or the health authority schedule.

If you have any questions regarding the schedule, or OHSAH’s workshops, please contact our Training Coordinator, Jolene Simpson at 778.328.8032, or at jolene@ohsah.bc.ca.

Association of Canadian Ergonomists 2007 Conference:
Diversity in Ergonomics
October 14-17, 2007
Toronto , ON

"This year’s conference theme “Diversity in Ergonomics”, explores the many fields involved in ergonomics design of productive, healthy and effective working environments. When physical, cognitive, biological and behavioural sciences interact with design technology, organizations have shown that ergonomics can make a difference to improve our daily lives."

 

International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) Conference on Health Care Worker Health / 2007 State-of-the-Art Conference (SOTAC)
October 26-28, 2007
Vancouver, BC

"This conference will bring together key international experts in the United States, Canada, England and other European nations and many developing countries to present emerging scientific information in occupational health.

The 2007 SOTAC/ICOH HCW meeting will offer a global perspective on the recognition and management of healthcare worker occupational diseases and injuries, as well as strategies for protecting healthcare workers from such conditions."

The glove management program is a specific type of workplace exposure control measure and can be used to accommodate individuals with latex sensitivities. Similar to other control measures, a glove management program includes policies and procedures for the selection of the most suitable glove material for a given task and for the prevention of latex allergy. These include:

• Clearly defined workplace policy regarding usage of glove materials;
• Need assessment of the appropriate glove protection for specific tasks and procedures;
• Risk assessment of tasks on the likelihood of exposure;
• Involving end users and other representatives in the glove selection process;
• Creating a glove inventory database detailing purchasing and usage information for individual sites and facilities;
• Providing informed training and education to employees on relevant policy, safe work procedures, and potential health risks associated with latex gloves;
• Identifying working groups and sites with high potential of latex exposure for further prevention strategies;
• Checking with manufactures for the protein content of gloves and having them updated for newer products;
• Training and encouraging employees to recognize and report symptoms of latex allergy.

A key element of the glove selection process is the need for a multi-disciplinary work team, including representatives of frontline employees, hospital administration, facility maintenance, central supply, and occupational health. The choice should be based on a risk assessment that accounts for the risk and likelihood of potential exposures, type of workplace setting, working environment and condition, the length of glove usage, the amount of stress on the glove, etc. Finally, users should trial-test the selected gloves to ensure personal comfort and the ability to safely perform the task(s) required.

As always, training and education must be made available to support proper use, inspection, and disposal of the gloves, as well as any limitations regarding glove protection and potential health effects (Health Canada 1997). Equally as important are the opportunities for feedback from frontline users during education and training sessions which serve to maximize the effectiveness of the glove management program through shared experiences.

We recently completed a risk assessment of some of the products and cleaning agents used in healthcare and concluded that: based on the specific chemical compounds they contain, as well as the manner in which they are used and the exposure control measures taken, that exposure to these cleaning agents may put housekeepers at increased risk of developing occupational asthma.

More than 70 cleaning products were evaluated, including products used for general cleaning, kitchen cleaning, cleaning of isolation and/or VRE patient rooms. Our evaluation included looking at the specific components and their concentrations, the tasks for which they were used, as well as the recommended method of application. Evaluation of the risk associated with the frequency of use of these products could not be evaluated.

We defined three risk categories: ‘high risk’, ‘risk present’, and ‘low risk’. Compounds defined as high risk were those that included known respiratory sensitizers or products that included respiratory irritants and were applied using a spray bottle. Ten of 33 regular cleaning products and seven of 39 project cleaning products were identified as being potentially ‘high risk’ agents.

Linkage to these results through our website will be available soon, as will paper-based versions for dissemination amongst all our stakeholders. This project was funded by a development grant from WorkSafeBC (RS2005-OD04).

OHSAH joined its healthcare sector partners to showcase leadership and innovation in British Columbia (BC) healthcare
to make healthcare a healthier place to work.

OHSAH and its BC Healthcare partners kicked of the first BC Healthcare Workplace Health, Safety and Wellness Conference, September 17-18 in Kelowna, BC. Delegates included representatives from all BC health authorities, the Health Employers Association of BC, Healthcare Benefit Trust, WorkSafe BC, the UBC School of Occupational & Environmental Hygiene as well as individuals and organizations across Canada, US, and Europe.

This is the first of a bi-annual conference aimed at building relationships and highlighting current and emerging research and best practices in occupational health and safety in BC to make healthcare a healthier place to work.

As a leader in research and evidence-based, best practice application in workplace health and safety, OHSAH shared its recent success through four oral presentations, nine poster presentations, and by distributing assorted reference materials, including its newly released Year In Review at its exhibit.

"On behalf of all of the OHSAH team, thank you and congratulations to the conference organizers for your tremendous work, dedication and tireless effort to bring this event to life," said Dr. Jaime Guzman, OHSAH's Chief Medical and Scientific Officer. "This conference is an amazing opportunity to share knowledge and celebrate all our successes together, to promote and exchange ideas, and to build the foundations for future collaborations. We are looking forward to the next one!"

A key theme of the conference was collaboration. As a bi-partite organization, OHSAH's work is guided by strong collaborations to address the priority needs of the healthcare employers and unions. It is a unique role within the healthcare sectors, a role that ensures that evidence-based best practices for occupational health and safety are researched, shared, and available to BC's healthcare workers.

For more information about OHSAH's work, please visit www.ohsah.bc.ca.