Community-Engaged Research in Workplace

Health & SafetyLar HovenBaie Verte Peninsula Miners’ Association

Barbara NeisStephen BornsteinMemorial University

The Safety Net Centre for Occupational Health & Safety Research• Mandate

• multidisciplinary research on workplace H & S• knowledge mobilization• capacity development• training

• Organizing principle: a ‘community alliance’ approach

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• Overview• Twelve years of work, three examples:

o Developing an Occupational Disease Registry

o Participatory Ergonomics Toolkito Safe Fishing Wharves

• Benefits and Challenges of a Community Alliance Approach to OHS Research• Questions and Discussion

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Occupational Disease Registries:Baie Verte and Beyond

Lar HovenBaie Verte Peninsula Miners’ Action Committee

Stephen BornsteinSafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health & Safety Research, MUN

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BackgroundCommunity-engaged project to develop a “registry” for the former employees of the BV asbestos mine and mill

o Funders: the NL Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission (WHSCC) with support from Memorial, other universities and a workers’ health clinic

o A multidisciplinary team of researchers from multiple provinces guided by a “Working Group” with representatives from:

– the WHSCC– the BV Peninsula Miners’ Action Committee– the United Steel Workers

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•Baie Verte •- the place

Baie Verte

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Why a registry? •Asbestos exposures can lead to or increase the risk of developing:

• asbestosis• other forms of lung damage (e.g., pleural

fibrosis)• lung cancer• mesothelioma• ovarian cancer• cancer of the larynx• possibly other cancers, including GI

cancers

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Why a Registry…•Occupational diseases often become manifest several decades after exposures•Miners can be highly mobile, moving between mines as they open and close •Health professionals may not ask about work history and may not be familiar with the OH risks of asbestos exposures•Contributes to risk of under-diagnosis and difficulty assembling medical information needed to file successfully for compensation. •Can add to our understanding of health risks of chrysotile asbestos

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•Getting the Registry funded:• Mine officially opened: 1963• Mine officially closed:1994• Original recommendation for a registry: 1977• Ongoing pressure for a registry from:

o Miners and the communityo BVP Miners’ Action Committeeo United Steel Workers Union

• Decision to fund a registry: 2007• Completion of the registry: 2013 (35 years later)

In short: Registries are contested terrain

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Project Outputs•The Baie Verte Miners’ Registry

o Confidential electronic database with demographic, health, work history, exposure and compensation information for each registrant

o Individual information accessible to registrants (on request) and to WHSCC where have consented and/or where file for compensation

•Information package for each registrant/proxy•Health care brochure for health professionals•Final report including analysis of key issues available at www.safetynet.mun.ca

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Results • 1244 contacts made• Completed registrants: 1003• Medically confirmed cases of ARDs: 169--

not including GI cancers• 145 registrants have filed a claim but only

45 claims have been accepted

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Reflections on the BV Registry as Community-Engaged Research•Community and union representation on the working group was essential to the design of the registry outputs, to the approach and to the willingness of SafetyNet and affiliated researchers to take on the contract.•Roles of SN Team and Working Group in the Registry Project:• design of the project• implementation• oversight• final report• dissemination and follow-up

•Relative influence of WG members• Overall assessment as a community-engaged initiative

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A Team Approach: Collaborative Development of a Toolkit to

help Ergonomists and Workplaces Implement an Ergo-Team Approach to

Participatory Ergonomics

David Antle, Barb Neis, Nicole Vezina

www.participatoryergonomics.mun.ca

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The problem

Workplace musculoskeletal injuries are an incredible burden to society and industry

Rivilis et al, 2010; We know a great deal about injury risk factors in the work place

We need to find ways to positively influence what actually happens in very diverse and dynamic workplaces to make a difference.

Participatory Ergonomics (PE)

• Uses stakeholder knowledge of social and organizational factors, combined with expertise of ergonomists/ researchers, to identify issues and develop effective solutions

• Requires key company stakeholders to be involved during all phases of the intervention• Managers, employees, maintenance, etc.• Involvement includes

o Educationo Selection of intervention areaso Assessmento Development and implementation of solutionso On-going capacity and process

• The Participatory Ergonomics Toolkit is a free set of tools designed for use by facilitating ergonomists interested in implementing an Ergo-Team approach to addressing ergonomic issues in the workplace.

• The Toolkit is designed to assist workplaces in:• identifying causes

• developing strategies

• evaluating changes

Available free on the internet.

TOOLKIT CONTENTS:Promotional Video – A Team Approach

Step by step guide Summarizes key literature Outlines role of ergonomist,

stakeholders Success factors; potential issues Outlines each step of the approach

Written for an ergonomist, but also useful for:

Managers, OHS reps, Rehabilitation Specialists, Union Represenatives

User’s Guide

TRAINING WORKBOOK AND TOOLS

oTraining for Ergo-Team members

o12 modules

oActivities, teaching aids and key tools to apply at each step of the intervention

What led to the development of this toolkit?1.Study of RSI’s in a rural fishplant and related changes2.Plant representatives ask SN to ‘leave something behind’3.Successful CIHR Knowledge-to-Action grant4.Development of draft tools 5.Establishment of Ergo-Team in Plant A using tools6.Plant A Ergo-Team presented toolkit in a SafetyNet symposium7.Plant B requested transfer of the toolkit to their workplace 20

8.Presentation of draft toolkit to PE expert researchers9.Further testing/refinement by implementing in urban poultry and snackfood processing plants10.Finalize and launch the toolkit (CIHR Café Scientifique) in NL and Alberta 11.Treat as a “working document”12.Lead author/Ph.D. student now working with EWI – firm that helps companies deal with OHS issues that uses the toolkit in their work.13.Timeframe – start to finish: roughly 10 years 21

Safety on Newfoundland and Labrador Fishing Wharves

Ben Jackson, Barb Neis, Andrew Canning, Scott McKinnon

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Product: Report and multiple recommendations on ways to improve safety on fishing wharves in the provinceWhere did the project come from?Raised as an issue in a fisheries OHS symposiumConcerns reinforced by a fatality on a fishing wharf in a community where we were workingFocus: Are there OHS issues? What are they? Why do they exist? How might risk be reduced?

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Ingredients:•Funding (patched together from different sources)•Committed research assistant•Multi-stakeholder steering committee that provided input into research design, reviewed and commented on draft reports, etc.

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Resultsa.Report that reviews existing research, documents and makes visible range of OHS incidents on fishing wharvesb.Publication(s) dealing with understudied issue (globally)c.Provides a sense of relative frequency of these incidents, groups most at riskd.Notes inconsistencies in perceptions of riske.Documents complex regulatory issues associated with improving safety on wharvesf.Recommendations for further research and for improving safety refined with multi-stakeholder inputg.Timeline – roughly 4 years start to finish 25

Insights from 3 cases? Different funding strategies/dynamicsDifferent governance/organizational approachesBenefits of a problem solving approach and building on existing relationships/insightsLong timelines Requirement for an engaged lead who carries the work forward through multiple phases to some kind of completion

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Relevant SafetyNet Resources www.safetynet.mun.ca

Baie Verte Miners’ Registrywww.bvminers.ca

Participatory Ergonomics Toolkit

http://www.participatoryergonomics.mun.ca/PE_Toolkit/

Bornstein S and Neis B. Research on the periphery: the SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety 2010; 8 (1): 3-4.

Coombs-Thorne H, Bradbury E, Neis B, Bornstein S, MacKinnon S and Parent R. Interjurisdictional knowledge transfer in occupational safety and health: lessons from eastern Canada. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety 2010; 8 (1): 95-109.