Evaluation of Working Conditions as a Factor of Well-Being of Workers in an Electronic Industry in Mexicali

The objective of this research was developed to evaluate the working conditions of workers in an electronic industry located in the city of Mexicali, analyzing a process in a work table where welding operations of electronic components are made and certain factors are presented that generated discomfort to the operating personnel of this manufacturing area. The workers frequently visited the company doctor and health institutions in Mexicali due to symptoms of discomfort and pain in the head, neck, back, spine, arms, hands, and shoulders in addition to discomfort in the eyes due to not having a position due to poor structure (work table and chair) and low light intensity, which caused fatigue and stress and discomfort with eyestrain. In addition, certain employees in the production areas presented symptoms of respiratory diseases caused by an environment contaminated by pollutants, essentially derived from sulfur (sulfides), as well as variations in temperature and relative humidity in the four seasons of the year.

Occupational Health and Safety Measures in German Outpatient Care Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, outpatient caregivers are exposed to new serious health threats at work. To protect their health, effective occupational health and safety measures (OHSM) are necessary. Outpatient caregivers (n = 15) participated in semi-structured telephone interviews in May/June 2020 (1) to examine the pandemic-related OHSM that have been implemented in their outpatient care services, as well as (2) to identify their corresponding unmet needs. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed by using qualitative content analysis in accordance with Mayring. Available OHSM in outpatient care services described by outpatient caregivers mainly included personal protective equipment (PPE) and surface disinfection means after an initial shortage in the first peak of the pandemic. Further OHSM implied social distancing, increased hygiene regulations and the provision of pandemic-related information by the employer, as well as the possibility to consult a company doctor. Our study revealed that OHSM were largely adapted to the health threats posed by COVID-19, however an optimum has not yet been achieved. There is still a need for improvement in the qualitative and quantitative supply of PPE, as well as on the organisational level, e.g., with regard to the development of pandemic plans or in work organisation.

Speech of the general director of the research and design institute for information technology, signaling and telecommunications in railway transportation, the Russian railways company, doctor of engineering I.N. Rosenberg

Speech of the general director of the research and design institute for information technology, signaling and telecommunications in railway transportation, the Russian railways company, doctor of engineering I.N. Rosenberg

Difficult Reputations and the Social Reality of Occupational Medicine

This response to Tee Guidotti's (2008) critique of Elaine Draper's The Company Doctor: Risk, Responsibility, and Corporate Professionalism (2003) argues that a forthright examination of the conflicts of those working in the field of occupational medicine is essential to maintaining the health of the profession and to promoting constructive policies. Research for The Company Doctor reveals how doctors walk a tightrope of professional demands on them. The author describes how corporate employment affects medicine and science and how professionals working in corporations are subject to the decisions of company managers and to economic and legal imperatives stemming from their status as corporate employees. Analyzing company doctors' role in confronting toxics and responding to liability fears in corporations, the author argues that problems of lost credibility, stigmatization, and tarnished reputation that company doctors describe largely stem from the organizational constraints, economic interests, and other aspects of the social context of their work. These social forces exert powerful pressure on the ethical framework and daily work lives of these professionals as well as on the reputation of their field. The author discusses ways in which the conflicting demands from being both a corporate employee and a physician are a social and structural problem beyond individual ethics.

Occupational Medicine and the Construction of “Difficult Reputations”

The creation of “difficult reputations” is a collective act of disparagement often undertaken to diminish the influence of the target individual or group for political reasons. This process can be observed in efforts to discredit the field of occupational medicine and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) by revising its history. Examples are given from Draper's The Company Doctor: Risk, Responsibility, and Corporate Professionalism and LaDou, in which new sources of historical information do not support the allegations or impressions conveyed. This tendency is inimical to progress in occupational health in general and may be highly destructive to the field if not recognized and discouraged.