Occupational health

Impact of the Overall Workload on Pregnancy: Summary

  • The overall workload is evaluated by means of the cumulative set of occupational conditions, the level of physical activity and the level of energy expenditure.
  • Exposure to an increased number of occupational conditions is linked to increased preterm deliveries and, to a lesser extent, to increased small-for-gestational-age births.
  • Increases in the incidence of low-birthweight and high blood pressure during pregnancy are suspected in the presence of two or three occupational conditions. 
  • Excessive preterm deliveries and low-birthweights are suspected during exposure to high and moderate levels of physical activity, respectively.
  • Different effects of energy expenditure are suspected, i.e., lower birthweight, an increase in spontaneous abortions and a higher incidence of high blood pressure during pregnancy in the presence of a high level of activity, and increased small-for-gestational-age births in the case of moderate and high lev…

Advisory on a Québec Policy to Fight Environmental Noise: Towards Healthy Sound Environments

  • Environmental noise, defined as noise emitted from all sources excluding those in the workplace, is pervasive and constitutes a risk to health and quality of life.

  • The review of the scientific literature shows that noise is a public health issue that can have multiple consequences, both physical and psychosocial. Environmental noise can be a source of sleep disturbance, interference with the ability to learn at school, cardiovascular disease, annoyance (discomfort, disturbance), hearing loss and tinnitus.

  • Environmental noise is a source of complaints and lawsuits, which are indicative of social acceptance issues. Public reactions attest to diverging interests in society, particularly with regard to the model and overall vision of land development and the need for tranquillity.

  • According to a conservative estimate, the societal costs associated with the effects of environmental noise amount to some $680 m…

Working Conditions that Contribute to Work-Related Musculoskeletal disorders: Highlights of the Québec Survey on Working and Employment Conditions and Occupational Health and Safety

What are the causes of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs)? Numerous scientific studies have highlighted the important contribution of working conditions to the development of WMSDs, in particular physical work demands such as forceful exertion, repetitive movements and awkward body postures. The Québec Survey on Working and Employment Conditions and Occupational Health and Safety (QSWECOHS) sheds new light on the working conditions that contribute to WMSDs.

Organisational work demands, such as work intensity, work pace, lack of decision latitude and lack of support from co-workers or supervisors, also contribute to these common health problems.

The Québec Survey on Working and Employment Conditions and Occupational Health and Safety (QSWECOHS) sheds new light on the working conditions that contribute to WMSDs.

How Widespread are Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders?: Highlights of the Québec Survey on Working and Employment Conditions and Occupational Health and Safety

A painful back, shoulder or wrist can make life difficult. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) occur frequently in the workplace and affect many Québec workers.

The Québec Survey on Working and Employment Conditions and Occupational Health and Safety (QSWECOHS) sheds new light on WMSDs. (See the sidebar entitled Data Source on the reverse side of this document.) In 2007, for example, nearly 732,000 Québec workers, or one in five, experienced at least one WMSD in the 12 months prior to the survey.

The survey also found that female workers were more likely to be affected by WMSDs than their male counterparts. One of every four women experienced a WMSD compared with one of every six men.

This gender difference was seen for each body region studied in this survey.

Occupational Health Competency Framework for Public Health in Québec

The underlying impetus of the occupational health framework is a desire to enact change. This tool aims to address the modernization challenges outlined in the Programme national de santé publique (MSSS, 2008) [Québec's updated public health program] and the Plan stratégique du Réseau de santé publique en santé au travail (MSSS, 2010) [the strategic plan of Québec's public health network in occupational health, and it offers a wide range of opportunities for organizational and professional development, including staffing, development of a joint training plan, personnel recruitment and assessment, career management, orientations for university programs, harmonization of practices, etc. Moreover, the use of the interdisciplinary professional situations of the RSPSAT as a blueprint for describing the competencies highlights the framework's collective nature and allows for implementation of a comprehensive competency development plan.

The competency framework development…

Urban Traffic Calming and Environmental Noise: Effects and Implications for Practice

This summary is the third in a series of five short documents based on a literature review published in 2011. In what follows, we first present the mechanisms of action underlying traffic-calming strategies, as these mechanisms help explain and predict the effects of such strategies on traffic noise. Next, we summarize the results of studies having evaluated two approaches to traffic calming. Lastly, we consider the implications of such results for public health.

Exposure to Nonhuman Primates: Situation, Reference and Intervention Guide

In 2002, the Table de coordination nationale de maladies infectieuses tasked a multisectoral working group with the development of a professional practice and intervention guide for persons who work with nonhuman primates. In 2010, the Table asked the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) to publish the guide and make it available to the public.

This guide is intended primarily for public health professionals, clinicians, emergency physicians, veterinary physicians, and occupational health and safety physicians who work in the organizations concerned with the exposure to nonhuman primates (including physicians responsible for occupational health in the public system).

Public Health Scientific Advisory on the Prevention of Farm Injuries in Québec: Synthesis Report

  • Agriculture continues to dominate the primary industrial sector in Québec, but this field of activity is changing and must adapt to new socioeconomic realities such as pressure from open markets, numerous technological changes, declining farm incomes, farmers' high debt load, an aging farm population, and a shortage of young and beginning farmers. Another issue is the growing use of outside workers and migrant workers in this sector, where union representation is virtually non-existent and only 40% of farms are covered by the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec (CSST).
  • The farm is a place where people live as well as work. Therefore, among the issues to consider when developing agri-food policies, safety is of vital concern since it is likely to improve both living and working conditions in the sector.
  • In terms of the scope of injuries, agriculture is one of the economic sectors most at risk. In Canada, it ranks as the fourth most…

Built Environment: Public Policy, Actors, Barriers, and Levers - Knowledge Exchange Colloquium

The Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) project is an initiative of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC). Through this project, seven coalitions have been funded to integrate and build upon their practices to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases with similar determinants. The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) is a partner in one of these funded coalitions, Healthy Canada by Design. The principal goal of this coalition is to inspire change in the ways in which the built environment is currently developed, by influencing the policies that inform it. Gathering numerous partners from six health authorities, all members of the Urban Public Health Network (UPHN), the focus of this coalition is specifically the built environment of Canada’s large urban centres.

Funding for the Healthy Canada by Design coalition has made numerous knowledge exchange opportunities possible. One of these was the day-long colloquium…

Québec Survey on Working and Employment Conditions and Occupational Health and Safety (EQCOTESST): Summary Report

In recent decades, the world of work has undergone a number of major transformations, which in turn have had considerable impact on both work organization and employment relationships. These changes have often been introduced for economic reasons in the context of increasingly globalized markets. However, it is becoming more and more apparent that they sometimes have negative impacts on workers’ health and safety. This survey was carried out as part of Québec’s Minister of Labour’s responsibility for conducting a study of changes in working conditions in Québec every five years, in collaboration with the organizations concerned, with the ultimate aim of influencing the future course of public policy (see section 11 of the Act respecting the ministère du Travail, R.S.Q., c. M-32.2). A better knowledge of working and employment conditions and how they relate to the health and safety of Québec workers is vital to providing strategic support for orienting occupational health and safety…