Occupational health

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…

In the autumn of 2007, the Association des victimes de l'amiante du Québec (AVAQ – a Québec association for asbestos victims) and the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec (MDDEP – Québec ministry of sustainable development, the environment and parks) published studies on the asbestos concentrations measured in indoor and outdoor air in Thetford Mines. The findings motivated the public health authorities in Chaudière-Appalaches and…

In the autumn of 2007, the Association des victimes de l'amiante du Québec (AVAQ – a Québec association for asbestos victims) and the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec (MDDEP – Québec ministry of sustainable development, the environment and parks) published studies on the asbestos concentrations measured in indoor and outdoor air in Thetford Mines. The findings motivated the public health authorities in Chaudière-Appalaches and…

This document reports on the Québec data acquired since 2003 on asbestos exposure and asbestos-related diseases, both among workers and in the general population. However, the aim is not to update the knowledge on asbestos as such. This report also summarizes the status of the Québec surveillance system for asbestos exposures and asbestos-related diseases, which will be introduced by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), as a result of the adoption of the Policy…

By its very nature, screening is characterised by administering a test to presymptomatic or early symptomatic individuals who may benefit from a more effective intervention if it is performed before the usual time of diagnosis.

Far from being a trivial intervention, screening can lead to significant consequences to the people screened. Therefore, before offering screening to workers, its effectiveness and the predominance of benefits over disadvantages must be demonstrated at the…

This risk assessment was undertaken at the request of Dr. Louise Soulière, director of public health and evaluation at the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de l'Estrie.

The objective of this work is to assess whether workers in a warehouse of finished rubber products in the Eastern Townships are at risk of contracting cancer because of the presence of nitrosamines in the workplace ambient air and, in the case of a non-zero risk, to suggest a threshold limit not to be…

Objectives To summarize the available scientific information on the effects of workplace noise exposure during pregnancy. The studied effects on pregnancy are: spontaneous abortion (SA), stillbirth (SB), congenital anomalies (CA), preterm delivery (PTD), low birth weight (LBW), small-forgestational- age (SGA) infant, pre-eclampsia (PE) and gestational hypertension (GHT). The effect of workplace noise during pregnancy on the child's hearing is also addressed.

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Hearing loss

Hearing problems are widespread in Nunavik with one quarter of adults having hearing loss in both ears. Men have three times more hearing loss than women (36% vs. 12%) and these problems are found to increase with age; more than half the adults over age 45 suffer from a hearing loss in both ears. Prevalence of hearing disability (as defined by World Health Organization) was 7.6% in Nunavik in 2004, which is one of the highest of the regions of the world…

While awaiting the introduction of the future surveillance system for asbestos exposures and their related diseases, we created the descriptive epidemiological portrait of two of these health problems, malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis. It was constructed using the data from statutory databases available at the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux: the Fichier des tumeurs du Québec (tumour registry) for cancer incidence, the Fichier des décès (death registry) for mortality and…

In 1997, in light of international developments with respect to asbestos, the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (Québec's department of health and social services) set up the Comité aviseur sur l'amiante (asbestos advisory committee) to make recommendations concerning appropriate measures for informing the public about the asbestos situation in Québec and protecting public health in this regard. To carry out this mandate, the committee conducted a number of studies. These were…