Análisis de las lesiones por accidentes de trabajo en el Parc de Salut Mar, 2006-2010.

Objetivo: Estudiar la tendencia temporal de la incidencia de LAT en el Parc de SalutMar (PSMAR) en un periodo de 5 años (2006 – 2010), según las característicassociodemográficas y laborales de las personas trabajadoras y según característicasrelacionadas con la lesión.

Plan de seguridad y salud para el suministro y montaje del Parque Eólico Rancho Viejo en el T.M. de Medina-Sidonia (Cádiz)

No hace más de 3 años se podía leer en las revistas especializadas que España había pasado a ocupar el tercer puesto en el ranking mundial por potencia eólica instalada. La industria eólica española a su vez ha pasado a ocupar el tercer puesto en la fabricación e instalación de aerogeneradores, con una cuota de mercado del 13%, siendo así un sector con gran capacidad de exportación. Por otra parte, tras diez años de promulgación de la Ley 31/95, de 8 de noviembre, de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales, y después su desarrollo reglamentario, es un hecho incontestable que, pese a todo, y a los ingentes esfuerzos realizados por los distintos actores implicados en la prevención de riesgos laborales (Estado, Comunidades Autónomas, Agentes Sociales, Entidades especializadas, etcetera), existe un sector como el de la construcción que, constituyendo uno de los ejes del crecimiento económico de nuestro país, está sometido a unos riesgos especiales y continúa registrando una siniestralidad laboral muy notoria por sus cifras y gravedad. La legislación de prevención, los manuales sobre las distintas disciplinas preventivas, los libros especializados, los expertos... han abordado ya, con mayor o menor acierto, muchas de las cuestiones generales y específicas que afectan a la seguridad y salud: la evaluación de riesgos, las medidas higiénicas, los equipos de trabajo y equipos de protección individual, la planificación, la formación, los servicios de prevención , los sistemas de gestión de la prevención, las auditorías ... forman parte de los contenidos que se han ido creando en torno a este tema. No obstante, resulta de gran interés la elaboración de un estudio de Seguridad y Salud, en el que partiendo de un desarrollo técnico concreto, pero sobre todo integral, es decir, que comprenda todas las fases para el suministrp e instalación de aerogeneradores para un parque eólico, vayamos desgranando cada uno de los puntos desarrollados en su construcción. Entre las conclusiones más destacadas de este trabajo, se encuentra la definición de las condiciones relativas a la prevención de accidentes y enfermedades laborales durante la ejecución de los trabajos de suministro e instalación de un parque eólico y la gestión de su prevención, las características de las instalaciones preceptivas para higiene y bienestar de los trabajadores, así como directrices básicas mínimas, que deben reflejarse y desarrollarse en el Plan de Seguridad y Salud que las empresas contratistas deberán presentar para su aprobación por el director de obra, antes del comienzo de los trabajos, de forma que sea posible la disminución de accidentes laborales así como evitar las posibles sanciones administrativas y/o penales.

Incremental Validity and Indirect effect of Ethical Development on Work Performance

We modeled work performance as outcomes of individual-differences mediated by technical performance. Beyond the "usual suspects" (e.g., general mental ability, and personality), we also measured the ethical development of participants (n = 460). We surmised that ethical development - which has not been extensively studied as a predictor of work performance while controlling for established predictors - captures unique variance in both technical and work performance. Results demonstrated incremental validity for ethical development in predicting technical performance, which in turn predicted work performance. The indirect effect of ethical development was significant too. Our results highlight the importance of process models of performance, which include proximal as well as distal individual differences.

Cardiac paraganglioma: diagnostic work up and review of the literature.

Paraganglioma of the heart are potentially invasive, highly vascularized tumors for which complete resection may be curative. Derived from the cardiac wall in most instances, resectability can be assessed after integration of the data provided by MRI in T2 sequence, and coronarography. A fully documented case of a large cardiac pheochromocytoma of the left atrium and AV groove is reported and the pertinent literature on the subject is here presented.

INTERMED predicts non-return to work in an occupational rehabilitation setting for individuals with orthopaedic trauma-Part I

Introduction.- Knowledge of predictors of an unfavourable outcome, e.g. non-return to work after an injury enables to identify patients at risk and to target interventions for modifiable predictors. It has been recently shown that INTERMED; a tool to measure biopsychosocial complexity in four domains (biologic, psychologic, social and care, with a score between 0-60 points) can be useful in this context. The aim of this study was to set up a predictive model for non-return to work using INTERMED in patients in vocational rehabilitation after orthopaedic injury.Patients and methods.- In this longitudinal prospective study, the cohort consisted of 2156 consecutively included inpatients with orthopaedic trauma attending a rehabilitation hospital after a work, traffic or sport related injury. Two years after discharge, a questionnaire regarding return to work was sent (1502 returned their questionnaires). In addition to INTERMED, 18 predictors known at baseline of the rehabilitation were selected based on previous research. A multivariable logistic regression was performed.Results.- In the multivariate model, not-returning to work at 2 years was significantly predicted by the INTERMED: odds-ratio (OR) 1.08 (95% confidence interval, CI [1.06; 1.11]) for a one point increase in scale; by qualified work-status before the injury OR = 0.74, CI (0.54; 0.99), by using French as preferred language OR = 0.60, CI (0.45; 0.80), by upper-extremity injury OR = 1.37, CI (1.03; 1.81), by higher education (> 9 years) OR = 0.74, CI (0.55; 1.00), and by a 10 year increase in age OR = 1.15, CI (1.02; 1.29). The area under the receiver-operator-characteristics curve (ROC)-curve was 0.733 for the full model (INTERMED plus 18 variables).Discussion.- These results confirm that the total score of the INTERMED is a significant predictor for return to work. The full model with 18 predictors combined with the total score of INTERMED has good predictive value. However, the number of variables (19) to measure is high for the use as screening tool in a clinic.

Work motivation and pro-social behavior in the delivery of public services : theoretical and empirical insights

This Ph.D. dissertation seeks to study the work motivation of employees in the delivery of public services. The questioning on work motivation in public services in not new but it becomes central for governments which are now facing unprecedented public debts. The objective of this research is twofold : First, we want to see if the work motivation of employees in public services is a continuum (intrinsic and extrinsic motivations cannot coexist) or a bi-dimensional construct (intrinsic and extrinsic motivations coexist simultaneously). The research in public administration literature has focused on the concept of public service motivation, and considered motivation to be uni-dimensional (Perry and Hondeghem 2008). However, no study has yet tackled both types of motivation, the intrinsic and extrinsic ones, in the same time. This dissertation proposes, in Part I, a theoretical assessment and an empirical test of a global work motivational structure, by using a self-constructed Swiss dataset with employees from three public services, the education sector, the security sector and the public administrative services sector. Our findings suggest that work motivation in public services in not uni-dimensional but bi-dimensional, the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations coexist simultaneously and can be positively correlated (Amabile et al. 1994). Our findings show that intrinsic motivation is as important as extrinsic motivation, thus, the assumption that employees in public services are less attracted by extrinsic rewards is not confirmed for this sample. Other important finding concerns the public service motivation concept, which, as theoretically predicted, represents the major motivational dimension of employees in the delivery of public services. Second, the theory of public service motivation makes the assumption that employees in public services engage in activities that go beyond their self-interest, but never uses this construct as a determinant for their pro-social behavior. In the same time, several studies (Gregg et al. 2011 and Georgellis et al. 2011) bring evidence about the pro-social behavior of employees in public services. However, they do not identify which type of motivation is at the origin of this behavior, they only make the assumption of an intrinsically motivated behavior. We analyze the pro-social behavior of employees in public services and use the public service motivation as determinant of their pro-social behavior. We add other determinants highlighted by the theory of pro-social behavior (Bénabou and Tirole 2006), by Le Grand (2003) and by fit theories (Besley and Ghatak 2005). We test these determinants on Part II and identify for each sector of activity the positive or the negative impact on pro-social behavior of Swiss employees. Contrary to expectations, we find, for this sample, that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors have a positive impact on pro-social behavior, no crowding-out effect is identified in this sample. We confirm the hypothesis of Le Grand (2003) about the positive impact of the opportunity cost on pro-social behavior. Our results suggest a mix of action-oriented altruism and out-put oriented altruism of employees in public services. These results are relevant when designing incentives schemes for employees in the delivery of public services.

Precarious Work: Agenda and Implications for Corporate Social Responsibility

Precarious work, in contrast to regular, permanent wage work, is commonly associated to insecure and unstable, and often poor quality jobs. The concept of precarious work relates either to a socioeconomic group which allows one to refer it to a "class in itself," or as - pursued more recently - to the precarization process which results in a growing fragmentation of societal structures. Common to both conceptions is that they refer to the exposition of workers to employment instability, limited access to legal and union protection, socially irresponsible and discriminating employment practices, and social and economic vulnerability in general. The present contribution provides an overview of some key issues and future directions of research on precarious work relevant to CSR researchers, policy-makers, and social scientists.

Fact Sheet: Hazards Materials Accidents, 2009

A hazardous materials accident can occur anywhere. Communities located near chemical manufacturing plants are particularly at risk. However, hazardous materials are transported on our roadways, railways and waterways daily, so any area is considered vulnerable to an accident.