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March/April 2023 issue

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Leadership
Opinion

Risk profiling individuals will bring new responsibilities

Open-access content Friday 18th May 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

At the International Commission on Occupational Health's (ICOH) 2018 congress, Professor Antonio Mutti of the University of Parma in Italy explored the science of toxicogenomics and how adaptation or susceptibility to exposure to harmful substances may be passed on from parents to children.

Mutti suggested at some point profiling will be possible to identify individuals whose genome leaves them more than usually sensitive to a given substance, so they aren't placed in harm's way by exposure to levels an average person could tolerate.

Our efforts to identify propensity to conditions are pretty hit-and-miss at present as another ICOH speaker, Bradley Evanoff, pointed out in a presentation about prescreening employees for musculoskeletal disorders.

But they are likely to improve and to give us valuable data when they do.

Studies in the Czech Republic and in Turkey have found an unusual pattern among those infected with a common human parasite toxoplasma gondii. The protozoa cause only mild, flu-like symptoms at worst in their hosts on arrival and were thought to be asymptomatic afterwards, though they stay in any human or animal they infect for the rest of the host's life.

The Czech and Turkish researchers studied people who had crashed their cars but had not consumed alcohol and in both cases found a very high incidence of those infected with gondii.

More research is under way to see whether the link between the parasite and susceptibility to road accidents can be firmed up and whether it's possible to find a causative relationship. If that link is proven it's something that should interest OSH managers, since an estimated one in three people in developed countries is infected with gondii.

There are concerns about the possibility that individual genetic profiles could make it easier for insurers to exclude swathes of people from health cover. Likewise, the more we know about individual characteristics and sensitivities, whether inherited in our genes or acquired through what is called the exposome, the sum of our exposures, the greater the risk for people to find themselves shut out of occupations or the workforce through no fault of their own.

As with so many things, the technology may run ahead of our protocols for its best and fairest use. But while we treat all employees as equally at risk, or equally safe, we are only seeing part of the picture.

You may also be interested in...

 The business book club: key lessons from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends & Influence People

Friday 18th May 2018
Carnegie pioneered the definition of business skills and motivational practices and his bestselling guide, which has sold 16 million copies, remains as relevant and popular today as ever.One of his major themes is that “the only way to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it”.He quotes American psychologist Harry A Overstreet’s 1925 book Influencing Human Behavior: “Action springs out of what we fundamentally desire – and the best piece of advice which can be given is: first, arouse in the other person an eager want.”
Open-access content

 Heather Bryant, Balfour Beatty

Wednesday 16th May 2018
“Some people will say ‘you can’t do zero harm, that’s just ridiculous’ but how come we have sites that can go for years and years without harm? We are saying that day by day you always have to aim for zero harm and we expect those gaps to get bigger and bigger so sites go for more and more years [with no accidents].”
Open-access content

 ICOH 2018 Congress

Monday 14th May 2018
The global reach of the International Commission on Occupational Health was illustrated at the organisation’s triennial congress in Dublin, Ireland, from 29 April to 4 May in a panel session on occupational cancer prevention which featured OH experts from around the world. Dr Kurt Straif of the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer reminded delegates of the state-level hierarchy of controls, starting with bans on carcinogens in the workplace or mandating closed systems in which no human contact was possible.
Open-access content

 British Safety Council offers new HR module as part of membership package

Thursday 31st May 2018
Our new HR module, powered by Croner-i, gives access to an unrivalled range of resources, advice and specialist calculators designed to support your HR function.British Safety Council members can access a range of benefits, including:
Open-access content

 Dean Greer, Tech IOSH, engineer surveyor and safety rep, Allianz

Wednesday 13th June 2018
About 14 or 15 years ago, the same club needed a new trainer so I said I’d like to have a go. The lady who had been doing the training was leaving, so I spent some time with her. We did the classes together, and then I started running courses myself. I learned from the other trainers and by reading books.
Open-access content

 The Hackitt fire safety report and challenges posed by tenants

Thursday 25th January 2018
The report points out that safety does not depend simply on getting the design, materials and construction methods right, but on its management during the whole lifecycle of the building. The finger of blame has previously been pointed at construction and refurbishment failings. Criticism has focused on cladding systems on high-rise flats and whether the provision of sprinklers should be mandatory. However, we must remember that residents have a duty of care to their neighbours too.
Open-access content
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