OccHealthSci October 2024 Newsletter
- Shaun McGillis
- Oct 18, 2024
- 4 min read
The latest news, updates, and events from OccHealthSci
Professional Development Opportunities
Total Worker Health® for Safety Committees
For Spanish speaking audiences:
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
In-person at the Fourth Annual Conference on Occupational Safety and Health and Your Rights in the Workplace
Hillsboro, Oregon
For English speaking audiences:
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
In-person at the Western Pulp, Paper, and Forest Products Safety & Health Conference
Portland, Oregon
Safety committees play a crucial role in the identification and management of different workplace hazards. This session helps you broaden your understanding of all types of hazards, including psychosocial and organizational hazards, which are not always easy to recognize. Participants will learn about the Total Worker Health® (TWH) approach, a concept coined and supported by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Participants are also able to relate how current workplace programs and policies might (or might not) fit into the TWH approach and how this comprehensive approach can be used by safety committees to advance health, safety, and well-being at work more effectively.
OccHealthSci Training Programs
Mental Health Training for First Responder Leaders
Supervisors are well-positioned to notice changes in team members, but few know how to recognize the warning signs or how to respond appropriately. The one-hour, online Mental Health Training for First Responder Leaders, originally developed for active-duty military, has been customized to the unique needs of first responder leaders, training them with tangible skills to:
Effectively support team members’ mental health
Recognize and respond to warning signs of distress in ways that are appropriate and actionable
This training is available at no cost for first responder organizations. Email supportiveworkplaces@ohsu.edu for more information.
OccHealthSci Sponsored Programs
Oregon Healthy Workforce Center
The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center recently selected the recipients of the 2024-2024 pilot project grants. The goal of the pilot project program is to support new and impactful research that advances the Center’s theme: Total Worker Health® intervention effectiveness, translation, and outreach to advance safe and healthy work design. Congratulations to this year’s pilot grant recipients. Their projects are listed below.
Communal meal break at work: A social connectedness intervention (PI: Anjali Rameshabu) This study responds to our national loneliness epidemic through an intervention that targets work design, social connection, and equity. This pilot project will lay the groundwork for communal meal breaks (CMB), an intervention to increase social connectedness among janitorial workers in healthcare.
Enhancing Total Worker Health® culture through a company-wide worker-focused introduction training program (PI: Emily Huang) This project will design and pilot a company-wide introductory training component for a broader multilevel and mobile Total Worker Health® (TWH) Culture Training Intervention Program. The primary objective is to enhance TWH Culture and its associated outcomes to foster positive changes in safety, health, and well-being across all employee levels.
Organizational safety climate and illness prevention: A call for expanded conceptualization, measurement and intervention (PI: Rebecca Lindgren) This study looks to validate a newly developed Illness Preventions Safety Climate (IPSC) scale. The study will investigate predictive and incremental validity toward illness prevention factors compared to currently used safety climate scale, which tend to have a specificity toward injury prevention factors.
Learn more about the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center, including interventions to improve worker health and other resources, current and past research projects, and other resources.
Occupational Public Health Program/OR-FACE Program
The Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (OR-FACE) Program offers a wide variety of resources to help keep workers safe at work. Learn more about OR-FACE (Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program), including our fatality investigations and toolbox talks, by visiting our website. To download and receive new publications including investigative reports and other OR-FACE publications, please join our mailing list.
Research, Events, and Blog Posts
Stay up to date on the latest basic, clinical, and applied research at OccHealthSci, and learn about our partnerships and community engagement at the Oregon and the Workplace blog.
From the blog: Ambulatory blood pressure—how many measurements are needed?
OccHealthSci researchers Leandro Brito, Sean Rice, Saurabh Thosar and colleagues recently completed a study that contradicted currently held recommendations regarding how many blood pressure measurements are needed to calculate average blood pressure and blood pressure dipping overnight for clinical purposes. Learn more about the study and results.
From the blog: The supplement Gotu Kola may enhance neuronal growth and combat age-related deficits
OccHealthSci Professor Doris Kretzschmar and colleagues studying the popular supplement Gotu Kola show that the compounds within the plant enhance processes involved in neuronal health. The findings from this study suggest that Gotu Kola may offer a natural solution to support brain health and resilience against age-related challenges. Learn more about the study.
Recently published: Supportive-leadership training to improve social connection OccHealthSci professor Leslie Hammer and colleagues examined the impact of a trial to enhance social connections among service members in high-risk occupational settings. The study highlights the critical role of supportive leadership in fostering a positive work environment and mitigating feelings of loneliness and isolation. Results indicated that the training significantly improved social connections and overall well-being, suggesting that organizations can benefit from implementing supportive leadership practices to enhance employee mental health and workplace dynamics. The findings underscore the importance of prioritizing social connections as a key component of organizational health. Read the full study.
Events
October 15-17: Southern Oregon Occupational Health & Safety Conference (OccHealthSci presenting)
October 15: Working Well Webinar Series: Too hot to work: How to protect workers from extreme heat and poor air quality
October 16: Colorado Health Links: Ageism: The multigenerational Workplace (OccHealthSci presenting)
October 16: OccHealthSci Seminar Series with Ariel Williamson, Ph.D.
November 5: Safety, Health, and Your Rights at Work Conference, en Españno (OccHealthSci presenting)
November 5-7: Global Healthy Workplace Awards & Summit (OccHealthSci presenting)
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