Week 3 Readings Flashcards
How much of an influence was sex and injury type in relation to GRTW in this study?
Women were more likely to receive a GRTW
People with a serious injury were more likely to receive a GRTW
More men work in industries associated with manual activities that
may necessitate full recovery before RTW with limited opportunities for Gradual RTW, such as might be seen in construction
occupations. Indeed descriptively, we observed a lower percentage
of workers with Gradual RTW in the trades and primary resource
occupation
How did the natural resource industry compare to the trades industry in term of % receiving GRTW?
Trade had the highest whereas primary resources had the lowest rates over 6 year period (51.6% vs 32%)
More men work in industries associated with manual activities that
may necessitate full recovery before RTW with limited opportunities for Gradual RTW, such as might be seen in construction
occupations. Indeed descriptively, we observed a lower percentage
of workers with Gradual RTW in the trades and primary resource
occupation
Was there an increase of GRTW over the 6-year study? Why?
Yes: 35.2% in 2010 vs 47.4% in 2015
What does the finding regarding the relationship between RTW and GRTW mean?
When evaluating the relationship between RTW and Gradual RTW,
15% of workers with sustained RTW within 7 days of injury were offered GRTW.
61% of workers with sustained RTW after 30 days of injury were provided with GRTW
70% of workers with sustained RTW between 270-365 days post injury were offered GRTW
Workers who return to work quickly may require less support, as they may have milder injuries, so employers might perceive GRTW as unnecessary for these cases.
Workers who are off work for extended periods are the most likely to be offered GRTW, indicating that prolonged absences may prompt employers to implement structured reintegration plans.
What does it mean that age was a “proxy” measure? What were the findings regarding age
Hypothesized that age represented seniority within the firm.
People aged 35-54 were most likely to receive a GRTW
- older adults have more experience, longer job tenure, better benefits.
The experience and job tenure within one employer can result in the ability to perform a wider range of tasks on the job with more opportunity for Gradual RTW.
How did “firm size” effect GRTW in these findings? Why?
Working for a larger firm was related to receiving Gradual RTW within the first year after a work acquired MSD
Possibly more resources to plan and support worker in undergoing a GRTW
(precedent, work suitable duties, larger HR department, disability programs
Describe the HOP principles.
- Humans are fallible
- blame solves nothing
- context drives behaviour (actions and decisions)
- leaders response matters
- learning is vital
How does adopting a Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) lens shift the focus of a traditional ergonomics approach?
Traditional approach
- focus on zero accidents
- safety is defined as the absence of incidents
- assessment of problems is superficial (not digging deeper for root cause)
- tendency to focus on the individual rather than the system
HOP takes a systemic approach, using 5 guiding principles, to look at workplace issues.
- Focus is on learning from what works
- Does not blame the individual, leading to better reporting, no focus on absence of incidents
- Assessment of issues is thorough, not stopping at the individual level, looking at the context of the situation
What is Local Rationality? How does it relate to HOP?
Workers don’t intend to create harmful outcomes –
they do reasonable things given their knowledge,
objectives, point of view, focus of attention and
resources.
In HOP, rather than blaming the individual, be curious why that action seemed
reasonable, rational to that person,
at that time?
Compare/contrast the types of insights provided by system-based tools (e.g., Learning Teams, WAI/WAD, SHELL) and more specific or granular tools (e.g., goniometers, dynamometers). Choose one system-based tool and one specific tool.
Systems based tools provide guidance on how to conduct assessments whereas granular tools provide specific measurements.
Example:
SPARK: situational awareness, physical capabilities, attention, recognition, knowledge
vs
goniometer
- both rely on the assessor’s training/experience using the tool to get the most valuable information
- both can be used in a variety of contexts
- SPARK is a tool to guide conversation, avoiding bias and blame (as seen with traditional safety investigations)
- goniometer is a tool to measure joint angles, can be used at multiple joint angles
Explain how HOP principles, such as “humans make mistakes” or “context drives actions and decisions” can improve the design of a GRTW program.
As a RTW planner, using HOP principles to evaluate your RTW plans can help with improvement.
- People make mistakes
- accepting this as fact can help with seeing the human behind the worker, remembering accidents and injuries can happen to everyone. staying empathetic and compassionate - blame fixes nothing
- when GRTW plans are unsuccessful and there are barriers, there is little value in blaming stakeholders (worker, employer, rehabilitative team). Instead, as a case manager, focus on factors that can be controlled or addressed to bring GRTW plan back into alignment - context drives action
- if a worker is uncompliant with their GRTW plan, understanding the context is key to getting back on course (child care commitments, drowsiness –> medication?, marital issues affecting mood, loss of identity, etc.). re-evaluate plan using this context - leadership response matters
- important to have management aware and participate in GRTW planning, identifying suitable work, maintaining contact with employee so they feel cared about - learning is vital
- spend time understanding the worker’s position, understanding best practices (learning from normal), finding mentors
What is WAI and WAD? Give one workplace example.
work as imagined vs work as done
policies and procedures describe work as imagined (how it “should” be done)
work as done often differs - workers find shortcuts that make work more efficient or easier for them, whether thats for better or for worse (ex: could be more dangerous, but could result in increased productivity)
- work as imagined: for a warehouse worker, perhaps there are lifting guidelines and training provided (ex: 2 person lifts for larger appliances, must use a dolly, etc.), however, if the dolly is on the other side of the warehouse, or broken, or it is always short staffed, workers will have to lift by themselves
How can gaps/discrepancies between WAI and WAD be identified? What tools could you use?
observation
- SPARK: situational awareness, physical capabilities, attention, recognition, knowledge
- walkthrough talkthroughs
What are the pros and cons of rules
- Help shape practices
- New worker guidance
- Standardize work activities (where possible)
But also…
* Can’t cover all situations
* Can’t predict what may happen
* Can’t alone create safety
* Can’t cater to all levels of expertise and experience
* Static, work is dynamic hence maybe incompatible
* Often idyllic
Explain SPARK and give a few questions for each letter in the acronym
success and strengths
- tell me about some successes you’ve experienced
- what is central to success in doing the work
pain points and problems
- explain parts of this work that are painful or frustrating
- share how the pain points impact your work
- what recurring problems do you encounter
adaptations and adjustments
- can you tell me about adjustments or adaptations
- how are adaptations made?
- how often are adjustments needed
realities
- what are some real risks you face doing this work
- are there rules that don’t make sense or are out of sync with actual work
- what realities or constraints impact ur work
- what rules or realities of your work would you change
knowledge
- what knowledge is needed to do this work
Given a scenario where a worker is recovering from a lower back injury, outline which ergonomic tools you might use to create a plan that minimizes risks and supports their recovery.
- walkthrough talkthrough with another worker who does the same job to understand the injured person’s duties and tasks. learn from normal, and ask SPARK questions
- review JDA if available
- return to work self efficacy questionnaire
- assessment of work performance questionnaire
- WODDI - work disability diagnostic interview
- functional capacity evaluation
What are the potential limitations of relying on data from a single method? E.g wearable technology (e.g., heart rate monitors, posture trackers), NASA TLX, NIOSH (or another ‘traditional’ HFE tool), WTTTS, learning teams (or another HOP-based tool). Pick one traditional tool and one HOP-based tool to help describe the limitations.
SPARK
- doesn’t give you quantifiable data generally
- relies on the expertise of the user
wearable technology
- relies on the expertise of the user
- disliked by workers (being monitored)
