LOHP Challenge: Can the parts come together?

1. Translating Health and Safety Research into Action: Building Labor Management Capacity to Use Research to Improve Working ConditionsLabor Occupational Health Program, UC BerkeleyPam Tau Lee, Laura Stock MPH LOHP Challenge: Can the parts come together? The Labor Occupational Health Program of the University of California Berkeley (LOHP) was invited to develop a comprehensive collaborative work plan to prepare the participating hospital’s management and labor representatives to make optimal use of results of a 4 year ergonomic and work organization research project – the “Grow” Study. Original program goals: • LOHP will work with hospital management and unions to construct and train a joint labor/management committee that will be prepared to act on findings generated at the end of year 3. • Training will include background on the potential ergonomic and work organizational issues under study and some of the potential intervention techniques that are available. • When study results are available, the GROW study team and LOHP will facilitate the development of targeted interventions. • When complete study results are presented, GROW study team and LOHP will introduce intervention proposals. Successes: • Designed three health and safety and ergonomic trainings in collaboration with with labor representatives – AFSCME, CNA, UPTE, CUE, SEIU 790. • Provided health and safety technical assistance to labor representatives. • Helped to initiate UCSF Liaison Committee to bring together labor representatives and UCSF managers for GROW study updates and discussion. • Health and Safety Department produced memo for labor representatives that provides clear and simple process for reporting health and safety hazards and problems. Memo developed in response to issues raised at LOHP training Obstacles: • Labor unions have different approaches to labor management problem solving regarding: • Standing joint labor/management committees. • Filing grievances. • Engaging in direct action. • One union reluctant to participate in study due to concerns about confidentiality and impact. • Strained labor relations at both hospitals. • Attempts to sub-contract out janitorial work. • Efforts by nurses to increase staffing. • Lay-offs. • Contract negotiations. • Union members can only attend LOHP meetings and trainings on their own time (days off). • Unions’ constraints – time and resources • Comprehensive approach to employee health and safety not identified. • Departmental communications and coordination of efforts are not consistent and in many cases lacking. • Buy-in for GROW project by employers is uneven. Impacts communication with mid-level managers and other departments that could benefit from GROW study involvement. Impacts involvement and cooperation from managers and departments. • Concerns by researchers about avoiding intervention that might affect results. EMPLOYER Employer interest and concerns LABOR Union interests and concerns GROW study Maintain integrity of research design and implementation LOHP Enhancing labor and management capacity to participate in injury and illness prevention

2. “GROW” Study GRadients in Occupational Health in Hospital Workers Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco are conducting a study of work injuries among hospital workers at San Francisco General Hospital. The goal of this study is to determine how workplace factors relate to differences in health outcomes across job categories and pay levels. This will be the first comprehensive study of its kind focusing on hospital workers. Ways this study will measure health are: • Work related injury such as strains and sprains, • How workers relate their quality of life, • General physical and mental functioning, • Blood pressure, • Cortisol levels • Absence from work due to sickness or injury. Participants will be interviewed by telephone and have physical aspects of their jobs ergonomically evaluated. The study will look at job layout, how jobs are done, and what tasks are involved, including lifting, desk work, and using instruments and tools. The results of this study are intended to help improve the working environment of the hospitals involved and hospitals generally. This study is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (AR 47798)