Occupational Medicine 2014;64:477 doi:10.1093/occmed/kqu155
In this issue of Occupational Medicine diabetes assessment project, ‘Prosiect Sir Gâr’. The rates of obesity, hypertension and other risk factors found were alarming but the study also demonstrates the value of using workplace-based projects to identify these issues and thus offer intervention and motivation for people to change. A related topic is the emerging issue of the toxic effects of sitting down for too long. Kazi and colleagues [5] found that work time contributed significantly to sitting time, being more than half of the total sitting time for many. Sadly those people who sit all day for a living don’t make up for it by being active once work has finished. This held true across a range of workplaces, with men being more likely to sit for longer and then sit at home using a computer. Given the clear links between sitting and adverse health, it seems time to explore how we design work to encourage more standing and walking. This issue has influenced me to research the Lake Louise score for mountain sickness and I’ve written this article whilst standing up! Next, I’m going to encourage the implementation of stand-up meetings in my workplace. I hope you enjoy reading this issue standing up and find at least two things that make a difference to you! Paul Williams Assistant Editor
References 1. de Bono AM. Editorial: the implications of the Francis report for occupational health in the NHS. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:478–480. 2. Vinnikov D, Brimkulov N, Krasotski V, Redding-Jones R, Blanc PD. Risk factors for occupational acute mountain sickness. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:483–489. 3. Rowe SL, Keeling M, Wessely S, Fear NT. Perceptions of the impact a military career has on children. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:490–496. 4. Gray BJ, Bracken RM, Thomas M, Williams SP, Williams M, Rice S, Stephens JW, on behalf of the Prosiect Sir Gâr Group. ‘Prosiect Sir Gâr’: workplace-based cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk assessments. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:549–556. 5. Kazi A, Duncan M, Clemes S, Haslam C. A survey of sitting time among UK employees. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:497–502.
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected]
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at Kainan University on March 8, 2015
In this issue of Occupational Medicine we publish research about the hazards of sitting for too long, climbing mountains and working off shore. Other research concerns health care workers, the police and the effects of military deployment on children. Anne de Bono [1] reviews the development of occupational health in the NHS but laments the fact that the Francis Report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust made 290 recommendations, none of which relate to occupational medicine. This is despite the evidence that higher levels of staff well-being can be linked to quality measures of good patient care. At a time when UK occupational health practitioners are questioning the future influence of the speciality this deserves some reflection. Occupational health staff may be well placed to feel the temperature of the organizations they serve and can use this to influence their direction. Whilst the report relates to an NHS trust, this will certainly translate to other enterprises. Vinnikov et al. [2] describe the risk factors for severe acute mountain sickness in high-altitude miners and report smoking to be a risk factor only outweighed by experiencing previous episodes of the same. As they mention, some other studies have shown a protective effect for milder mountain sickness. Recreational climbers don’t tend to smoke but this finding will be relevant for occupations such as the military where smoking rates may be higher. And on the subject of the military, what happens to their families when they are asked to work away from home on deployment? Rowe et al. [3] report the perceptions of service personnel on the effects of their service on their children. A negative impact on the well-being of offspring was associated with various parental factors as well as having two or more children, which may be difficult for military planners to influence. However the association with longer duration of deployment, being a regular as opposed to part time, and being a non-commissioned officer provides potential opportunities for further exploration. Tackling the rise in obesity and related illness in the developed world is a major public health problem that requires a broad range of action for governments and individuals alike, but the workplace can play a key part in addressing these issues. Gray et al. [4] describe the Welsh workplace-based cardiovascular disease and
In this issue of Occupational Medicine diabetes assessment project, ‘Prosiect Sir Gâr’. The rates of obesity, hypertension and other risk factors found were alarming but the study also demonstrates the value of using workplace-based projects to identify these issues and thus offer intervention and motivation for people to change. A related topic is the emerging issue of the toxic effects of sitting down for too long. Kazi and colleagues [5] found that work time contributed significantly to sitting time, being more than half of the total sitting time for many. Sadly those people who sit all day for a living don’t make up for it by being active once work has finished. This held true across a range of workplaces, with men being more likely to sit for longer and then sit at home using a computer. Given the clear links between sitting and adverse health, it seems time to explore how we design work to encourage more standing and walking. This issue has influenced me to research the Lake Louise score for mountain sickness and I’ve written this article whilst standing up! Next, I’m going to encourage the implementation of stand-up meetings in my workplace. I hope you enjoy reading this issue standing up and find at least two things that make a difference to you! Paul Williams Assistant Editor
References 1. de Bono AM. Editorial: the implications of the Francis report for occupational health in the NHS. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:478–480. 2. Vinnikov D, Brimkulov N, Krasotski V, Redding-Jones R, Blanc PD. Risk factors for occupational acute mountain sickness. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:483–489. 3. Rowe SL, Keeling M, Wessely S, Fear NT. Perceptions of the impact a military career has on children. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:490–496. 4. Gray BJ, Bracken RM, Thomas M, Williams SP, Williams M, Rice S, Stephens JW, on behalf of the Prosiect Sir Gâr Group. ‘Prosiect Sir Gâr’: workplace-based cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk assessments. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:549–556. 5. Kazi A, Duncan M, Clemes S, Haslam C. A survey of sitting time among UK employees. Occup Med (Lond) 2014;64:497–502.
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected]
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at Kainan University on March 8, 2015
In this issue of Occupational Medicine we publish research about the hazards of sitting for too long, climbing mountains and working off shore. Other research concerns health care workers, the police and the effects of military deployment on children. Anne de Bono [1] reviews the development of occupational health in the NHS but laments the fact that the Francis Report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust made 290 recommendations, none of which relate to occupational medicine. This is despite the evidence that higher levels of staff well-being can be linked to quality measures of good patient care. At a time when UK occupational health practitioners are questioning the future influence of the speciality this deserves some reflection. Occupational health staff may be well placed to feel the temperature of the organizations they serve and can use this to influence their direction. Whilst the report relates to an NHS trust, this will certainly translate to other enterprises. Vinnikov et al. [2] describe the risk factors for severe acute mountain sickness in high-altitude miners and report smoking to be a risk factor only outweighed by experiencing previous episodes of the same. As they mention, some other studies have shown a protective effect for milder mountain sickness. Recreational climbers don’t tend to smoke but this finding will be relevant for occupations such as the military where smoking rates may be higher. And on the subject of the military, what happens to their families when they are asked to work away from home on deployment? Rowe et al. [3] report the perceptions of service personnel on the effects of their service on their children. A negative impact on the well-being of offspring was associated with various parental factors as well as having two or more children, which may be difficult for military planners to influence. However the association with longer duration of deployment, being a regular as opposed to part time, and being a non-commissioned officer provides potential opportunities for further exploration. Tackling the rise in obesity and related illness in the developed world is a major public health problem that requires a broad range of action for governments and individuals alike, but the workplace can play a key part in addressing these issues. Gray et al. [4] describe the Welsh workplace-based cardiovascular disease and
