@nitk.ac.in
Temporary Faculty
National Institute of Technology Karnataka
Safety Research, Epidemiology
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Ashish Kumar, Amrites Senapati, Ashis Bhattacherjee, Apurna Ghosh, and Nearkasen Chau
IOS Press
BACKGROUND: Improvement of workers’ safety performance is an integral and essential part of safety management. Relevant safety interventions to improve workers’ safety performance are generally difficult to establish when there is a wide range of occupational hazards and at-risk individuals’ features. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at formulating a practical approach to develop and prioritize potential safety interventions based on occupational and individual risk factors perceived by workers to promote workers’ safety performance. METHODS: A simple framework developed to identify and prioritize the suitable safety interventions. This framework made use of data collected using standardized and validated questionnaire and domain experts’ opinions. Pearson correlation coefficients, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple linear regression were used to identify significant risk factors associated with workers’ safety performance. Data were collected by interviewing 202 coal mine workers with occupational injuries, and their immediate supervisors from three mines. RESULTS: Safety performance was associated with the occupational factor-domain (poor working condition, poor safety environment, poor job satisfaction, and high job stress) only (regression coefficient = 2.14, p < 0.01). The following interventions were identified and prioritized to promote workers’ safety performance: provide fair compensation to workers, job-specific and safety training, promotion policy, achievable targets, relevant perks/benefits, safety training awareness, workplace lighting, ventilation network, sensitize the management, associate safety performance to promotion, and develop team spirit. CONCLUSION: Our approach helps to identify and prioritize the most relevant interventions to promote safety at work when there are multiple risk factors.
Nearkasen Chau, Philippe Perrin, Gérome Gauchard, Ashis Bhattacherjee, Amrites Senapati, Slimane Belbraouet, Francis Guillemin, Bruno Falissard, and Kénora Chau
Informa UK Limited
Objective: School-behavior-health difficulties (SBHDs) may alter physical/mental capabilities and consequently increase injury risk during daily activities. This study assessed the associations of potential SBHDs and their cumulative number (SBHDcn) with various injury types among younger adolescents. Methods: The study population included 1,559 middle-school adolescents in France (10–18 years, 98% under 16,778 boys and 781 girls). They completed a questionnaire at school-year end collecting socioeconomic features (nationality, family structure, parents’ education/occupation/income), school/out-of-school injuries during the school-year (dependent variables), and SBHDs starting before the school-year (low academic performance, alcohol/tobacco/cannabis/other-illicit-drugs use, physical/verbal violence, sexual abuse, perpetrated violence, poor social support, poor general health status, sleep difficulty, depressive symptoms, and suicide attempt). Data were analyzed using logistic regression models and Kaplan–Meier estimates. Results: Injuries were frequent during school-physical/sports-training (10.9%), other-school-training (4.7%), school-free-time (7.4%), out-of-school-sports-activity (16.5%), and traffic (2.2%). Single injury (one injury all injury types combined) and ≥2 injury types affected 23.3 and 7.9% of subjects, respectively. The proportion of adolescents without SBHDs decreased with age more quickly among those with each injury type than among those without injury. Various SBHDs were associated with most injury types, single injury, and ≥2 injury types (sex-age-adjusted odds/relative-risk ratios reaching 11, p < .001). A dose–effect association was found between SBHDcn 1–2/3-5/≥6 and both single injury and ≥2 injury types (sex-age adjusted relative risk ratios reaching 12.66, p < .001, vs. SBHDcn = 0). Socioeconomic features had a moderate confounding role in these associations. Conclusions: SBHDs strongly predict injuries among adolescents. Our findings may inform healthcare providers about their prominent role in detecting/reducing SBHDs and injuries.
Rahul Upadhyay, Amrites Senapati, Kenora Chau, Ashis Bhattacherjee, Aditya Kumar Patra, and Nearkasen Chau
Informa UK Limited
INTRODUCTION
Studies related to a systematic approach for intervention design to reduce whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure are scarce. This study presents a systematic approach to identifying, selecting, and prioritizing safety interventions to fulfill that research gap.
METHODOLOGY
A total number of 130 vibration readings for dumper operators was taken from two surface iron ore mines to identify significant determinants of WBV exposure. Initially, age, weight, seat design, awkward posture, machine's age, load tonnage, dumper speed, and haul road condition were hypothesized as determinants. Data were collected through standardized questionnaires and field-based observation. A multivariate statistical approach is applied for the practical use of the intervention program.
RESULTS
As some of the hypothesized factors were correlated, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by multiple linear regression (MLR) was used to investigate their association with WBV exposure. As per EFA results, hypothesized factors were clubbed under individual, ergonomics, and occupational factors. The occupational and ergonomics factors were found to be significantly associated with WBV exposure through MLR and were used to form safety interventions to reduce WBV exposure.
CONCLUSIONS
Our methodological approach is original in the occupational-health-research area and can be helpful to tailor the safety interventions for unit-level with minimum effort.
Kénora Chau, Ashis Bhattacherjee, Amrites Senapati, Francis Guillemin, and Nearkasen Chau
Elsevier BV
Amrites Senapati, Ashis Bhattacherjee, and Snehamoy Chatterjee
Elsevier BV
Rahul Upadhyay, Amrites Senapati, Ashis Bhattacherjee, Aditya Kumar Patra, and Snehamoy Chatterjee
Lifescience Global
Background: This study deals with some factors that influence the exposure of whole-body vibration (WBV) of dumper operators in surface mines. The study also highlights the approach to improve the multivariate linear analysis outcomes when collinearity exists between certain factor pairs. Material and Methods: A total number of 130 vibration readings was taken from two adjacent surface iron ore mines. The frequency-weighted RMS acceleration was used for the WBV exposure assessment of the dumper operators. The factors considered in this study are age, weight, seat backrest height, awkward posture, the machine age, load tonnage, dumper speed and haul road condition. Four machine learning models were explored through the empirical training-testing approach. Results: The bootstrap linear regression model was found to be the best model based on performance and predictability when compared to multiple linear regression, LASSO regression, and decision tree. Results revealed that multiple factors influence WBV exposure. The significant factors are: weight of operators (regression coefficient β=-0.005, p<0.001), awkward posture (β=0.033, p<0.001), load tonnage (β=-0.026, p<0.05), dumper speed (β=0.008, p<0.001) and poor haul road condition (β=0.015, p<0.001). Conclusion: The bootstrap linear regression model produced efficient results for the dataset which was characterized by collinearity. WBV exposure is multifactorial. Regular monitoring of WBV exposure and corrective actions through appropriate prevention programs including the ergonomic design of the seat would increase the health and safety of operators.
Amrites SENAPATI, Ashis BHATTACHERJEE, and Nearkasen CHAU
National Institute of Industrial Health
A wide range of job-related hazards and personal factors may be associated with injury occurrences at continuous miner worksites but their role has been little documented. To address this issue, a case-control study in India was conducted to compare 135 workers with an injury during the previous 2-yr period and 270 controls without injury during the previous 5-yr period (two controls for each injured worker, matched on age and occupation). Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using standardized questionnaire and analyzed using conditional logistic regression models. We found that the injury occurrences were multifactorial and associated with hand tool-related hazards (adjusted odds ratio/ORa=3.69, p<0.01), working condition-related hazards (ORa=3.11, p<0.01), continuous miner-related hazards (ORa=1.95, p<0.05), and shuttle car-related hazards (ORa=6.95, p<0.001), along with big family size, no-formal education, and presence of disease (adjusted odds ratios varying between 2 to 4). Stratified analyses showed that among the 36–60 yr-old workers, hand tool-related hazards, working condition-related hazards, and shuttle car-related hazards had significant ORa (6.62, 4.38 and 15.65, respectively with p<0.01,) while among the younger workers, only shuttle car-related hazards had significant ORa (4.25, p<0.05). These findings may help to understand the risk patterns of injuries and to implement appropriate prevention strategies.