An engineer's perspective of the intervention research workshop.
Source
Am J Ind Med 1996 Apr; 29(4):382-383
Abstract
A proposed intervention approach that would be applicable to a wide range of businesses was described. The approach originated from the author's experience at an intervention research workshop where he observed that most of the intervention strategies that were presented did not appear to have the flexibility to be widely applicable in occupational health and safety, that is to both small and large businesses. The approach was based on a model for the production of goods and services. When applied to occupational safety and health interventions, the market identification step would involve a identifying a business segment or an occupation in need of study that could be investigated through epidemiologic or surveillance techniques. The first market research step involves determining an appropriate type of intervention. This could be done through techniques such as industrial hygiene surveys or engineering control assessments. The product design step is where the specific intervention would be designed and tested. The testing is primarily intended to determine whether the intervention is properly designed. The product marketing step involves testing the intervention to see if it is effective in a pilot study and then selling it to the business segment or occupation of concern. The second market research step is where the overall effectiveness of the intervention is evaluated. The evaluation could performed through techniques such as epidemiologic studies, medical surveillance, or industrial hygiene surveys. The author concludes that this approach can be applied to large and small businesses, worker education, management education, and in many other situations. If occupational safety and health interventions can be thought of as products that people must be persuaded to buy, then this approach should be successful.
Keywords
NIOSH-Author; Occupational-health; Industrial-safety; Occupational-health-programs; Epidemiology; Surveillance-programs; Disease-prevention; Industrial-hygiene; Engineering-controls; Occupational-exposure; Occupational-hazards; Occupational-safety-programs; Models; Safety-education; Safety-measures; Safety-practices; Safety-programs;
Author Keywords: interventions research; occupational safety and health; evaluation; occupational exposure reduction; injury intervention strategies
Contact
Michael G. Gressel, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering, 4676 Columbia Parkway (R-5), Cincinnati, OH 45226
Document Type
Journal Article
Source Name
American Journal of Industrial Medicine
