A firefighter-in-training has died after he was submerged under ice during a training exercise on the Saugeen River in Hanover, Ont.

Ministry of Labour (MOL) spokesperson William Lin told COHSN that Herschel Rescue Training Systems was conducting a cold water rescue training exercise on Feb. 8 when the student of Oshawa, Ont.-based Durham College became trapped under ice. The Hanover Fire and Emergency Services Department as 30-year-old Adam Brunt.

The MOL has dispatched an inspector to the scene of the accident, and the investigation is currently ongoing. Hanover Police Services (HPS) is also investigating, Lin said, adding that the labour ministry had not issued any compliance orders as of the morning of Feb. 10.

HPS could not be reached by COHSN press time, but the police department said in media reports that Brunt was training with 11 other students and one instructor. One by one, each of the 13 people floated down a channel of fast-flowing water on the partially frozen river in quick succession. Once the final person came through, they realized that one person was missing, according to the reports.

Brunt had been enrolled in Durham College’s one-year “Firefighter – Pre-service, education and training” course. The curriculum, based on current Ontario firefighter standards, was developed in conjunction with the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs and the provincial Office of the Fire Marshal to provide knowledge and practical skills, the college said on its website.

The fatality came a little over five years after a similar incident on the St. Clair River near Sarnia, Ont. On the morning of Jan. 30, 2010, Gary Kendall, 51, was participating in an ice water rescue training exercise conducted by Point Edward Fire & Rescue when he became trapped under ice (COHSN, Feb. 8, 2010). The volunteer firefighter, a 16-year veteran of the Point Edward fire department, was trapped underwater by a large ice floe. He died the morning after the incident.

Live Bakke Finne, Jan Olav Christensen, Stein Knardahl, National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Oslo, Norway; Morten Birkeland Nielsen, NIOH and Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

The aim of this two-wave prospective study was to determine how and when job demands are related to alcohol use among employees. By integrating the Job Demands–Control model with the Tension-Reduction theory, the researchers tested a conditional process (moderated mediation) model in which job demands were suggested to have an indirect association with subsequent alcohol use through psychological distress, and where this association was moderated by perceived job control. The model was tested in a prospective sample comprising 3642 respondents from a wide variety of occupations. The time-lag between baseline and follow-up was approximately two years. Work factors were measured with scales from the General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work. Psychological distress was assessed with the 10-item version of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist. Alcohol use was measured with a global question about how many units of alcohol respondents consumed in a regular week. Findings from a comprehensive set of both cross-sectional and prospective analyses in both the main sample and specific subgroups provided little support for the proposed theoretical model. While the cross-sectional results yielded some support to the study hypotheses, no support for the theoretical relationships in question were found in the time-lagged data. Although the cross-sectional findings point to a relationship between the study variables, the investigated relationships were not supported longitudinally. Hence, while job demands and job control are related to alcohol use, they seem to have little direct, indirect, and conditional impact on alcohol use over a two-year time period.

Scand J Work Environ Health, Volume 41, Number 1, pages 43-53. Correspondence to: Morten Birkeland Nielsen, National Institute of Occupational Health, PB 8149 Dep, 0033 Oslo, Norway; email: morten.nielsen@stami.no.

Corinne S. Babiolakis, Jennifer L. Kuk and Janessa D.M. Drake, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON

Low back pain is highly prevalent in nurses. This study aimed to determine which physical fitness, physical activity (PA) and biomechanical characteristics most clearly distinguish between nurses with [recently injured (RInj)] and without [not recently injured (NRInj)] a recent back injury. Twenty-seven (8 RInj, 19 NRInj) female nurses completed questionnaires (pain, work, PA), physical fitness, biomechanical and low back discomfort measures, and wore an accelerometer for one work shift. Relative to NRInj nurses, RInj nurses exhibited reduced lumbopelvic control (41.4% more displayed a moderate loss of frontal plane position), less active occupational behaviours (less moderate PA; less patient lifts performed alone; more sitting and less standing time) and more than two times higher low back discomfort scores. Despite no physical fitness differences, the lumbopelvic control, occupational behaviours and discomfort measures differed between nurses with and without recent back injuries. It is unclear whether poor lumbopelvic control is causal or adaptive in RInj nurses and may require further investigation. It is unclear which personal modifiable factors are most clearly associated with low back pain in nurses. Lumbopelvic control was the only performance-based measure to distinguish between nurses with and without recent back injuries. Future research may investigate whether reduced lumbopelvic control is causal or adaptive in recently injured nurses.

Ergonomics, Volume 58, Issue 2, pages 235-245. Correspondence to: Janessa D.M. Drake, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3; email: jdrake@yorku.ca.

Y. Lu and A. Senthilselvan, School of Public Health, University of Alberta (UoA), Edmonton, Alta.; A. M. Joffe, Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology, Royal Alexandra Hospital and UoA; J. Beach, Division of Preventive Medicine, UoA

Sharps injuries remain a common factor in occupational exposure of healthcare workers to blood-borne viruses. The extent to which the introduction of safety-engineered devices has been effective in reducing such injuries among healthcare workers is unclear. The aim was to investigate the incidence of sharp object injury among healthcare workers in the Capital Health Region of Alberta and to determine the effectiveness of the introduction of safety- engineered devices in preventing these. All reports of sharp object injuries to Capital Region Workplace Health and Safety offices from healthcare workers 2003–10 were analysed. Rates of sharp object injury were compared before (2006), during (2007–08) and after (2009–10) the introduction of safety-engineered devices, adjusting for other potential risk factors using Poisson regression and log-linear models. Between 2003 and 2010, a total of 4707 sharp object injuries were reported from 15 healthcare facilities. The sharp object injury rate per 1000 full-time equivalent employees per year declined from 35 before the introduction period to 30 during the introduction period (rate ratio [RR]: 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78, 0.99) among most healthcare workers, but then rebounded again slightly after the intervention. Physician risks showed little change during the period of introduction (odds ratio [OR]: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.85, 1.14) but decreased significantly after the intervention (OR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.71, 0.97). The introduction of safety-engineered devices was associated with a modest reduction in reported sharp object injuries but this appeared to be relatively short-lived for most workers.

Occ Med, Volume 65, Issue 1, pages 39-44. Correspondence to: J. Beach, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, 5-30C University Terrace, 8303 112 Street, Edmonton, Alta., T6G 2T4; tel: (780) 492-8175; email: beach@ualberta.ca.

Dr. Knut Ringen, Dr. Laura Welch and Patricia Quinn, The Center for Construction Research and Training, Seattle, WA; John Dement, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; Eula Bingham, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH; Anna Chen and Scott Haas, Zenith American Solutions, Covina, CA

The Building Trades National Medical Screening Program (BTMed) was established in 1996 to provide occupational medicine screening examinations for construction workers who have worked at US Department of Energy nuclear sites. Workers participating in BTMed between 1998 and 2011 were followed to determine their vital status and mortality experience through December 31, 2011. The cohort includes 18,803 BTMed participants and 2,801 deaths. Cause-specific Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) were calculated based on US death rates. Mortality was elevated for all causes, all cancers, cancers of the trachea, bronchus, and lung and lymphatic and hematopoietic system, mesothelioma, COPD, and asbestosis. Construction workers employed at DOE sites have a significantly increased risk for occupational illnesses. Risks are associated with employment during all time periods covered including after 1980. The cancer risks closely match the cancers identified for DOE compensation from radiation exposures. Continued medical surveillance is important.

Am J Ind Med, Volume 58, Issue 2, pages 152-167. Correspondence to: K. Ringen, Dr. PH, Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR), 2610 SW 151st Place, Seattle, WA 98166; email: knutringen@msn.com.