OBJECTIVE Occupational therapy practitioners must meet ever-increasing accountability demands in all service delivery environments. Accountability is made possible through the ongoing development of continued competence throughout a practitioner's career. Behaviors that demonstrate accountability and reflect competence include commitment, leadership, and professional knowledge. This article dis...

Objective: To provide data on the magnitude of animal-related farm injuries to youth in the United States. Data Source: A youth farm injury survey of 26,000 farm households conducted for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1998. Subjects: Youth less than 20 years of age. Results: There were an estimated 6438 ...

BACKGROUND A few studies have documented associations between socioeconomic position and gait speed, but the knowledge about factors from various domains (personal factors, lifestyle, occupation…) which contribute to these disparities is limited. Our objective was to assess socioeconomic disparities in usual gait speed in a general population in early old age in France, and to identify potentia...

In 2004, management at Unimin’s Gleason, Tennessee, operation began implementing ergonomic interventions specifically targeted to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs). Together with corporate and site management, Unimin identified worksite hazards and began to modify work practices and equipment. Some interventions were relatively simple and were implemented immediately. Others, s...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether the lack of knowledge of toxic agents in households is a risk factor for individual unintentional childhood poisoning. METHODS The case group (n = 25) was composed of caregivers of children under 60 months of age who underwent accidental oral poisoning and were treated at two reference hospitals in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, and recorded in the Toxicology ...

A total workforce of 5776 individuals (M=4005, F=1771, exposed n=3455 and controls n=2321) in thirty plants of the upholstered manufacturing industry in a large geographical area of Southern Italy was examined by a network of occupational health physicians over a 4-year period (2000-2003). More than 60 percent of the workforce studied was within large size companies (>500 employees). Exposed gr...

Occupational therapists occasionally are sued for professional malpractice; thus, they need to be aware of the law of malpractice, those areas of practice that present the greatest legal challenges, and strategies to reduce client injury and liability risks. This article provides an overview of the law of professional malpractice, explains the impact of various employment relationships on liabi...

The National Symposium on Risk and Prevention of Infectious Diseases for Emergency Response Personnel was held in September, 1994. This meeting explored Emergency Responders’ risks of occupational exposure to infectious diseases, pre-exposure prevention activities, and post-exposure management programs. Emergency Responders strongly believed that they have the right to be informed of specific p...