Tag: #officeworkers

Office spaces can be redesigned for greater wellness benefits, researchers say

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

First published by Safety+Health an NSC publication

Tucson, AZ — Reimagined office spaces can help reduce worker stress and enhance overall well-being, a pair of University of Arizona researchers say in a recently published paper.

The researchers propose a framework based on seven areas for designing the built environment for well-being: resiliency, environment, movement, relationships, sleep, spirituality and nutrition.

Paper co-author Esther Sternberg, a professor of medicine and a member of the UA BIO5 Institute, drew on research conducted during her tenure with the General Services Administration. Those studies show that office layout can encourage workers to move more often, thereby reducing stress and improving sleep.

The paper cites many other studies, “such as those showing the sleep-improving effects of natural light, the well-being benefits of nature and the health benefits of proper building air circulation, which can improve cognitive functioning and reduce fatigue by reducing pollutants.”

Sternberg adds: “This paper is a merging of two fields: integrative health and the built environment. The concept of designing the built environment for physical health and emotional well-being has been around for decades, but wasn’t really the focus across all design fields until very recently.

“COVID-19 shone a very bright spotlight on designing for mental health because in the wake of the pandemic, there is a pandemic of mental health, of stress, of anxiety around the world. The built environment can play a very important role in reducing stress and enhancing all those elements of integrative health.”

The paper is scheduled for print in the November issue of the journal Building and Environment.

McCraren Compliance assists employers in protecting their workers, starting with a comprehensive Work-site Analysis, Hazard Prevention, Controls, and Safety & Health Training.

Please contact us today at 888-758-4757 to learn how we can provide mine safety training and consulting for your business.

Feeling blue? Take a walk by the water, researchers say

Posted on by McCraren Compliance
walking.jpg

Photo: Peter Berglund/iStockphoto

Barcelona, Spain — Walking along bodies of water might boost your overall health and mood, results of a recent study led by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health suggest.

Over a period of three weeks, the researchers studied 59 healthy adult office workers before, during and after each spent 20 minutes a day in different environments, measuring their blood pressure and heart rate while assessing their mood via a questionnaire. For one week, the participants walked along a beach in Barcelona. For another week, they walked in an urban environment. For the next, they spent 20 minutes at rest indoors.

The results show that walking along “blue spaces” – areas such as beaches, lakes, rivers and fountains – immediately triggered “significantly improved well-being and mood responses.” They found no cardiovascular benefit, but point out that they assessed only short-term effects.

“Our results show that the psychological benefits of physical activity vary according to the type of environment where it is carried out, and that blue spaces are better than urban spaces in this regard,” Cristina Vert, lead study author and a researcher at the institute, said in a July 6 press release.

Short walks in blue spaces can benefit both well-being and mood. However, we did not observe a positive effect of blue spaces for any of the cardiovascular outcomes assessed in this study.

The study was published online June 19 in the journal Environmental Research.

 

Study shows better airflow, more natural light can reduce spread of COVID-19 at work

Posted on by McCraren Compliance
office-window.jpg

Photo: baona/iStockphoto

Davis, CA — Opening windows and blinds to improve airflow and increase natural light are some of the simple steps employers, building managers and workers can take to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in offices and other workplaces, according to a recent research review.

Using previous studies on microbes and common pathogen exchange pathways in buildings with known information about SARS-CoV-2 – the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 – researchers at the University of California, Davis and the University Oregon looked for ways to reduce potential transmission.

By opening windows, the rate of air flow can dilute virus particles indoors, an April 10 UC Davis press release states. The downside is that high amounts of air flow also can push particles back into the air and cause more energy use.

Although more research is needed on the impact of sunlight on the virus, the researchers note that “daylight exists as a free, widely available resource to building occupants with little downside to its use and many documented positive human health benefits.”

Further, maintaining a high relative humidity indoors can help because virus particles “like drier air.” High humidity also increases the size of virus particles, “meaning they settle out more quickly and don’t travel as far.”

Increased handwashing and regular cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces – where viral particles can survive for a few hours to a few days – are important practices in all workplaces. Workers responsible for cleaning and disinfecting workspaces can find a sortable, searchable and printable list of Environmental Protection Agency-approved disinfectants for use against the virus.

The study was published online April 7 in the American Society for Microbiology’s journal mSystems.

Study links printer toner exposure to genetic changes

Posted on by McCraren Compliance
printer-ink.jpg

Photo: Wittayayut/iStockphoto

Morgantown, WV — Nanoparticles from printer toner emissions can cause “very significant” changes to workers’ genetic and metabolic profiles, results of a recent study led by a researcher from West Virginia University show.

Nancy Lan Guo, a WVU assistant professor of community medicine, and her colleagues placed rats into a chamber with a common laser printer for five hours a day over a 21-day period while the printer ran nonstop – “equivalent to an occupational setting.” The rats were assessed every four days for changes to cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic function.

A single day of toner-particle exposure was enough to disturb the activity of genes associated with metabolism, immune response and other essential biological processes in the rats. Additionally, the rats showed adverse effects in the lungs and blood at every observed time point.

“The changes are very significant from Day One,” Guo said in a Feb. 27 press release.

In work areas where laser printers are heavily used, Guo recommends implementing special ventilation and exposure controls to protect workers, particularly pregnant women, from exposure. “Because once a lot of these genes are changed, they get passed on through the generations,” Guo said. “It’s not just you.”

The study was published online Dec. 16 in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.