Worker acceptance, tests

In addition to considerations of impairment testing systems and the equipment and platform to administer the systems, the implementation of the testing system must also be considered. Test cost, frequency of administration, maintenance of stable patterns of performance (i.e., motivation), and worker acceptance are among the issues that merit consideration.11 In addition, concerns regarding the legal status of performance test systems, the manner in which labor unions and arbitrators might view such test systems, and whether there is a potential for misuse of the test system could affect system implementation.9... 

Given the complex nature of many commercial work environments, as well as the reciprocal interactions between employers and employees, factors associated with the development and implementation of performance impairment test systems in commercial environments become equally complex. In addition to the selection of test systems that are reliable and valid indicators of performance impairment, it is equally important to consider issues associated with worker acceptance of the testing system, time associated with the test, and the economic implications of use and non-use of impairment test systems. Substantial research into the use of impairment testing systems has been conducted over the past decade however, the vast majority of this work is available only in company reports and/or technical monographs with few exceptions (e.g., Delta), little information is available in peer-reviewed scientific publications. 

The most commonly accepted definition of MCS was written by Mark Cullen, M.D., a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Yale University. In Workers With Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Occupational Medicine 2 (1987) 655-626, he writes, Multiple chemical sensitivities is an acquired disorder characterized by recurrent symptoms, referable to multiple organ systems, occurring in response to demonstrable exposure to many chemically unrelated compounds at doses far below those established in the general population to cause harmful elfects. No single widely accepted test of physiologic function can be shown to correlate with symptoms. ... 

The chart in Fig. 21 shows that the reverse trend for an operator can be seen, in which there is a reduction in expected PI values in comparison with other workers. The tests performed by one operator are not acceptable and since the test was performed as expected by another operator, it must be a factor of the failing operator that causes the problems with the assay. 

Pureflo PAPR offers a complete helmet system, with no uncomfortable back packs or hoses to tangle, increasing worker acceptance. Electronic System Management extends filter life, saving money, while adding an additional level of safety. Airflow of 7.6 or 8.2 CFM. Welding helmet available. APF of 1000 with No Eit Testing required. NIOSH / ANSI certified. Interactive Safety Products, Inc.,... 

Because the simplified solufion obfained by Kubelka is a two-constant equation and therefore experimentally testable, and because so many other workers derivations are derivable from Kubelka and Munk s work, their solution is the most widely accepted, tested and used. Other workers have derived solutions to the radiation transfer equation that are more complicated than these two-constant formulas. For example, a third constant has been added to account for different fractions of forward and back scattering [36]. Ryde [37,38] included four constants since a difference in the scattering between incident light and internally diffused light is assumed, while Duntley [39] developed a model with eight constants, as a difference between both the absorption and scattering coefficients due to incident and internally diffused radiation was assumed. However, none of these theories is readily applicable in practice, and therefore the treatment of Kubelka is most often applied. 

Toxicity. Sodium fluoroacetate is one of the most effective all-purpose rodenticides known (18). It is highly toxic to all species of rats tested and can be used either in water solution or in bait preparations. Its absence of objectionable taste and odor and its delayed effects lead to its excellent acceptance by rodents. It is nonvolatile, chemically stable, and not toxic or irritating to the unbroken skin of workers. Rats do not appear to develop any significant tolerance to this compound from nonlethal doses. However, it is extremely dangerous to humans, to common household pets, and to farm animals, and should only be used by experienced personnel. The rodent carcasses should be collected and destroyed since they remain poisonous for a long period of time to any animal that eats them. 

It has been shown by various workers 3 that the action of alkaloids on protozoa is influenced in a marked degree by the pH of the medium in which the action is exerted, and at a pH of 6-2 to 6-3 aK-tetra-n-amyl-diamino-n-decane proved to be 3 to 5 times as active as emetine, and even in presence of blood at least as active. In view of these promising results of in vitro tests the synthetic product was tried clinically, but proved not to be sufficiently active to be of practical value. This work is being continued and extended by a team of workers led by Goodwin and Sharp, who have published two papers dealing (1) with amines which can be regarded, like Pyman s type A, as diamines derivable from the accepted emetine formula and (2) variants on the bis(diamylamino) decane referred to above. 

The conventional method for determining the cell constant of a conductance cell involves the use of solutions of known specific resistance. The a-queous KC1 solutions of Jones and Bradshaw 32) are the currently accepted standards. These workers carefully measured three solutions of given weight concentrations corresponding to molarities of about 1,0.1 and 0.01. There are two disadvantages to this approach. First, a solution of an exactly specified concentration must be prepared. Second, it does not permit measurement of the cell constant over a range of concentrations in order to test for stray current leakages which would cause systematic variations in the calculated constant. 

No clear guidelines exist for the appropriate use of performance impairment test systems for work eligibility. There is general agreement that in situations in which worker or public safety is potentially influenced by a worker s performance, impairment test systems are justified. However, no clear criteria for identifying safety issues are available.9 The use of such tests as a means of managing worker productivity is less universally accepted, and if used as an employee evaluation criterion, such tests should be given careful scrutiny. 

The success of these regulations will depend upon their acceptance by growers in California. If accepted, the testing program will provide safer working conditions for field workers... 

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