Workplace health

Factsheet detailing the various plastics that workers may come in contact with in the auto industry, and how contact with these plastics may affect their health.

A literature review of chemical exposure and plastics production as it relates to women's health.

Fourteen videos documenting a workshop hosted by NNEWH in partnership with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) in January 2012 in Windsor, Ontario. The workshop dealt with recent studies on the emerging health concerns for women workers in the auto sector, specifically plastics manufacturing and the possible elevated incidence of breast cancer and reproductive problems in women plastics workers. 

A clear language factsheet describing the possible health dangers from chemical expsurres experienced by women who work in the automotive plastics industry.  Exposures described are mainly by breathing the fumes and dusts, and also by absorption through the skin. Many of these chemicals interfere with hormone systems and are therefore called endocrine disruptors.

This edition of biannual newsletter is dedicated to the Institute’s strategic direction on work and health, an area that will be the focus of targeted funding opportunities launched by the Institute over the next two years.

Inside this issue:

Message from the Scientific Director
KT Monitor: Women’s Mental Health Symposium Sparks Momentum
IGH Cochrane Corner: Integrating Sex and Gender in Logic Models for Systematic Reviews
News Briefs: The First National Gender, Sex and Health Conference
Trainee Spotlight: 4 Questions for Stéphanie Thibault-Gagnon
Gender and the New Diseases of Occupation
From Womb to Old Age: Sex, Gender and the Health Effects of Work
Hooked on Health in the Fishing Industry
The Shady Side of Work under the Sun

Describes how pharmaceuticals are developed and produced, and what is known about the associated hazards. Includes an overview of health and safety laws in Canada and elsewhere, as well as some examples of relevant best practices. Concludes with a series of recommendations. Abridged version of “Occupational health and safety hazards in pharmaceuticals manufacturing: Past, present and future knowledge, policies and possibilities, particularly for women,” written by Dorothy Wigmore for Women and Health Protection.

This policy brief is based on research by the Exotic Dancers Health and Safety Work Group published in Exotic Dancing: Health and Safety.   They look exotic dancers in the province of Ontario most of whom work freelance. As free-lancers they can choose when, where and how often they work, but they have no access to the protections available to employees through much of the federal and provincial labour legislation or through unions. Acts and sections of acts which use the terminology employer-employee do not apply to free-lance workers.

Examines the effects of work and work environments on homecare workers' emotional, mental, and physical health and intention to leave their workplaces.

Highlights current trends in the nursing workforces and provides provincial/territorial nursing workforce profiles. This document also presents a partial look at the Health Human Resource workforce of Canada's provincial and territorial health regions.

Summarizes the evidence about the relationship between gender inequality and health and safety problems related to work. It reviews gender issues in research, policies and programmes on occupational health and safety, and highlights some specific issues for women.