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Biomedical subjects

J Saari

Publications and source records attributed to J Saari.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Understanding and coping with the new HCFA physician incentives stop-loss insurance rules.

The imposition of physician incentive regulations by the Health Care Financing Administration for Medicare risk and Medicaid managed care contracts has created disclosure and stop-loss reinsurance issues for both physician groups and their contracting health maintenance organizations. This article summarizes the key points of the stop-loss requirements of the new rules, describes the current types of stop-loss reinsurance purchased prior to the effective date of the regulations, and the practical problems of conforming current physician group contracting practices to these rules. The article also provides several suggested steps that physician groups should take to manage the changes required.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1994

Efficacy of training procedures in implementing a legislated safety programme.

This study examines the effect of training procedures, as measured by the results of a test, on the level of assimilation of a new safety programme in 80 Quebec companies. The Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) was introduced in the province in 1989. The bipartite safety association representing the manufacturers of transportation equipment and machinery offered two types of WHMIS training services to their members: (a) 4 h employee training courses, and (b) two-day trainer training courses. Companies were free to choose from these and other services to comply with the WHMIS training requirements. A test was issued to a stratified sample of 862 employees approximately one year after the training. On average, the scores were best in plants having employees trained directly by experts from the safety association (type a). The training of internal trainers for companies produced slightly inferior learning results (type b).

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Successful training strategies to implement a workplace hazardous materials information system. An evaluation study at 80 plants.

According to recent regulations, Canadian companies must establish a Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS). Employee training is an essential facet of the system. The study looked at various training strategies and evaluated employees' comprehension about WHMIS and the quality of the WHMIS system at 80 manufacturing plants in the province of Québec in Canada. Comprehension was best when external experts trained all employees. It was lower when internal instructors were trained to teach WHMIS to other employees of the plant. Other components of WHMIS, such as labels and material safety data sheets, were of better quality in the plants having opted for training internal instructors. WHMIS was better in the plants that were initially good in occupational health and safety than in the marginal plants.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Organizational factors influencing serious occupational accidents.

The aim of this article is to examine organizational factors influencing serious occupational accidents. The study was part of a larger project investigating 99 serious occupational accidents in southern Finland. A workplace analysis and an accident analysis were done at accident sites. In connection with this investigation, 73 victims, 91 foremen, and 83 co-workers were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. The results showed that the need to save time, tight schedules, and a lack of caution had a greater influence on accidents than did the foremen, co-workers, customers, professional pride, curiosity, or the wage system. Big companies had the lowest risk of serious occupational accidents. Accident risk was significantly greater for subcontractors than for main contractors.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1992

Food preferences in human obesity: carbohydrates versus fats.

A large clinical sample of obese men and women were asked for a self-generated list of ten favorite foods. The lists were characterized by frequent instances of foods that are major nutrient sources of fat in the American diet. While obese men listed mainly protein/fat sources (meat dishes) among their favorite foods, obese women tended to list predominantly carbohydrate/fat sources (doughnuts, cookies, cake) and foods that were sweet. There was no evidence that selective preferences for a single macronutrient, carbohydrate, were a standard feature of human obesity. Rather, preferences for major nutrient sources of fat as opposed to carbohydrate may be a primary characteristic of human obesity syndromes.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Long-term development of occupational accidents in Finland.

In Finland the number of occupational accidents has been increasing throughout the 1900s. This increasing long-term development is related to the improved insurance coverage of workers. The severity of accidents has decreased during the past three decades. Accident curves show variations related to fluctuations in the national economy. The occurrence of accidents seems to be very sensitive to economic determinants. The structural changes of work brought about by automation should lead to a decrease in the occurrence of accidents. With the exception of economic factors and structural changes in the labor force, no signs of any major decrease in the occurrence of accidents have been detected.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1981

Work conditions and accidents in three industries.

Four studies conducted in the light metal, electrotechnical and printing industries are described. The purpose was to determine the applicability of the systems approach to occupational accidents. The data consisted of 291 accidents and 701 controls. The stable characteristics of the workers or the environments were not good predictors of accidents. The clearest differences between the accidents and the controls involved the worker's situational experience, the frequency of task occurrence, the familiarity of the tasks, and the mobility of dangers. The complexity of the information exchange between man and his environment, as well as the perceptibility of environmental dangers, contributed to the occurrence of accidents.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1978

Load on back in concrete reinforcement work.

The demands of work on the back of concrete reinforcement workers was determined through 4,327 observations of the various work postures and the weights lifted. Static loads from forward-leaning and bent-double postures were found to be common. In the preparation of intermediate and thick rods, forward-leaning was required for more than a third of the total work time, while one central assembly task required work in the bent-double posture for 58% of the total work time. The dynamic loads were of less importance, even though weights over 30 kg were lifted about 15% of the time in the preparation tasks and momentary forces approaching 1,000 N were occasionally needed. The bent-double posture, combined with or quickly followed by additional strain from, for example, weight lifting or slipping, was considered the most probable cause for possible signs of accelerated lumbar disc degeneration, while also the forward-leaning postures could be responsible for reversible low-back symptoms.

Adult↗