[Storytelling in prevention: the case-study of accidents at work. How the narrative method can enhance the prevention of occupational injuries.].

Objective: This article aims to analyze the elements of the narrative which, applied to investigations of accidents at work, transform them into stories, making the dynamics of accidents clearer, more complete and emotionally engaging and also capable of being transferred to a non-experts audience.

Method: The theoretical reference identified for the analysis of the accident histories is the work of the Lithuanian semiologist Algirdas Julien Greimas. The title, the dimensions of space and time, the characters (according to the actantial model), the point of view, the structure of the story (following the canonical narrative scheme), and the moral of the tale are the elements of the narration analyzed in this article.

[A system for collecting historical professional exposures in the workplace in Piedmont (ESP ALP).].

Background. ARPA Piemonte carries out occupational exposure measurements of chemical agents in workplace environment to support the Occupatonal Health and Safety Units of Local Health Boards for the assessment of the exposure level of dangerous chemical. Data are reported in internal documents, but are not available for other purposes.

The Community of Practice: A Method for Cooperative Learning of Occupational Health and Safety Inspectors.

Background: Workplace injuries in Italy still occur despite laws and safety norms. We need to understand the causes rooted in the context and social conditions, and need to improve the practice of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) inspectors of the Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS) of the Italian regional health boards. The aims of this study were to describe the setting up of a Community of Practice (CoP) for the production of best practices for injury prevention and to evaluate the motivation of OSH inspectors for participating in the CoP and the effects of CoP participation on their professional practice.

Psychosocial empowerment-based interventions for smoking reduction: concepts, measures and outcomes. A systematic review.

Although empowerment is a widely used concept in health-related areas, its definition remains unclear. While there is evidence for the effectiveness of empowerment interventions in improving some psychosocial factors linked to health (e.g.

[The community of practice as a place of prevention: the value of collective knowledge in occupational safety].

Background: Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) inspectors of the Health Units of Piedmont Region wrote 47 case histories based on data gathered from injury investigations as part of the project "From the injury investigation reports to case histories: creation of a collection of case histories on occupational injuries". Afterwards a Community of Practice (CoP) was initiated with the aim of sharing recommendations for prevention of occupational injuries.

Objective: The aims of the article are: 1) to describe the implementation process of the CoP; 2) to evaluate the benefits of CoP regarding the improvement of professional practice of OSH inspectors.

[Not Available].

Background: Many authors consider narrative descriptions of injuries gathered by OSH inspectors extremely important in identifying causes, setting priorities and drawing up intervention strategies. Narratives provide additional insight regarding complex behaviour, attitudes and interactions, which help to understand the decision patterns and the context of the injury. Storytelling is an effective way of sharing and remembering information.

[MATline, a job-exposure matrix for the prevision of exposure to carcinogens: new functions and potential applications].

MATline, the job-exposure matrix for carcinogenic agents, is a data bank free accessible online. It provides data as classification and toxicological properties of carcinogenic agents, and a list of industrial processes with potential exposure to each carcinogen agent, and an up-to-date estimation of the number of activities and workers related to the industrial process on Regional basis. It also lists the target organs for which a causal relationship with the agent has been established.

[Integrated use of data bases to map manufacturing processes involving exposure to carcinogens in the Piedmont Region: the example of formaldehyde].

Background: Exposure to carcinogens is still widespread in working environments. For the purpose of defining priority of interventions, it is necessary to estimate the number and the geographic distribution of workers potentially exposed to carcinogens. It could therefore be useful to test the use of tools and information sources already available in order to map the distribution of exposure to carcinogens.

Risk factors for upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms among call center employees.

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the upper extremity (UE) in a sample of Italian call center (CC) operators, and the relationship between the symptoms and potential workplace risk factors.

Methods: During 2005-2006, 775 workers from seven CCs in the Turin area participated in a questionnaire survey of exposure to ergonomic, organizational and psychosocial factors at work, socio-demographics, lifestyle, symptoms and diseases. Musculoskeletal symptoms were defined as self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms in the UE during the previous 28 days, for which a physician was consulted and/or drugs were taken.

[Testing of interventions for prevention of heat wave related deaths: results among frail elderly and methodological problems].

Objective: to evaluate the impact of a programme based on soft home care services and an offer of social caretaking, compared to one based only on soft home care, for the prevention of heat-related health events among clinically and/or functionally frail elderly.

Design: cluster randomised controlled trial.

Setting And Participants: the study population included 2,612 persons over 75 years of age living alone in the city of Turin, North-West Italy, who were classified as clinically (hospitalization with specific diagnoses before summer 2004) and/or functionally (were receiving a disability pension) frail.

[Working conditions and health problems among call-centre operators: a study on self-reported data in the Piedmont Region (Italy)].

Background: Currently, about 250,000 workers are employed in the call-centre sector in Italy. The nature and the organization of the work exposes workers to a variety of psychosocial and ergonomic hazards, with a potential impact on physical and psychological health.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate working conditions and health status among call-centre operators, in order to estimate the prevalence of exposure to psychosocial and ergonomic risk factors, and of potentially work-related health problems.

MATline: a job-exposure matrix for carcinogenic chemicals.

MATline is a tool that can be used to predict which industrial processes can be expected to involve the use of a substance that is considered carcinogenic as documented in the literature. The database includes agents carrying risk phrases R45, R49 and R40 according to the method of classification adopted by the EU and/or agents in categories 1, 2A and 2B as classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Each agent is associated with a list of industrial processes coded according to the tariff headings used by the National Institute of Insurance against Occupational Injuries and Diseases (Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro, INAIL).

[Food safety: short guide to Internet resources].

This report provides a brief overview of several reliable Internet resources concerning food toxicology. Some helpful resources have been identified on the basis of quality criteria and relevance. Only international and European sources, presenting an English or an Italian version, have been considered.

Food safety: a guide to Internet resources.

This report provides a brief overview of several reliable Internet resources concerning food toxicology. Some helpful Internet resources have been identified on the basis of quality criteria, of their relevance and the languages availability. The report includes four topic areas, the first provides a brief description of international resources, the second focuses on European resources, the third provides a description of some national resources and the last is a short overview of some databanks available on web.

[Description of home accidents in Piedmont based on current information sources].

Objective: To analyse data from existing sources to assess the distribution over space and time of home accidents in Piedmont.

Design: Analysis of distribution of causes of hospitalisation and deaths following a home accident.

Setting: For non-fatal accidents, we reviewed the database of hospital discharge records (HDR), which includes data from all hospitals in the region.