Evaluating Occupational Stress Levels of the Railway Workers

Prospective Randomized Comparison of Minimally Invasive Tlif versus Open Tlif: Clinical Effectiveness and Restoration of Working Capacity in Railway Workers

STUDY DESIGN

Randomized Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the clinical efficacy and restoration of working capacity after MI (minimally invasive)-TLIF and O (open)-TLIF in railway workers with lumbar degenerative disease.

METHODS

83 patients, who were indicated for two-level lumbar decompression and fusion were randomly assigned to one of two groups: group 1 (n = 44) had MI-TLIF procedure and group 2 (n = 39) had O-TLIF procedure. The functional status was assessed using SF-36, ODI and VAS for back and leg pain, preoperatively, at discharge, and at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. MRI and CT were obtained 1-year follow-up. The percentage of patients who returned to work at 1-year, work intensity and the time to return to work post-operatively were analyzed.

RESULTS

At 1-year follow-up, the MI-TLIF group had significantly better ODI, VAS and SF-36 scores compared to the O-TLIF group. The postoperative MRIs revealed a statistically significantly less multifidus muscle atrophy in the MI group compared to the Open group. At 1-year follow-up, a comparable fusion ratio between MI group and Open group was recorded. After MI-TLIF procedure, depending on the workload, patients had a statistically significantly earlier return to work (P < .05) and statistically significantly higher return to work rate compared with the O-TLIF group (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

The use of two-level MI-TLIF in railway workers has made it possible to significantly improve long-term clinical results, reduce the risk of surgical complications, muscle atrophy and time to return to work compared to O-TLIF.

Understanding the Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Railway Workers: Risks and Protective Factors

OBJECTIVE

Railway workers have provided an essential service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explored the effects of COVID-19 on the mental well-being of railway workers (N = 906) in the United Kingdom during the third lockdown period.

METHOD

The online survey included measures of COVID-19-related risk factors (perceived risk, stress, burnout, trauma) and protective factors (resilience coping, team resilience, general help seeking) associated with mental well-being. Responses were analyzed using multiple regression and content analysis.

RESULTS

COVID-19-related risk factors negatively predicted well-being. Higher scores on adaptive resilience, intentions to seek help, and team resilience significantly predicted higher mental well-being scores. Mental health decline throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns for the future were reported.

CONCLUSIONS

Building a resilient railway workforce requires attention to staff mental well-being and to ensuring that support systems are robust and accessible.

Psychological health correlation of express delivery workers’ occupational stress in the information logistics environment

With the promotion of the Internet of Things technology, more and more industries have begun to combine with the Internet of Things technology. After joining the WTO, China’s market economy has continued to deepen. During this period, the e-commerce industry has developed rapidly, which has promoted the rise of the express delivery industry. While the rise of the industry provides jobs for employees, it also brings enormous pressure to employees. Due to the occupational stress of various stressors in the express delivery industry, a series of psychological problems have been caused. “Occupational stress” is also called occupational stress, which refers to the physiological and psychological stress caused by the imbalance between objective needs and personal adaptability in a certain occupational environment. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a correlation study on the psychological health of express delivery workers’ occupational stress in the information logistics environment. It is expected to explore the relationship between occupational stress and mental health of couriers in the context of informatization, so as to provide employees with a better working environment and reduce personal stress. Logistics informatization means that logistics enterprises use modern information technology to collect, classify, transmit, summarize, identify, track, and query all or part of the information generated in the logistics process, so as to realize the control of the flow of goods. This paper analyzed the inventory of express companies, and reasonably analyzed the profit composition of the inventory link, then used a more reasonable time series seasonal coefficient method to predict the amount of incoming shipments. This paper used a combination of theoretical and empirical methods to discuss the psychological health and occupational stress of express delivery workers and to explore the relationship between the two. The experiment results of this paper showed that in the interpersonal sensitivity analysis, the coefficient of occupational stress is 0.052, and the degree of occupational stress is proportional to interpersonal sensitivity. The higher the occupational stress, the higher the interpersonal sensitivity index. The coefficient of occupational stress is-0.31. Occupational stress is inversely proportional to age. The older the age, the lower the interpersonal sensitivity index.