Occup. Health, Volume 1, Issue 2 (June 2026) – 6 articles

In architecture and construction, it is common practice to use acrylic products with a high flammable content, ranging from lacquers designed to improve the curing of concrete and mortar to resins that provide protection, sealing, flexibility, and elasticity. The drying process of the treated surface involves the formation of vapours of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); to prevent these from creating a potentially hazardous flammable atmosphere, a procedure is presented that establishes the maximum application rate for solvent-based products, providing equations that relate the maximum application area and the minimum drying time to the available air velocity in the work area. The results are provided for both indoor and outdoor applications. A maximum application rate is established to prevent the creation of areas classified as fire or explosion hazards: 1.5 m²/h indoors and 1 m²/h outdoors. When this is carried out at an ambient temperature of 20 °C, and from 40 °C upwards, it is not possible to apply the varnishes in practice without creating a flammable atmosphere. Full article

Background: This study synthesizes findings on precariously employed workers’ self-reported feelings of severe or extreme anxiety and depression, along with their experiences accessing mental health services. Methods: This mixed-methods research included surveys (N = 259) and interviews (N = 40) with precariously employed workers in Ontario, Canada, conducted from November 2020 to July 2021. Inclusion criteria included: (i) not being directly employed, being self-employed, or a gig worker; (ii) not working full-time; (iii) not holding a permanent or open-ended contract; (iv) performing informal work; or (v) being recently unemployed. Results: The adjusted, statistically significant odds of reporting severe or extreme anxiety or depression were higher among workers with greater precarity (2.28), self-employed workers with no employees (3.61), gig or platform workers (3.08), workers earning less than 60% of the median income (2.75), and those unsure whether their hours would vary in the next three months (2.59). The odds were lower (0.22) for workers with some or little income variation in the previous three months. Interview participants described chronic stress, worry, anxiety, depression, and overall negative wellbeing linked to their precarious employment. Despite an increased need for mental health services, participants reported similar difficulties accessing them. Interpretation: To improve access to mental health services, sustainable intersectoral solutions with demonstrated potential are required, including increasing social and health expenditures, revising labor market legislation, and reorganizing the delivery of employer-dependent health services. Recommendations are made for solutions at various levels, including those that could be adopted by medical practitioners. Full article

Firefighters are regularly exposed to occupational stress and potentially traumatic events. However, few evidence-based, fire service-specific interventions exist. Brief, mindfulness-based interventions may help address these challenges by improving regulation skills and reducing psychological distress. This pilot randomized controlled trial primarily evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a one-session, group-based, virtual mindful attention training workshop developed specifically for firefighters, with secondary evaluation of preliminary efficacy. Firefighters (N = 82) were recruited from multiple fire departments across a large U.S. Southwestern metropolitan area and randomized to the mindful attention workshop (n = 45) or a waitlist control condition (n = 37). Feasibility outcomes were mixed, with strong enrollment among eligible participants (74.5%) but relatively low workshop attendance among those randomized to the intervention (53.3%). A total of 24 firefighters completed the workshop and found it to be helpful, informative, and relevant to the challenges faced in the fire service, with group processes characterized by high comfort, understanding, and low conflict. However, no significant between-group differences were observed in reductions in symptom severity or increases in mindfulness-based outcomes. Post hoc descriptive analyses revealed that most firefighters expressed strong interest in digitally delivered mental health content and the vast majority perceived online or app-based firefighter-specific mental health resources as helpful. Findings indicate mixed feasibility, strong acceptability among attendees, and a lack of preliminary efficacy, and highlight directions for refining intervention delivery of this pilot workshop and evaluating clinical impact in future trials. Full article

Same-level falls are the most frequent occupational accidents, yet traditional manual analysis of accident reports is labor-intensive and limits large-scale prevention strategies. In this pilot study, we aimed to evaluate the accuracy of using large language models (LLMs) to automate the classification of occupational accident text data without task-specific pretraining. We analyzed data from 2619 same-level-fall-related injury cases, using expert manual classification as the reference standard. Four models—GPT-4o mini, GPT-4.1 mini, GPT-4.1, and o4-mini—were compared using accuracy and Cohen’s kappa. The o4-mini model demonstrated the highest performance, showing statistical superiority in the complex “causal agent” category with 72.8% accuracy. For other classification tasks, the top models achieved accuracies of 82–92%, with Cohen’s kappa coefficients > 0.7, indicating substantial agreement with expert judgments. These findings suggest that LLMs can classify occupational accident text with substantial agreement with the expert-derived reference standard in this dataset. This automated approach enables efficient, high-frequency analysis of large datasets, offering a promising tool for large-scale occupational accident surveillance and screening. Full article

Objectives: Occupational stress, resilience and 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 2A gene (HTR2A) polymorphisms potentially influence sleep quality. However, evidence of their effects and relationships remains ambivalent and insufficient. Therefore, this study investigated the association of occupational stress, resilience, HTR2A polymorphisms, and their interactions with sleep quality. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 809 Chinese Han subjects (47% female and 53% male; age: 33.1 ± 6.3 years) were genotyped for HTR2A rs6313 polymorphism. Occupational stress, resilience and sleep quality were measured using Work Stress Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively. Results: Higher occupational stress was significantly correlated with poorer sleep quality (odds ratio (OR) = 2.020, 95% confidence interval (CI): [1.736, 2.394], p = 0.00031), while higher resilience was significantly correlated with better sleep quality (OR = 0.610, 95% CI: [0.522, 0.697], p = 0.00047). Occupational stress played a mediating role in the association between resilience and sleep quality (indirect: β₁β₂ = −0.067, 95% CI: [−0.101, −0.041], p = 0.00045; direct: β₃ = −0.119, 95% CI: [−0.205, −0.032], p = 0.008). The rs6313 polymorphism moderated the association between resilience and sleep quality (β₆ = 0.786, 95% CI: [0.092, 1.422], p = 0.027), but not the indirect effect. Conclusions: Resilience is associated with better sleep quality both directly and by attenuating the negative correlation between occupational stress and sleep quality, and the rs6313 polymorphism is associated with modifying the relationship between resilience and sleep quality (but not occupational stress and sleep quality), which suggests potential distinct biological association patterns for resilience and stress. Subjects with TT and TC/CC genotypes had different sleep quality response to resilience, implying potential molecular mechanisms of resilience. Our findings provide implications for the prevention and intervention of stress-related sleep problems in occupational populations by targeting modifiable factors including occupational stress and individual resilience. Full article

Farming is recognized as one of the most stressful occupations worldwide, with farmers experiencing heightened prevalences of chronic stress, depression, anxiety, and suicidality. However, there is limited research that has qualitatively examined gendered experiences of farmers’ mental health in Canada. This study explored Canadian farmers’ perspectives on mental health through a gendered lens to address this gap in knowledge. Seventy-five farmers and agricultural community members participated in semi-structured interviews centred on stress, mental health challenges, and help-seeking, conducted between 2017 and 2018. Data were analyzed thematically using a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) approach. Three major themes were identified: identity, workload, and mental health support. Women farmers described persistent struggles to be recognized as “farmers,” highlighting how gender-assumptive language and agricultural norms undermined their identity and contributed to their mental distress. They also reported disproportionate workloads, often resulting in overwhelm, exhaustion, and diminished wellbeing. Finally, while men often positioned women as the preferred recipients of mental health education, women expressed that this expectation intensified their already heavy burden. Findings underscore that gendered roles and expectations in Canadian agriculture profoundly shape farmers’ mental health in that women’s contributions remain undervalued, and their mental health is further strained by both visible and invisible workloads and by expectations to safeguard family and community wellbeing. Full article