NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy

Jim Howe's contribution to the worker safety movement was enormous. Jim worked in a factory in Chicago, where he was the union safety representative. This was followed by a career with the United Auto Worker health and Safety department. After that, he served as president of Safety Solutions consulting. During his long career, Jim had many accomplishments including collective bargaining victories and the creation of innovative training and incident investigation systems. Jim was an early leader in the COS Committee on Occupational Safety and Health] movement as chair of the first COSH group in Chicago, CaCOSH.

Telework has significantly increased in the aftermath of COVID-19 lockdowns. However, it is unclear how working conditions for the same job differ when work is conducted in-person versus remotely and online, and whether occupational health risks can be considered as equal across formats. Our study examined schoolteachers to understand online versus in-person teaching work and health conditions. Focus groups and interviews about online teaching took place in 2023 to 2024 with 47 Canadian teachers and tutors who teach from kindergarten to Grade 12. We identified 5 key areas where synchronous online teaching conditions diverted from traditional classroom teaching and posed particular occupational health challenges for teachers. These are digital surveillance, technostress, loss of control over the teaching environment, difficult student engagement work, and moral discomfort. We recommend that teachers’ job contracts and collective agreements should distinguish between in-person and online teaching and take into account the different related risks.

Although there is a high prevalence of mental ill-health among university faculty, we know little about how universities have responded to growing concerns about faculty mental health. In this paper, we examine typical mental health interventions implemented in universities. We conducted semistructured, qualitative interviews with 34 academic workers and 20 nonacademic workers and administrators employed at Canadian universities. We identify three main features of university interventions and document their impact on the work and health of academic workers. First, interventions tend to take a “wellness” approach, focusing on individual solutions. Second, interventions tend to rely on generic content from corporate and nonprofit organizations to manage faculty mental health. Third, despite messaging that encourages help-seeking, faculty experience pressure to maintain productivity while ill. Drawing on insights from the literature on neoliberal managerialism and the gendered organization of the university, we show how the focus on the generic individual obfuscates the health consequences of rising expectations, high work demands, and the gendered organization of university labor. Meaningful interventions must address workload and work conditions, while considering the health consequences of the gendered organization of university work.

Although the stresses associated with academia and graduate studies are well recognized, there remains a gap in our understanding of how best to support the mental health of investigators and trainees in research teams. As part of the Healthy Professional Worker Partnership, we collected insights from trainees, co-investigators, the project director and the co-leads of a trainee support network. Their research involved conducting interviews that sometimes addressed sensitive or traumatic subjects. Using a public health theoretical framework with inductive thematic analysis of exit interviews and written feedback, we developed guidance for safeguarding the mental health of researchers. Key responsive interventions to address mental health challenges included regular training and check-ins, reducing the frequency of the interviews conducted by trainees and applying strategies to handle the mental health impacts of their content, and proactive workload management. Promising practices emerged, such as establishing a trainee support network and a compendium of resources, integrating debrief time, ensuring clear communication, and adapting expectations and timelines. Recommendations emphasize the importance of responsiveness, collaboration and flexibility, alongside a formalized onboarding process. Research teams, especially those that are large, geographically distributed, or undertaking research on challenging issues, need a systematic approach to promotion of mental health, prevention of mental ill-health, and remediation of mental illness. This study offers practical guidance for fostering healthier and more supportive research environments.

In our qualitative study, we interviewed 45 Canadian teachers about mental health issues, taking a leave of absence, and their subsequent return to work. We found that doctors, supportive principals, supportive colleagues, supportive human resource departments, supportive school boards, and the teaching unions were facilitators for taking a leave, while stigma, unsupportive administration, preparation, and the process of taking a leave were barriers. In returning to work, principals and administrators, and preparation to return were cited as barriers, while colleagues, principals and administrators, doctors, unions and a change in work were facilitators. We interpret these findings through a synthesized framework combining Allegro and Veerman's theory of sickness absence and D’Amato and Zijsrtra's theory of work resumption, highlighting individual, organizational, and societal factors shaping leave and return decisions. With the high cost of teacher absences and critical staffing shortages, we discuss the impacts of these facilitators and barriers and make recommendations for practice for a healthy teaching workforce.

We explored how Canadian academics manage their mental ill-health while at work and whether they do so informally, seek formal help or workplace accommodations, or take leaves of absences. Results from a survey of 342 academics (71% women) indicated that mental ill-health was common. A higher percentage of women reported having experienced mental health issues over their careers. Less than a quarter of those who experienced mental health issues took formal leaves of absence because they felt their issues were not severe enough to warrant leave. They were concerned about stigma and the impact that taking a leave would have on their colleagues’ workload. More often, respondents manage the occupational stressors themselves by using sick days and vacations to retreat from work, reduce their workload, and seek help from health professionals. Using this information, the authors recommend specific interventions for academics experiencing mental ill-health.

This interview explores the remarkable journey of Nazrul Islam Khan, a prominent labor leader in Bangladesh whose activism and leadership have shaped the labor movement for decades. From his early experiences as a worker to his pivotal role in the 1969 labor uprisings and his later contributions to postindependence labor rights, Khan's insights provide a historical and contemporary analysis of labor struggles in Bangladesh. The discussion sheds light on key moments, including the impact of industrial policies, the formation of labor unions, the role of trade unions in the Bangladeshi Liberation War, and the evolving challenges faced by workers in a rapidly changing economic landscape. His reflections offer valuable lessons on labor activism, policy reform, occupational health and safety, and the future of workers’ rights in Bangladesh. The interview ends with his views on how to extend labor rights and protections to teachers.