Issue:
Teachers and students in high-school technology-education shops (TES) are exposed to numerous occupational hazards in the course of their daily work, the most prevalent including noise and airborne contaminants from wood dust, solvents, and welding fumes. This project – the sampling phase of a doctoral thesis, and part of a larger study – will examine TES teachers’ exposures to noise and airborne contaminants in high schools, as well as their compliance with regulations and the factors affecting the exposures. The work will lay the ground work for developing determinants-of-exposure models to guide subsequent interventions (i.e. engineering and administrative controls, educational programs, classroom procedures, policies) to make TES healthier, safer and more productive working/teaching environments.
Objectives:
Although technology-education shops can essentially be seen as small industrial workshops, they are not always subject to the same scrutiny with respect to occupational health and safety, and/or compliance with policies or regulations as other industrial workshops. Further, although many tech-ed teachers come from a “trades” background, teachers of academic subjects with little or no shop experience may also teach tech-ed and therefore may not be as well trained in working safely in industrial environments. This research will be the first comprehensive study of occupational hazards in TES and aims to fill gaps in existing knowledge of teacher exposures to those hazards.
Anticipated Results:
It is anticipated that the research will determine occupational exposures relating to noise and airborne contaminants in TES, and will inform subsequent knowledge transfer and uptake among school districts and training programs.
Investigators:
Murray Hodgson (University of British Columbia)
