BACKGROUND: Electrical injuries are a common cause of work-related injury in
male dominated skilled trades.
OBJECTIVES: In this study we explored how issues of gender, masculinities
and institutional workplace practices shape expectations of men and their choices when
returning to work following a workplace electrical injury.
METHODS: Twelve workers, who suffered an electrical injury, and twelve
employer representatives, completed semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis we
identified key themes related to how masculinities influenced men’s health and safety
during the return to work process.
RESULTS: Strong identification with worker roles can influence injured
workers decisions to return to work ‘too early’. A desire to be viewed as a strong,
responsible, resilient worker may intersect with concerns about job loss, to influence
participants’ decisions to not report safety issues and workplace accidents, to not
disclose post-injury work challenges, and to not request workplace supports.
Institutionalized workplace beliefs regarding risk, de-legitimization of the severity of
injuries, and the valorization of the “tough” worker can further re-enforce dominant
masculine norms and influence return to work processes and health and safety
practices.
CONCLUSIONS: Workplaces are key sites where gender identities are
constructed, affirmed and institutionalized. Further research is warranted to examine how
established masculine norms and gendered workplace expectations can influence workplace
health and safety in male dominated high risk occupations. Future research should also
evaluate strategies that encourage men to discuss post-injury work challenges and request
supports when work performance or health and safety issues arise during the return to work
process.
SpringerKW, MouzonDM .
“Macho men” and preventive health care: Implications for older men in
different social classes. J Health Soc Behav2011;52:212–27.
2.
WilliamsD .
The health of men: Structured inequalities and
opportunities. Am J Public Health2003;93:724–31.
3.
BilskerD, GoldenbergL, DavisonJA .
A Roadmap to Men’s Health: Current Status, Research, Policy &
Practice. Vancouver:
BC; 2010.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Current
Population Survey, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, and U.S. Census Bureau. 2014.
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0011.pdf Accessed 6 June
2014.
6.
BergeronR .
Service contractor realities – Minimizing risk.
Conf Rec 2011 IEEE IAS Electr Saf Work2011. doi: 10.1109/ESW.2011.6164714
7.
PiotrowskiA, FilletA-M, PerezP,
WalkowiakP, SimonD,
CorniereM-J, et
al. Outcome of occupational electrical injuries among French
electric company workers: A retrospective report of 311 cases,
1996-2005. Burns2014;40:480–8.
8.
SalehiSH, FatemiMJ, AśadiK,
ShoarS, GhazarianA, Der
SamimiR . Electrical
injury in construction workers: A special focus on injury with electrical
power. Burns2014;40:300–4.
9.
Suárez-CebadorM,
Rubio-RomeroJC,
López-ArquillosA .
Severity of electrical accidents in the construction industry in
Spain. J Safety Res2014;48:63–70.
10.
Occupational Safety & Health Administration
[OHSA]. Construction eTool, electrical incidents. 2010.
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/construction/electrical_incidents/mainpage.html.
Accessed 6 June 2014.
NobleJ, GomezM,
FishJS .
Quality of life and return to work following electrical
burns. Burns2006;32:159–64.
15.
JafariH, CouratierP, CamuW,
ChauliacGDe .
Motor neuron disease after electric injury Case reports2001;265–7.
16.
HeilbroonerRL,
PliskinNH .
Psychological issues in the neurorehabilitation of electrical
injuries. NeuroRehabilitation1999;13:127–32.
17.
ThemanK, SingermanJ, GomezM,
FishJS .
Return to work after low voltage electrical injury.
J Burn Care Res2006;29:959–64.
18.
JensenSQ, KyedM,
ChristensenAD,
BloksgaardL, HansenCD, NielsenKJ .
A gender perspective on work-related accidents.
Saf Sci2014;64:190–8.
19.
CôtéD, CoutuM-F. A
critical review of gender issues in understanding prolonged disability related to
musculoskeletal pain: How are they relevant to rehabilitation?Disabil Rehabil2010;32:87–102
20.
JohnsonJL, GreavesL, ReptaR
. Better science with sex and gender: Facilitating the use of a sex and
gender-based analysis in health research. Int J Equity
Health2009;8:14.
SharmanZ, JohnsonJ .
Towards the inclusion of gender and sex in health research and funding:
An institutional perspective. Soc Sci Med2012;74:1812–6.
23.
SpringerKW, Mager
StellmanJ, Jordan-YoungRM .
Beyond a catalogue of differences: A theoretical frame and good practice
guidelines for researching sex/gender in human health. Soc Sci
Med2012;74:1817–24.
AjslevJ, LundH,
MøllerJ .
Habituating pain: Questioning pain and physical strain as inextricable
conditions in the construction industry. Nord J Work Life
Stud2013;3:195–218
.
26.
BaronA .
Masculinity, the embodied male worker, and the historian’s
gaze. Int Labor Work Hist2006;69:143–60.
27.
VerdonkP, SeesingH, de
RijkA. Doing
masculinity, not doing health? A qualitative study among Dutch male employees about
health beliefs and workplace physical activity. BMC Public
Health2010;10:712.
28.
ElyR, MeyersonD .
An organizational approach to undoing gender: The unlikely case of
offshore oil platforms. Res Organ Behav2010;30:3–34.
29.
NessK .
Constructing Masculinity in the building trades: “Most jobs in the
construction industry can be done by women”. Gender, Work
Organ2012;19:654–76.
CoenSE, OliffeJL, JohnsonJL, KellyMT
. Looking for Mr. PG: Masculinities and men’s depression in a northern
resource-based Canadian community. Heal Place2013;21:94–101.
32.
FlerasA, DixonSM
. Cutting, driving, digging, and harvesting: Re-masculinizing the
working-class heroic. Can J Commun2011;36:579–97.
33.
ArcuryTA, SummersP, CarrilloL, GrzywaczJG, QuandtSA, MillsTH
. Occupational safety beliefs among Latino residential roofing
workers. Am J Ind Med2014;57:718–25.
34.
ForestellNM .
“And i feel like i’m dying from mining for gold”: Disability, gender, and
the mining community. Labor Stud Work Hist2006;3:77–93.
35.
DureyA, LowerT
. The culture of safety on Australian farms. Rural
Soc2004;14:57–69.
36.
IacuoneD .
“Real men are tough guys”: Hegemonic masculinity and safety in the
construction industry. J Mens Stud2005;13:247–66.
37.
StellaL . No
place for wimps: Working on Western Australian trawlers.
Anthropologica2013;38:173–95.
38.
DesmondM .
Becoming a firefighter. Ethnography2006;7:387–421.
39.
Thurnell-ReadT,
ParkerA .
Men, masculinities and firefighting: Occupational identity, shop-floor
culture and organisational change. Emot Sp Soc2008;1:127–34.
40.
KingTJ . Bad
habits and prosthetic performances: Negotiation of individuality and embodiment of
social status in Australian shark fishing. J Anthropol
Res2007;63:537–60.
41.
RamirezH .
Masculinity in the workplace: The case of Mexican immigrant
gardeners. Men Masc2011)97–116.
42.
CostonBM, KimmelM
. Seeing privilege where it isn’t: Marginalized masculinities and the
intersectionality of privilege. J Soc Issues2012;68:97–111.
43.
DolanA .
“You can”t ask for a dubonnet and lemonade!’: Working class masculinity
and men’s health practices. Sociol Heal Illn2011;33:586–601.
44.
WalterN, BourgoisP, Margarita
LoinazH . Masculinity
and undocumented labor migration: Injured latino day laborers in San
Francisco. Soc Sci Med2004;59:1159–68.
45.
EvansJ, FrankB,
OliffeJL, GregoryD .
Health, Illness, Men and Masculinities (HIMM): A theoretical framework
for understanding men and their health. J Mens health2011;7–15.
46.
O’BrienR, HuntK,
HartG .
“It”s caveman stuff, but that is to a certain extent how guys still
operate’: Men’s accounts of masculinity and help seeking. Soc
Sci Med2005;61:503–16.
47.
OliffeJL, PhillipsMJ .
Men, depression and masculinities: A review and
recommendations. J Mens Health2008;194–202.
48.
JohnsonJL, OliffeJL, KellyMT, GaldasP, OgrodniczukJS .
Men’s discourses of help-seeking in the context of
depression. Sociol Heal Illn2012;34:345–61.
49.
AlstonM, KentJ .
The Big Dry: The link between rural masculinities and poor health
outcomes for farming men. J Sociol2008;44:133–47.
50.
IbáñezM, NarockiC .
Occupational risk and masculinity: The case of the construction industry
in Spain. J Work Rights2011;16:195–217.
51.
Du
PlessisK, CroninD, CorneyT, GreenE
. Australian blue-collar men’s health and well-being: Contextual issues for
workplace health promotion interventions. Health Promot
Pract2013;14:715–20.
52.
BraunV, ClarkeV
. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res
in Psychol2006;3(2):77–101.
53.
Stergiou-KitaM,
MansfieldE, ColantonioA .
Injured workers’ perspectives on how workplace accommodations are
conceptualized and delivered following electrical injuries. J
Occup Rehabil2014;24:173–88.
54.
Stergiou-KitaM,
MansfieldE, DaiterL, ColantonioA .
Good intentions? Employer representative conceptualizations and
challenges to the workplace accommodation process: The case of electrical
injuries. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal.
2014. In Press
55.
BrandthB, HaugenMS .
From lumberjack to business manager: Masculinity in the Norwegian
Forestry Press. J Rural Stud2000;16:343–55.
56.
Institute of Work & Health. 2009.
Red flags/green lights: A guide to identifying and solving return-to-work problems.
Available at http://www.iwh.on.ca/rtw-problems-guide
57.
CourtenayW .
Behavioral factors associated with disease, injury, and death among men:
Evidence and implications for prevention. J Mens Stud2000;9:81–142.
58.
O’BrienR, HuntK,
HartG . It’s
caveman stuff, but that is to a certain extent how guys still operate’: Men’s accounts
of masculinity and help seeking. Soc Sci Med2005;61:503–16.
59.
BaronA .
Masculinity, the embodied male worker, and the historian’s
gaze. Int Labor Work Hist2006;69:143–60.
60.
CheekFE, MillerMD .
The experience of stress for correction officers: A double-bind theory of
correctional stress. J Crim Justice1983;11:105–20.
61.
De
GenovaN . The everyday
civil war: Migrant working men, within and against capital.
Ethnography2006;7:243–67.
62.
DesmondM .
Making firefighters deployable. Qual
Sociol2011;34:59–77.
63.
WicksD .
Institutional bases of identity construction and reproduction: The case
of underground coal mining. Gender, Work Organ2002;9:308–35.
64.
PetersonM .
What men and women value at work: Implications for workplace
health. Gender Med2004;1(2):106–24.
65.
LaplongeD, AlburyK. Doing
safer masculinities: Addressing at-risk gendered behaviours on mine
sites. M/C J.
2013;26.
66.
JohnsonJ, ReptaR
. Sex and gender: Beyond the binaries. In OliffeJ.L, &
GreavesL, (Eds.),
Designing and conducting gender, sex and health research
(17–37). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications. 2012.
67.
GaldasP, JohnsonJ, PercyM,
RatnerP .
Help seeking for cardiac symptoms: Beyond the masculine-feminine
binary. Soc Sci Med 712010)118–24.
