DES PLAINES, IL (July 29, 2002) - The American Society of Safety Engineers Foundation (ASSEF) recently awarded research fellowships to David K. Peng of Mount Pleasant, MI, studying at the University of Michigan, and Michael C. Ho of Laurel, MD, (M.P.H., M.B.A.) studying at Johns Hopkins University, as part of the ASSEF/Liberty Mutual Safety and Health Research Fellowship Program. This summer Peng and Ho will spend six weeks at the Liberty Mutual Research Center (LMRC) in Hopkinton, MA, completing needed workplace safety research in 'reducing acute hand injuries' and 'increasing employees' safe behaviors'.

The ASSEF/Liberty Mutual Safety and Health Research Fellowship Program, now in its sixth year, is devoted to encouraging research activity in workplace safety, expanding upon current thoughts on safety research and providing a forum for safety professionals, industry needs and quality research programs. Fellows will write an article for the ASSEF Advocate or ASSE's Professional Safety publications displaying their research results. Each fellow will receive a stipend to cover research expenses while at the LMRC.

The fellowships are selected from research proposals submitted to the ASSEF research committee. Peng's research study titled "Study of Factors Contributing to Occupational Hand Injuries", will examine the use of gloves in preventing acute hand, wrist and finger injuries such as lacerations, crushes, punctures, fractures, dislocations and amputations. The research will focus on glove use to determine to what nature and severity occupational practices, such as proper glove use, play in reducing acute hand injuries, which is an important and modifiable risk factor. Workers with acute traumatic hand injuries account for over 1,000,000 annual emergency department visits in the U.S. According to a 1999 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) study, lacerations of the fingers and hand are second only to back strain and sprain in the number of cases of days away from work.

Peng is working towards a M.P.H. in Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he received a B.S. in Economics. Peng served as research assistant at the University of Michigan in the departments of Physiology, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Center for Organogenesis, the Biochemistry Resource Center and an emergency department study. Ho's research study titled "Use of Safety and Injury Data to Examine Safety Climate and its Relationship to Safety Practices and Occupational Injuries in Labor Intensive Work Environments" will research the relatively unexplored concept of "safety climate", which is the collective safety behaviors of employees within an organization that positively or negatively affects the safety practices and occupational injuries of the entire organization. The study will compare insurance claim records to an analysis of Liberty Mutual's Corporate Climate Review questionnaire rating companies in labor intensive industries in regards to safety violations, disciplinary actions and personal perceptions by employees, to better understand "safety climate".

Ho is working towards a Ph.D. from the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, where he also serves as a teaching assistant in the Department of Public Policy and as a research assistant for the Center for Injury Research and Policy. Ho received a B.A. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University as well as a M.P.H. and a M.B.A. from Yale University in New Haven, CT.

Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group is a diversified international group of insurance companies and one of the largest multi-line insurers in the North American property and casualty industry. The group has more than $50 billion in consolidated assets, more than $13 billion in consolidated revenue and ranks 142nd on the Fortune 500 list of largest corporations in the United States. The A.M. Best Company has rated Liberty Mutual "A+" (Superior). Along with being the leading provider of workers compensation insurance, programs and services in the United States for 65 years, Liberty Mutual provides a wide range of products and services including general liability; commercial auto and business property; group life and disability; private passenger auto and homeowners insurance; and individual life and annuities. The company, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2002, employs 35,000 people in more than 800 offices throughout the world. Liberty Mutual's website is www.libertymutual.com.

Through its programs the ASSE Foundation is committed to ensuring the future of the occupational safety and health profession by providing financial resources to individuals and organizations. Chartered in 1990, the ASSE Foundation has raised nearly $320,000 over the past year from corporate and individual donors for applied safety research, scholarships, fellowships, internships and professional development. Funding for the Foundation comes from corporations and voluntary donations from ASSE members - individual and through chapters countrywide.

Founded in 1911, ASSE is the oldest and largest professional safety organization and is dedicated to protecting people, property and the environment. Its over 30,000 members manage, supervise, and consult on safety, health and environmental issues in industry, insurance, government and education. For more information visit ASSE's website www.asse.org.

     

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