Work-family conflict, work engagement and unsafe behavior among miners in China

The present study aims to explore the relationship between work-family conflict and unsafe behavior among underground coal miners, testing the mediating role of work engagement in this relationship. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Shanxi Province, China from June to August 2020. A total of 580 front-line miners were recruited for this study. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the mechanisms of work-family conflict on unsafe behavior. Findings revealed that time-based conflict, strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict were positively related to unsafe behavior, and work engagement mediated the relationships between work-family conflict and unsafe behavior. Managers should alleviate miners' work-family conflict, providing effective organizational support to improve the miner's work engagement, and thus reduce their unsafe behavior.

Research on the influence of role stressors on unsafe behavior among construction workers in China

Individuals' unsafe behavior is identified as one of the important reasons leading to construction industry accidents. The purpose of the present study is to explore the mechanism of role stressors' impact on unsafe behavior, the mediating role of psychological strain and the moderating role of empowering leadership among construction workers. The sample used for the analyses in this study includes 600 employees from 10 different construction companies in China. Bootstrap analysis was performed to explore the mediating role of psychology strain, and hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed to explore the moderating role of empowering leadership. The results showed that role stressors were positively related to unsafe behavior; psychology strain mediates the relationship between role stressors and unsafe behavior; and empowering leadership moderates the relationship between psychological strain and unsafe behavior. The findings indicate that empowering leadership can decrease unsafe behavior.

Resistance Monitoring of Four Insecticides and a Description of an Artificial Diet Incorporation Method for Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

Chilo suppressalis (Walker; Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is one of the most damaging rice pests in China. Insecticides play a major role in its management. We describe how we monitored the resistance of C. suppressalis to four insecticides in seven field populations from Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hunan Provinces, China, in 2014-2016. The topical application method for resistance monitoring was suitable for triazophos, monosultap, and abamectin. The conventional rice seedling dipping method proved ineffective for testing chlorantraniliprole so the new artificial diet incorporation method was substituted. This new method provided more consistent results than the other methods, once baseline toxicity data had been established. All populations had moderate to high resistance to triazophos from 2014 to 2016. Monosultap resistance in two populations increased from low in 2014 to moderate in 2016 and the other five populations showed moderate to high-level resistance throughout. Abamectin resistance in three populations increased from sensitive or low in 2014 to moderate in 2015-2016, and the other populations had moderate to high levels of resistance. Resistance to chlorantraniliprole increased from sensitive or low in 2014 to moderate to high in 2016. These results suggested that resistance management strategies should be developed according to the needs of a specific location. It was suggested that, in these localities, organophosphate insecticides should be prohibited, the application of nereistoxin, macrolide antibiotic, and diamide insecticides should be limited, and other insecticides, including spinetoram and methoxyfenozide, that exhibited no resistance should be used rationally and in rotation to delay resistance development.