Background: The professional nailcare industry is expanding rapidly in South Africa. Nail treatment involves the use of solvents and acrylates. Exposure to these chemicals is associated with skin, eye, and respiratory tract irritation, and neurological and reproductive health effects.
Objective: To test the feasibility of conducting a study on formal and informal nail technicians, which included testing a self-developed questionnaire, and to collect preliminary data about their knowledge and awareness of health risks associated with exposure to chemicals in nail products, and associated symptoms. Methods: A self-developed questionnaire was administered to 10 formal and 10 informal nail technicians working in conveniently selected nail salons in Johannesburg. Work practices and exposure control measures were observed. Demographic characteristics, working conditions, awareness of health risks, and self-reported symptoms in the two groups are presented as frequency distributions.
Results: Poor phrasing was identified in some of the questions. Participants provided the correct terminology to describe nail services. The revised questionnaire comprised 39 questions. Seven of the informal nail technicians were male while all the formal nail technicians were female. Informal nail technicians worked longer hours per week than formal nail technicians (median of 61.5 and 46.5 hours, respectively) and reported more symptoms. Informal nail technicians used a wider range of nail products than formal nail technicians and used some unknown brands. Although all participants indicated that they were aware of health risks associated with nail products, only four of the formal nail technicians and one informal nail technician reported receiving training (although not specific to health and safety). Informal nail technicians reported using personal protective equipment (PPE); however, this practice was inconsistent, and they used the incorrect PPE.
Conclusions: We showed that conducting a larger study in nail technicians is feasible. The questionnaire was revised to include more information about the chemical content of nail products, a wider range of symptoms, the frequency of their occurrence, and the work-relatedness nature of the self-reported symptoms. A knowledge gap was identified among nail technicians relating to risks associated with exposure to chemicals in nail products. The questionnaire was refined to assess more accurately nail technicians understanding of exposure and awareness of health risks associated with chemicals in nail products.

Background: The psychosocial work environments of ministers of religion have not been extensively researched. However, the literature suggests that ministers of religion are exposed to psychosocial stressors, which can adversely affect their mental health.
Objective: To describe the psychosocial work environments of ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa, in 2015. Methods: This was a cross-sectional mixed methods survey. An adapted version of the selfadministered short Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II (COPSOQ II) was sent to 414 active ordained ministers. The COPSOQ II scoring system was used to identify psychosocial dimensions needing attention. Two open-ended questions were added.
Results: The responses of 138 participants who returned completed questionnaires (33.3%) were analysed. Self-reported medical conditions included work-related stress (n = 73, 52.9%), depression (n = 41, 29.7%), and burnout (n = 36, 26.1%). Although 71.7% of participants (n = 99) indicated that they had good social support structures, the themes identified were lack of support systems, trust, and training. Only 20.3% of participants (n = 28) were familiar with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and only 8% (n = 11) were part of an occupational healthcare programme. Most (118, 85.5%) personally paid for healthcare services related to health in the previous two years. High emotional work demands and poor leadership qualities were identified as high psychosocial risks. One fifth (n = 29, 21.0%) of participants reported experiencing bullying.
Conclusions: Most Dutch Reformed Church ministers in this study were exposed to psychosocial hazards in the work environment, such as poor social support, high emotional demands, poor leadership, and bullying. Occupational health programmes should be purposefully designed for ministers to address these hazards, and to improve their working environments and mental health.

Background: Four empirical studies have measured the impact of head-loading on female African porters posture using expensive radiography and manual kinanthropometry and goniometry. The reliability of cheaper, pragmatic smartphone goniometric technology as an alternate clinical tool to assess posture is needed.
Objectives: This study was designed to test the inter-rater reliability of smartphone goniometry technology against manual goniometry in measuring selected sagittal postural angles in South African female youth who habitually head-load. Methods: Female South African youth who habitually head-load voluntarily participated in the study (N = 100) and were randomly allocated into experimental (n = 50) and control (n = 50) groups. An observational randomised control design involving a pre-test post-test crossover was used, after which the control group crossed over into the experimental group and vice versa. The control group stood in the unloaded phase without a head load, while the experimental group carried the head load. The daily head loads and body mass were measured on an electronic scale. Demographic characteristics (age, body mass, and stature) were recorded and selected biomechanical angles were measured on the right side.
Results: The mean age of the study participants was 12.3 ± 2.5 years; average body mass was 44.5 ± 13.7 kg. The average head load habitually carried was 8.0 ± 2.5 kg. The inter-rater reliability between the smartphone goniometry technology and manual goniometry was 0.9.
Conclusion: The findings support the use of smartphone goniometry as a pragmatic method for assessing sagittal plane postural changes among rural South African youth who habitually head-load. Further studies are needed to validate these findings.