Tony LaMontagne

Anthony D La Montagne ScD MA Med
Associate Professor
McCaughey Centre
VicHealth Centre for the promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing
School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, VIC, 3010

Dr LaMontagne’s background includes Master’s degrees in Toxicology/Pharmacology (Harvard University) and Education (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), as well as a Doctor of Science in Occupational Health (Harvard School of Public Health).

The overarching theme of Dr. LaMontagne’s research is the evaluation and improvement of interventions to prevent and control occupational health hazards. His focus is on the health side of OHS, with a particular interest in occupational stress, hazardous substances and occupational disease. Rather than focusing on relationships between exposures and health effects—as done in traditional etiologic epidemiology, he studies the relationships between interventions and exposures or health effects. This is described variously as applied epidemiology, translational research, and most recently ‘intervention effectiveness research’. The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) developed a “National Occupational Research Agenda” in 1996. Form 1996--2001, Dr. LaMontagne served on the “Intervention Effectiveness Research” team—one of the 21 teams of national experts assembled to advise NIOSH on each of the priority research areas. Specific project work ranges from interventions at the workplace level (e.g., design of training and educational programs on chemical hazards) to national policy (e.g., evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of regulatory standards). Dr. LaMontagne relocated from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to take up a position in Melbourne in 2000. Previous and on-going research includes:

Assessments of OSH management systems at the organizational level;

The development of walk-through occupational health assessment tools to determine intervention needs and evaluate intervention impacts at the workplace level;

The development, implementation, and evaluation of workplace interventions that integrate health promotion and occupational health protection;

An in-depth evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of the US Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA) 1984 ethylene oxide standard (a prototypical carcinogen standard in the U.S.);

The development of exposure database and surveillance tools in collaboration with practicing OSH professionals;
Medical surveillance programs for former workers who were involved in the production of nuclear weapons; and

An Australian National Heart Foundation project on job stress and health behaviours among hourly workers. Study goals include collection of data on Karasek’s demand—control stress measures, Siegrist’s more recent effort-reward imbalance model, and precarious employment.

Noblet A and LaMontagne AD (in press): The challenges of developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions. In: Cartwright S and Cooper CL (Editors), The Oxford Handbook Of Organizational Wellbeing . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

LaMontagne AD, Stoddard AM, Roelofs C, Sembajwe G, Sapp AL, Sorensen G (in review): An exposure prevention rating method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation: the Small Business Exposure Index. Environ Health

LaMontagne AD and Keegel T (in press): The work environment. In Keleher H and MacDougall C (Editors), Understanding Health: A Determinants Approach, 2 nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

LaMontagne AD, Vallance D, and Keegel T (in review): Low paid work and exposures to occupational hazards in a sample of working Victorians. Australian Journal of Labour Economics.

Shaw A & LaMontagne AD (in review): Shifting boundaries—the context for acting on job stress in the Australian state of Victoria. Policy & Practice in Health & Safety.

Louie AM, LaMontagne AD, Ostry AS, Shaw A, and Shoveller JA (in review): The impact of social context on perceptions of work stress: a gender –based analysis. BSA Sociology.

Keegel T, Ostry A, LaMontagne AD (in review): Job strain exposures versus stress-related Workers Compensation claims in Victoria (Australia): Developing a public health response to job stress. J Public Health Policy.

Sapp A, Sorensen G, Subramanian SV, LaMontagne AD, and Kawachi I (in review): Job characteristics and smoking among US manufacturing workers. Tobacco Control.

LaMontagne AD, Smith PM, Louie AM, Quinlan M, Shoveller J, and Ostry AS (in review): Unwanted sexual advances at work: Variations by employment arrangement in a sample of working Australians. Australia/NZ J Public Health.

Vallance D and LaMontagne AD (2008): Asbestos Selected Cancers Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects (book review). Aus NZ J Public Health 32(2): 186.

LaMontagne AD, Hunter CE, Vallance D, and Holloway AJ (in press, accepted 30 Aug 2007): Asbestos disease in Australia: Looking forward & looking back. New Solutions: A Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health Policy 18(3): scheduled for September 2008.

LaMontagne AD, Keegel T, Vallance D, Ostry A, and Wolfe R (27 May 2008): Job strain—attributable depression in a sample of working Australians: Assessing the contribution to health inequalities. BMC Public Health 8:181 (9 pages) at http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-8-181.pdf.

LaMontagne AD, Keegel T, Vallance D (2007): Protecting & promoting mental health in the workplace: developing a systems approach to job stress. Health Promotion Journal of Australia 18(3):221-228.

Dollard MF, LaMontagne AD, Caulfield N, Blewett V, and Shaw A (2007): Job stress in the Australian and international health and community services sector: A review of the literature. Intl J Stress Management 14(4): 417-445.

ABC Radio National Life Matters program (24 August 2007): Featured speaker in national broadcast of one hour edited version of National Science Festival panel discussion on “Work and you—stress, mental health, & wellbeing,” Canberra, 20 August 2007. See http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2007/2013758.htm .

LaMontagne AD, Keegel T, Louie AM, Ostry A, and Landsbergis PA (2007): A systematic review of the job stress intervention evaluation literature: 1990—2005. Intl J Occup & Environ Health 13(3):268-280. Open access at www.ijoeh.com.

LaMontagne A (2007). Where there’s smoke (op/ed). The Herald Sun (newspaper): Melbourne, 22 August 2007, page 23.

Radi S, Ostry A, and LaMontagne AD (2007): Job stress and other working conditions: Relationships with smoking behaviours in a representative sample of working Australians. American J Industrial Medicine 50(8): 584-596.

LaMontagne A (2007). The tragic death of Sally Sandic (op/ed). The Herald Sun (newspaper): Melbourne, 9 April 2007, page 20.

Collins S, Warren N, Landsbergis PA, and LaMontagne AD (May 2007): Stopping stress at its origins—addressing working conditions (letter). Hypertension 49(5): e33 (epub 2007 Mar 5).

Keegel T, Saunders H, LaMontagne AD, Nixon R. (2007) : Are Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) useful in the diagnosis and management of occupational contact dermatitis? Contact Dermatitis 57:331-336.

Keegel T, Erbas B, Cahill J, Dharmage S, Noonan A, Nixon R. (2007): Occupational Contact Dermatitis in Australia: Diagnostic and Management Practices, and Severity of Worker Impairment. Contact Dermatitis 56(6):318-324

Stuckey R, LaMontagne AD, and Sim MR (2007): Working in light vehicles—a review and conceptual model for occupational health and safety. Accident Analysis & Prevention 39(5):1006-1014.

LaMontagne AD, Glass D, and Benke G (20 February 2007): Review of Primary Investigation of Suspected Brain Cancer Cluster and Employee Health Complaints in RMIT Building 108. Publicly accessible at http://mams.rmit.edu.au/dz5lnrirdnji.pdf, 11 pages.

NIOSH (Principal Contributors: Palassis J, Mattheissen C, Santiago A, Hadley J, LaMontagne AD, and Harris A) (2007). ALERT: Preventing Worker Injuries and Deaths from Explosions in Industrial Ethylene Oxide Sterilization Facilities: Revised Edition. United States Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2007—164 (supercedes 2000—119), 40 pages. See http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2007-164.

LaMontagne AD, Steenland NK, and Kelsey KT (2007): Ethylene oxide, chapter 73 in Rom WN & Markowitz SB (Eds), Environmental & Occupational Medicine, Fourth Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, pages 1144-1157.

Keegel T, Erbas B, LaMontagne AD (2007): Measuring worker participation in occupational health and safety (abstract). Australasian Epidemiologist 14;3:90-91.

LaMontagne AD, Glass D, Benke G, and McLean C (2 August 2006): Review of Primary Investigation of Suspected Brain Cancer Cluster in RMIT Building 108, Levels 16 & 17. Publicly accessible at: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/g60adi0a81r3.pdf.

LaMontagne AD, Shaw A, Ostry A, Louie AM, and Keegel T (May 2006): Workplace Stress in Victoria: Developing a Systems Approach. Melbourne: Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, 152 pages. Freely available at www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/workplacestress.
Co-published with a VicHealth summary of the full report:

Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (May 2006): Workplace Stress in Victoria: Developing a Systems Approach. A Summary Report. Melbourne: Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, 24 pages. Freely available at www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/workplacestress.

Dollard MF, LaMontagne AD, Shaw A, Blewett V, Caulfield N, Jordan J, Cooper CL (2006): Job Stress: Causes, Impact and Solutions in the Health and Community Services Sector : A Literature Review, (100 pages).

Noblet A and LaMontagne AD (2006): The role of workplace health promotion in addressing job stress. Health Promotion International 21;4:346-353.

Shaw A and LaMontagne AD (2006): "Acting on job stress –do we have a context for action ?" Proceedings of the42nd Annual Conference of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society of Australia, New Technology--Putting Macro and Micro in Context , 20—22 November 2006, Sydney, Australia (9 pages—peer-reviewed).

Ostry A, Radi S, Louie AM, and LaMontagne AD (2006 Mar 2): Psychosocial and other working conditions in relation to body mass index in a representative sample of Australian workers. BMC Public Health 6:53 (8 pages). Open access at http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-6-53.pdf.

Louie AM, Ostry A, Quinlan M, Keegel TG, Shoveller J, and LaMontagne AD (2006): Empirical study of employment arrangements and precariousness in Australia . Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations 61(3); 465-489.

Louie AM, Ostry A, Shoveller J, Quinlan M, Keegel TG, Radi S, and LaMontagne AD (2006): Psychosocial and other working conditions in relation to employment arrangements in a sample of working Australians (abstract) . Australasian Epidemiologist 13;3:117.

Moyle M, Keegel T, Noonan A, Nixon R. (2006): Skin care in occupational contact dermatitis of the hands. Australasian Journal of Dermatology 47: 97-101

Keegel T, Erbas B, Dharmage S, Fletcher AS, Cahill J, Sakata S, Nixon RL, and LaMontagne AD (2006): Do accurate MSDS sensitizer warnings prevent worker sensitization? (abstract). Contact Dermatitis 55 (Suppl 1):16

LaMontagne AD, Radi S, Elder DS, Abramson MJ, and Sim MR (2006): Primary prevention of latex-related sensitisation and occupational asthma: a systematic review. Occup Environ Medicine 63:359-364.

LaMontagne AD (2005): Invited Commentary: Corporate Influence on Threshold Limit Values. Policy & Practice in Health & Safety. 3(2) Supplement:33-34.

LaMontagne AD, Stoddard AM, Youngstrom RA, Lewiton M, and Sorensen G (2005): Improving the prevention and control of hazardous substances: a randomized controlled trial in manufacturing worksites. American J Industrial Medicine 48:282-292.

Sim MR, Abramson M, LaMontagne AD, Aroni R, Elder D, and Peters A (October 2005): Occupational Asthma--Detection, Surveillance and Prevention of the Disease Burden, Melbourne: Victorian Department of Human Services. 80 pages. See http://www.health.vic.gov.au/healthpromotion/downloads/occupationalasthma.pdf, or

Keegel T, Radi S, Ostry A, and LaMontagne AD (September 2005): Patterns of job strain in a representative sample of working Victorians: Enabling evidence-based policy and practice (abstract). Australasian Epidemiologist 12;3:51-52

LaMontagne AD (2005): Invited Editorial: Cost-effectiveness of surveillance for isocyanate asthma: finding an occupational health policy framework. Occ Env Medicine 62:741-742

LaMontagne AD and Walker HH (2005): Community views on responding to a local asbestos disease epidemic: implications for policy and practice. Policy & Practice in Health & Safety 3;1:69-84.

Keegel T, Fletcher AS, Cahill J, Nixon RL, Sakata S, Moyle M, and LaMontagne AD (June 2005). Exposure, communication, and hazard: A case control study of skin sensitizers and worker sensitization (conference paper). The Second International Conference on Occupational & Environmental Exposures of Skin to Chemicals – 2005 (Stockholm). See online proceedings at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/skin/OEESC2/AbPost052Keegel.html

Linnan LA, LaMontagne AD, Stoddard AM, Emmons K, and Sorensen G (2005): Worksite-level norms concerning smoking, nutrition, and occupational safety and health practices: results of the Wellworks-2 study. American J Health Behavior 29(3):258-268.

Stuckey R and LaMontagne AD (2005): Occupational light vehicle use and OHS legislative frameworks: An Australian example. Intl J Occup & Environ Health 11(2): 167-179. Open access at http://www.ijoeh.com/pfds/IJOEH_1102_Stuckey.pdf

Hunt MK, Lederman R, Stoddard AM, LaMontagne AD, McLellan D, Combe C, Barbeau E, Sorensen G (2005): Process evaluation of an integrated health promotion/occupational health model in Wellworks-2. Health Education and Behavior 32(1):10-26.

Marsit CJ, LaMontagne AD, and Kelsey KT (2005): Biological markers in occupational and environmental medicine. In: Textbook of Clinical Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Second Edition (Rosenstock L, Cullen MR, Brodkin CA, and Redlich CA, Editors). Philadelphia: Elsevier/Saunders, pages 139-145.

LaMontagne AD, Oakes JM, and Lopez-Turley R (2004): Long-term ethylene oxide exposure trends in US hospitals: intervention needed to preserve gains made following 1984 OSHA standard. American J Public Health 94;9:1620-1626.

LaMontagne AD, Barbeau E, Youngstrom R, Lewiton M, Stoddard AM, McLellan D, Wallace L, and Sorensen G (2004): Assessing and intervening on OSH programs: effectiveness evaluation of the Wellworks-2 intervention in 15 manufacturing worksites. Occupational & Environmental Medicine 61:651-660.

LaMontagne AD (2004): Improving occupational health & safety policy through intervention research. J Occup Health Safety – Aust NZ 20;2: 107-113 .

LaMontagne AD (2004): Integrating health promotion and health protection in the workplace. In: Moodie R and Hulme A (Editors), Hands-On Health Promotion. Melbourne: IP Communications, pages 285-298.

Barbeau E, Roelofs C, Youngstrom R, Sorensen G, Stoddard AM, and LaMontagne AD (2004): An assessment of occupational health and safety programs in small businesses. American J Industrial Medicine 45(4): 371-379.

LaMontagne AD, Youngstrom R, Lewiton M, Stoddard A, Perry M, Klar JM, Christiani DC, and Sorensen G (2003): An exposure prevention rating method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation. Appl Occup Env Hygiene 18:523-534.

LaMontagne AD, Herrick RF, Martyny JW, et al (2002): Exposure databases and exposure surveillance: promise and practice. American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal 63(2): 205-212.

LaMontagne AD and Christiani DC (2002). Prevention of work-related cancers. New Solutions: A Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health Policy 12(2):137-156.

Sorensen GC, Stoddard A, LaMontagne AD, et al (2002): A comprehensive worksite cancer prevention intervention: behavior change results from a randomized controlled trial in manufacturing worksites. Cancer Causes & Control 13(6): 493-502. Related Editorial in same issue pp 503-504 by Colditz GA: Disseminating research findings into practice.

LaMontagne AD and Kelsey KT (2001): Evaluating OSHA’s ethylene oxide standard: exposure determinants in Massachusetts hospitals. American J Public Health 91(3):412-417.

Goldenhar LM, LaMontagne AD, Katz T, Heaney C, and Landsbergis P (2001): The intervention research process in occupational safety & health: an overview from the NORA Intervention Effectiveness Team. J Occup & Environ Medicine 43(7):616-622.