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Wednesday, January 5, 2011
NIOSH Proposes New Digital Classification for Pneumoconiosis
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Workers Compensation and Nanotechnology - The New Frontier
"Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize countless products, create computers smaller and faster than once could be imagined, and fight diseases such as cancer. According to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnology, by the summer of 2009 there were 1,015 consumer products using nanotechnology. That represents nearly a 19-fold increase over the 54 products listed in 2005. Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of matter at a near-atomic scale. Nanoparticles measure from 1 to 100 nanometers in size, with 1 billion nanometers forming a meter. For comparison, a billion inches would nearly circle the Earth 2 times."
- A 2004 survey estimatedthat nearly 25,000 U.S. workers were employed at businesses that exclusively produced nanotechnology products.
- Nanoparticles can enter the body through many routes including inhalation, swallowing, ingestion, and absorption through the skin.
- Nanotechnology may present health risks but it can also be used to protect workers. New respirator designs, for instance, use nanotechnology to create more effective filters to block harmful substances.
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- Study Uncovers Mesothelioma Link to Nanotechnology | Refinance System (refinancesystem.co.cc)
- Bio-Tech Worker Awarded $1.37 Million in Suit Against Pfizer
- NANOTECHNOLOGY IN MEDICINE | Nanotechnology (nanotechnology.org.in)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Opportunities, Challenges in Use of Workers’ Comp Data Are Examined in NIOSH Workshop Proceedings Report
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Asbestos Deaths Predicted to Continue for Decades
"Asbestos has been a highly visible issue in public health for over three decades. During the mid- to late-20th century, many advances were made in the scientific understanding of worker health effects from exposure to asbestos fibers and other elongate mineral particles (EMPs). It is now well documented that fibers of asbestos minerals, when inhaled, can cause serious diseases in exposed workers. However, many questions and areas of confusion and scientific uncertainty remain. For instance, due to the mineralogical complexity of the asbestos minerals, the scientific literature contains various inconsistencies in the definition and application of the term asbestos for health protection guidance and regulatory purposes."
"The purpose of the Roadmap is to outline a research agenda that will guide the development of specific research programs and projects that will provide a broader and clearer understanding of the important determinants of toxicity for asbestos and other EMPs. NIOSH recognizes that results from such research may impact environmental as well as occupational health policies and practices. Many of the issues that are important in the workplace are also important to communities and to the general population.Therefore, NIOSH envisions that the planning and conduct of the research will be a collaborative effort involving active participation of multiple federal agencies, including the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Toxicology Program (NTP), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), as well as labor, industry, academia, health and safety practitioners, and other interested parties, including international groups. This collaboration will help to focus the scope of the research, to fund and conduct research, and to develop and disseminate informational materials describing research results and their implications for establishing new occupational and public health policies."
NIOSH has invited Public Comment Until April 16, 2010 5:00pm EDT
Friday, February 5, 2010
Ethnic Disparities in Workers' Compensation
NIOSH reports, " Low-wage, low-skilled, and immigrant workers face disproportionately high risks for work-related injuries and illnesses in comparison with the U.S. workforce in general. They also encounter significant barriers in accessing training and education programs, health care systems, and legal protections that are critical for mitigating those risks."
“This special issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine adds to our knowledge by examining occupational health disparities and inequities immigrant and other workers face, and measuring the extent of the problem,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis states in a Foreword to the issue. “In addition to helping address the need for better data, this research promises to create new knowledge that can be used to improve the lives of our nation’s workers."
- Occupational health surveillance must be enhanced and improved to describe the nature and extent of disparities in occupational illnesses and injuries (including fatalities), identify priorities for research and intervention, and evaluate trends. This is a priority of NIOSH and its partners under the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). Serious shortcomings in current surveillance systems include an undercounting of what research suggests to be the true incidence of work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths, and a lack of information in key datasets that would allow users to identify incidence and trends in cases by race, ethnicity, and place of birth.
- A case study under NIOSH’s state-based Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk (SENSOR) demonstrated the value of occupational health surveillance for protecting migrant farmworkers from risk of job-related illness. SENSOR’s pesticide-poisoning surveillance staff identified a birth-defects cluster among migrant farmworkers exposed to pesticides. Subsequent state legislation in North Carolina provided funding to strengthen surveillance, improve the quality of state inspections for compliance with pesticide regulations, increase and improve worker pesticide safety training, and broaden the coverage of state anti-retaliation rules to include agricultural workers.
- Questionnaires for worker health studies that ask questions in different languages are essential for identifying work-related injuries and illnesses, and trends in those cases, among the ethnically diverse U.S. workforce. Developing such questionnaires is complex, and literal translation often is not appropriate or accurate. More research should be focused on development of useful bilingual and multilingual research tools.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Occupational Hazards in the Home Healthcare Industry
The US agency reported, "Home healthcare workers are frequently exposed to a variety of potentially serious or even life-threatening hazards. These dangers include overexertion; stress; guns and other weapons; illegal drugs; verbal abuse and other forms of violence in the home or community; bloodborne pathogens; needlesticks; latex sensitivity; temperature extremes; unhygienic conditions, including lack of water, unclean or hostile animals, and animal waste. Long commutes from worksite to worksite also expose the home healthcare worker to trans- portation-related risks."
The report concludes, "The Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected home healthcare work to be the fastest growing occupation through 2016. Home healthcare workers, including home healthcare aides, nurses, physical therapists, occu- pational therapists, speech therapists, therapy aides, social workers, and hospice care workers, face unique hazards delivering services in patients’ homes and in various di- verse communities. Persons other than the patient who are residing or visiting in the patient’s home may be a risk to the worker. Home healthcare workers are susceptible to injuries. These may result from overexertion due to transferring patients into and out of bed or to assisting with patient walking or standing. Home healthcare workers may be exposed to bloodborne pathogens, needlesticks, infectious agents, latex, stress, violence occurring in the home or street, verbal abuse, weapons, illegal drugs, and they may encounter animals, temperature extremes, unsanitary conditions in the homes, lack of water, severe weather, or a response to a chemical spill or act of terrorism. The large amount of driving from home to home ex- poses the home healthcare worker to risks of vehicular injury or fatality."
Click here to read the complete NIOSH report.
Click here to read more bout NIOSH and workers' compensation.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Workplace Safety, the Aging Workforce & The Logical Step
Over the past decade the work force has demographically changed. The number of those who are working past age 55 has grown. This increase mirrors an increase in accidents at work. It well known that those age 55 and older have a higher propensity for illness and disease resulting in complex of medical conditions.
The workers' compensation claims for this age group have become more serious and eventually evolve into Social Security Disability Claims. Besides the administrative complexity of navigating a fragile and dysfunction workers' compensation, these workers are require more emergent medical care for exigent conditions.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recognized this issue and is attempting to put SAFETY back into the equation.
"A report of conference presentations and discussions among participants from the National Academies of Science, universities and research institutions, and representatives of professional associations, industry and labor, recommends attention to workplace environments to maintain “work ability” as workers age, along with legislative fixes and research to fill in knowledge gaps for keeping workers healthy and productive."
As Social Security studies these issues, and more reliable data becomes available through NIOSH's efforts, a redesign of the approach to mandate safety, and deliver medical benefits universally and in a more efficient fashion, appears to be the next logical step.
Click here to read more about safety and workers' compensation.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
NIOSH Schedules Conference on Safety of Nanoparticles
NIOSH announced a conference in July 2010 to discuss the safety concerns that have been raised concerning workers and nanotechnology.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
NIOSH Proposes Special Cohort to Include Linden NJ Workers
All AWE employees of the Standard Oil Development Company in Linden, New Jersey, during the period from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 1945, while working for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, either solely under this employment or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the SEC.
This designation will become effective on July 18, 2009, unless Congress provides otherwise prior to the effective date.
Federal Register: June 30, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 124 Page 31279-31280