The increase, in both the number of settlements and magnitude of opioid lawsuits being filed, is anticipated having a positive outcome on workers' compensation systems that have suffered the burden of opioid addiction and death in epidemic proportions.
Showing posts with label environmental tobacco smoke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental tobacco smoke. Show all posts
Friday, December 22, 2017
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Tobacco an Occupational Hazard: The Case Against Cigarette Sales by Pharmacies
Smoking continues to be a two edged sword in workers' compensation claims. Smokers in the workplace cause serious and sometimes fatal consequences to both themselves (synergistically with other toxic substances in the workplace) and their co-workers (environmental tobacco smoke exposures). On the flip side is the employer's defense that the smoking habit is not work-related and a pre-existing or co-existing disease caused by habit and not compensable. Nevertheless, public opinion continues to trend against permissible smoking and for the sale of cigarettes. Today's post is shared from cdc.com :
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Five US Airports that Put Employees and Passengers At Risk For Environmental Tobacco Smoke
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| Secondhand Smoke Is Deadly |
Average air pollution levels from secondhand smoke directly outside designated smoking areas in airports are five times higher than levels in smoke-free airports, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study conducted in five large hub U.S. airports also showed that air pollution levels inside designated smoking areas were 23 times higher than levels in smoke-free airports. In the study, designated smoking areas in airports included restaurants, bars, and ventilated smoking rooms.
Five of the 29 largest airports in the United States allow smoking in designated areas that are accessible to the public. The airports that allow smoking include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Denver International Airport, and Salt Lake City International Airport. More than 110 million passenger boardings—about 15 percent of all U.S. air travel—occurred at these five airports last year.
"The findings in today’s report further confirm that ventilated smoking rooms and designated smoking areas are not effective," said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. "Prohibiting smoking in all indoor areas is the only effective way to fully eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke."
A 2006 Surgeon General’s Report concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Although smoking was banned on all U.S. domestic and international commercial airline flights through a series of federal laws adopted from 1987 to 2000, no federal policy requires airports to be smoke-free.
"Instead of going entirely smoke-free, five airports continue to allow smoking in restaurants, bars or ventilated smoking rooms. However, research shows that separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air and ventilating buildings cannot fully eliminate secondhand smoke exposure," said Brian King, Ph.D., an epidemiologist with CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and co-author of the report. "People who spend time in, pass by, clean, or work near these rooms are at risk of exposure to secondhand smoke."
Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and is a known cause of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS, respiratory problems, ear infections, and asthma attacks in infants and children. Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger acute cardiac events such as heart attack. Cigarette use kills an estimated 443,000 Americans each year, including 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke.
For an online version of this MMWR report, visit http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr. For quitting assistance, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) or visit www.smokefree.gov
. Also, visit www.BeTobaccoFree.gov for information on quitting and preventing children from using tobacco. For real stories of people who have quit successfully, visit http://www.cdc.gov/tips. For state-specific tobacco-related data, visit CDC's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statesystem.Read More About "Secondhand" Environmental Smoke
Apr 23, 2011
"Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure causes lung cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in nonsmoking adults and children, resulting in an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths ...
Feb 20, 2008
An Atlantic City NJ casino card dealer employed at the Claridge Hotel who was exposed to second hand tobacco smoke was awarded workers' compensation benefits. NJ Judge Cosmo Giovinazzi award $150,00 for lost ...
Nov 14, 2012
"Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure causes lung cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in nonsmoking adults and children, resulting in an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths .
Oct 06, 2011
Lubick (2011) discussed the global health burden of secondhand smoke, and Burton (2011)emphasized a new and alarming consequence of smoking in indoor environments—“thirdhand smoke”—a term first coined in 2006 ...
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Casino Employee in NJ Wins Cancer Suit for Second-Hand Smoke Forecasting a New Wave in Litigation
An Atlantic City NJ casino card dealer employed at the Claridge Hotel who was exposed to second hand tobacco smoke was awarded workers' compensation benefits. NJ Judge Cosmo Giovinazzi awarded $150,00 for lost wages and medical benefits to a card dealer holding that second-hand tobacco smoke materially contributed to the employee's lung cancer.
Environmental tobacco smoke has long been associated with lung cancer. A survey of London casino workers indicated that most wanted their environments should be smoke-free. A recently published study by researchers at the University of Nevada revealed that casino floor workers are exposed to four times more tobacco smoke tham amy other workers increasing their risk of cradiovascular disease and lung cancer. Ventilation does not eliminate the poisonous toxins and chimcal components of secondhand smoking.
In The History of the War on Cancer , authored by Devra Davis, in a recent speech broadcast on Book-TV, expresses the urgent need for the removal of carcinogens, inluding tobacco, from the workplace and indicates the need to eliminate the causes.
The Surgeon General of the United States has stated two major observations:
"For the majority of American workers who smoke, cigarette smoking represents a greater cause of death and disability than their work environment." U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. The Health Consequences of Smoking. A Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1985 at p. 11.
"In those worksites where well-established disease outcomes occur, smoking control and reduction in exposure to hazardous agents are effective, compatible, and occasionally synergistic approaches to the reduction of disease for the individual worker ..." However, "asbestos exposure can increase the risk of developing lung cancer in both cigarette smokers and non-smokers." Id. at p. 13.
"Cigarette smoking is a major cause of cancer of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, and esophagus and is a contributory factor for cancer of the kidney, urinary bladder, and pancreas. These cancers will cause 278,700 of the estimated 910,000 new cancer cases in the United States during 1985 (ACS 1985), or 30.6 percent of the cancers occurring in the United States other than skin cancer. Exposures to agents in the workplace other than cigarette smoke will also cause some of these new cancers, and a number of cancers will result from the combined effects of cigarette smoking and carcinogenic exposures in the workplace." Id. at p. 101.
Approximately 30 percent of indoor workers in the United States are not covered by smoke-free workplace policies. Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.
Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic (cancer-causing), including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide. Secondhand smoke has been designated as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has concluded the secondhand smoke is an occupational carcinogen.
Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.
Conventional air cleaning systems can remove large particles, but not the smaller particles or gases found in secondhand smoke. Routine operation of a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the preeminent U.S. body on ventilation issues, has concluded that ventilation technology cannot be relied on to control health risks from secondhand smoke exposure. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006.
Already an area of new litigation is that of Suing the Smoker Next Door. Ironically, in a lawsuit against their neighbors, tenants allege that the common hallways of their NY apartment building smell like "a Las Vegas casino," jeopardizing the health of those who live and work in building.
Workers' Compensation has been the genius of many lawsuits and one could easily predict that a new wave of litigation will be third-party civl actions generated against building property owners and those who are responsible to maintain the premises including: management companies, co-op and condominium associations.
Environmental tobacco smoke has long been associated with lung cancer. A survey of London casino workers indicated that most wanted their environments should be smoke-free. A recently published study by researchers at the University of Nevada revealed that casino floor workers are exposed to four times more tobacco smoke tham amy other workers increasing their risk of cradiovascular disease and lung cancer. Ventilation does not eliminate the poisonous toxins and chimcal components of secondhand smoking.
In The History of the War on Cancer , authored by Devra Davis, in a recent speech broadcast on Book-TV, expresses the urgent need for the removal of carcinogens, inluding tobacco, from the workplace and indicates the need to eliminate the causes.
The Surgeon General of the United States has stated two major observations:
"For the majority of American workers who smoke, cigarette smoking represents a greater cause of death and disability than their work environment." U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. The Health Consequences of Smoking. A Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1985 at p. 11.
"In those worksites where well-established disease outcomes occur, smoking control and reduction in exposure to hazardous agents are effective, compatible, and occasionally synergistic approaches to the reduction of disease for the individual worker ..." However, "asbestos exposure can increase the risk of developing lung cancer in both cigarette smokers and non-smokers." Id. at p. 13.
"Cigarette smoking is a major cause of cancer of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, and esophagus and is a contributory factor for cancer of the kidney, urinary bladder, and pancreas. These cancers will cause 278,700 of the estimated 910,000 new cancer cases in the United States during 1985 (ACS 1985), or 30.6 percent of the cancers occurring in the United States other than skin cancer. Exposures to agents in the workplace other than cigarette smoke will also cause some of these new cancers, and a number of cancers will result from the combined effects of cigarette smoking and carcinogenic exposures in the workplace." Id. at p. 101.
Approximately 30 percent of indoor workers in the United States are not covered by smoke-free workplace policies. Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.
Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic (cancer-causing), including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide. Secondhand smoke has been designated as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has concluded the secondhand smoke is an occupational carcinogen.
Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.
Conventional air cleaning systems can remove large particles, but not the smaller particles or gases found in secondhand smoke. Routine operation of a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the preeminent U.S. body on ventilation issues, has concluded that ventilation technology cannot be relied on to control health risks from secondhand smoke exposure. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006.
Already an area of new litigation is that of Suing the Smoker Next Door. Ironically, in a lawsuit against their neighbors, tenants allege that the common hallways of their NY apartment building smell like "a Las Vegas casino," jeopardizing the health of those who live and work in building.
Workers' Compensation has been the genius of many lawsuits and one could easily predict that a new wave of litigation will be third-party civl actions generated against building property owners and those who are responsible to maintain the premises including: management companies, co-op and condominium associations.
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