The Costs and Benefits of Occupational Safety and Health


Book Description




Tuberculosis in the Workplace


Book Description

Before effective treatments were introduced in the 1950s, tuberculosis was a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Health care workers were at particular risk. Although the occupational risk of tuberculosis has been declining in recent years, this new book from the Institute of Medicine concludes that vigilance in tuberculosis control is still needed in workplaces and communities. Tuberculosis in the Workplace reviews evidence about the effectiveness of control measuresâ€"such as those recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionâ€"intended to prevent transmission of tuberculosis in health care and other workplaces. It discusses whether proposed regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would likely increase or sustain compliance with effective control measures and would allow adequate flexibility to adapt measures to the degree of risk facing workers.




Safe Work in the 21st Century


Book Description

Despite many advances, 20 American workers die each day as a result of occupational injuries. And occupational safety and health (OSH) is becoming even more complex as workers move away from the long-term, fixed-site, employer relationship. This book looks at worker safety in the changing workplace and the challenge of ensuring a supply of top-notch OSH professionals. Recommendations are addressed to federal and state agencies, OSH organizations, educational institutions, employers, unions, and other stakeholders. The committee reviews trends in workforce demographics, the nature of work in the information age, globalization of work, and the revolution in health care deliveryâ€"exploring the implications for OSH education and training in the decade ahead. The core professions of OSH (occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and occupational medicine and nursing) and key related roles (employee assistance professional, ergonomist, and occupational health psychologist) are profiled-how many people are in the field, where they work, and what they do. The book reviews in detail the education, training, and education grants available to OSH professionals from public and private sources.




Costs of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses


Book Description

As the debate over health care reform continues, costs have become a critical measure in the many plans and proposals to come before us. Knowing costs is important because it allows comparisons across such disparate health conditions as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and cancer. This book presents the results of a major study estimating the large and largely overlooked costs of occupational injury and illness--costs as large as those for cancer and over four times the costs of AIDS. The incidence and mortality of occupational injury and illness were assessed by reviewing data from national surveys and applied an attributable-risk-proportion method. Costs were assessed using the human capital method that decomposes costs into direct categories such as medical costs and insurance administration expenses, as well as indirect categories such as lost earnings and lost fringe benefits. The total is estimated to be $155 billion and is likely to be low as it does not include costs associated with pain and suffering or of home care provided by family members. Invaluable as an aid in the analysis of policy issues, Costs of Occupational Injuryand Illness will serve as a resource and reference for economists, policy analysts, public health researchers, insurance administrators, labor unions and labor lawyers, benefits managers, and environmental scientists, among others. J. Paul Leigh is Professor in the School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of California, Davis. Stephen Markowitz, M.D., is Professor in the Department of Community Health and Social Medicine, City University of New York Medical School. Marianne Fahs is Director of the Health Policy Research Center, Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, New School University. Philip Landrigan, M.D., is Wise Professor and Chair of the Department of Community Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York.




Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health II


Book Description

This book explores a number of important issues in the area of occupational safety and hygiene. Presenting both research and best practices for the evaluation of occupational risk, safety and health in various types of industry, it particularly focuses on occupational safety in automated environments, innovative management systems and occupational safety in a global context. The different chapters examine the perspectives of all those involved, such as managers, workers and OSH professionals. Based on selected contributions presented at the 16th International Symposium on Occupational Safety and Hygiene (SHO 2020), held on 6–7 April, 2020, in Porto, Portugal, the book serves as a timely reference guide and source of inspiration to OSH researchers, practitioners and organizations operating in a global context.




Handbook of Socioeconomic Determinants of Occupational Health


Book Description

This anthology provides readers of scientific literature on socioeconomic factors and working conditions with the newest knowledge in this field. Since our world is subjected to constant change in accelerating speed, scientific reviews and updates are needed. Fortunately, research methodology in epidemiology, physiology, psychology and sociology is also developing rapidly and therefore the scientific community can provide politicians and policy makers with increasingly sophisticated and exact descriptions of societal factors in relation to work. The anthology starts in the macro level sphere – with international perspectives and reviews related to working conditions in relation to political change (the fall of the Soviet Union) gender, age, precarious employment, national economy and retirement. Two chapters relate to national policies and activities in international organizations. The second part of the book relates to the meso level sphere – with reviews on social patterns in distributions of psychosocial and physical risks at work in general as well as reviews on noise, shift work, under/overemployment, occupational physical activity, job intensity (which may be a particularly important problem in low income countries), digitization in modern work, climate change, childhood determinants of occupational health in adult years and theoretical models currently used in occupational epidemiology - demand/control, effort/reward, organizational justice, psychosocial safety climate, conflicts, bullying/harassment. This part of the book ends with two chapters on interventions (one chapter on the use of cultural interventions and one on interventions and their evaluation in general) and two chapters on financial aspects of poor/good work environments and evaluations of interventions. In the third part of the book the micro level is addressed. Here mechanisms translating working conditions into physiology are discussed. This starts in general theory relating basic theories regarding energy storage and release to psychosocial theory (extension of demand control theory). It also includes regeneration physiology, autonomic nervous system function, immunology and adverse behaviour. Sections in the Handbook: Macro-level determinants of occupational health: Akizumi Tsutsumi, Meso-level determinants of occupational health: Morten Wahrendorf and Jian Li, Micro-level determinants of occupational health: Bradley J. Wright




A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century


Book Description

The workplace is where 156 million working adults in the United States spend many waking hours, and it has a profound influence on health and well-being. Although some occupations and work-related activities are more hazardous than others and face higher rates of injuries, illness, disease, and fatalities, workers in all occupations face some form of work-related safety and health concerns. Understanding those risks to prevent injury, illness, or even fatal incidents is an important function of society. Occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance provides the data and analyses needed to understand the relationships between work and injuries and illnesses in order to improve worker safety and health and prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. Information about the circumstances in which workers are injured or made ill on the job and how these patterns change over time is essential to develop effective prevention programs and target future research. The nation needs a robust OSH surveillance system to provide this critical information for informing policy development, guiding educational and regulatory activities, developing safer technologies, and enabling research and prevention strategies that serves and protects all workers. A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of OSH surveillance. This report is intended to be useful to federal and state agencies that have an interest in occupational safety and health, but may also be of interest broadly to employers, labor unions and other worker advocacy organizations, the workers' compensation insurance industry, as well as state epidemiologists, academic researchers, and the broader public health community. The recommendations address the strengths and weaknesses of the envisioned system relative to the status quo and both short- and long-term actions and strategies needed to bring about a progressive evolution of the current system.




Economic Evaluation of Interventions for Occupational Health and Safety


Book Description

Undertaking economic evaluations of workplace-based occupational health and safety interventions can be difficult, reflected by the significant lack of literature, evidence and guidance on the subject. Particular difficulties include: complex labour legislation; differences in the perception of health risks associated with work experiences amongst workplace parties and policy makers; the burden of costs and consequences being borne by different stakeholders in the system; conflicting incentives and priorities between the multiple stakeholders; lack of consensus about what ought to count as a benefit or cost of intervening or not intervening; multiple providers of indemnity and medical care coverage; and industry-specific human resources practices making it difficult to identify all work-related illnesses and injuries. In addition, most health economics methods books are designed for use in a clinical setting, which cannot be adapted for the workplace setting. In the face of such barriers, it is not surprising that few studies of occupational health and safety interventions contain an economic evaluation. This book aims to lay the foundations for a systematic methodology of economic evaluation of workplace interventions, by identifying the main barriers to research of high quality and practical relevance, and proposing a research strategy to remedy these weaknesses. Context chapters provide a wealth of background material ranging from a presentation of the broad conceptualization of work and health, to suggestions for strategies in confronting the dearth of data often experienced by occupational health and safety researchers. They take into account the varying institutional and regulatory approaches in different international jurisdictions. Specific topic chapters delve into the principles and application of economic evaluation methods relevant to this setting: study design, type of analysis, costs, consequences, uncertainty, and equity are all covered, providing guidance on analytical and decision making challenges. The concluding chapter synthesizes the summaries, conclusions, challenges and recommendations from across the book, presenting these in a reference case.




Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers


Book Description

Mirroring a worldwide phenomenon in industrialized nations, the U.S. is experiencing a change in its demographic structure known as population aging. Concern about the aging population tends to focus on the adequacy of Medicare and Social Security, retirement of older Americans, and the need to identify policies, programs, and strategies that address the health and safety needs of older workers. Older workers differ from their younger counterparts in a variety of physical, psychological, and social factors. Evaluating the extent, causes, and effects of these factors and improving the research and data systems necessary to address the health and safety needs of older workers may significantly impact both their ability to remain in the workforce and their well being in retirement. Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers provides an image of what is currently known about the health and safety needs of older workers and the research needed to encourage social polices that guarantee older workers a meaningful share of the nation's work opportunities.




Priceless


Book Description

As clinical as it sounds to express the value of human lives, health, or the environment in cold dollars and cents, cost-benefit analysis requires it. More disturbingly, this approach is being embraced by a growing number of politicians and conservative pundits as the most reasonable way to make many policy decisions regarding public health and the environment. By systematically refuting the economic algorithms and illogical assumptions that cost-benefit analysts flaunt as fact, Priceless tells a ''gripping story about how solid science has been shoved to the backburner by bean counters with ideological blinders'' (In These Times). Ackerman and Heinzerling argue that decisions about health and safety should be made ''to reflect not economists' numbers, but democratic values, chosen on moral grounds. This is a vividly written book, punctuated by striking analogies, a good deal of outrage, and a nice dose of humor'' (Cass Sunstein, The New Republic). Essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of human health and environmental protection, Priceless ''shines a bright light on obstacles that stand in the way of good government decisions''.