New Solutions-A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy最新文献

In 1987 Landrigan and Markowitz co-authored a report entitled "Occupational Disease in New York State." They found that death and illness from occupational disease were common and that the costs of exposure to hazardous conditions warranted public funding for new occupational health infrastructure in New York State. A recent confirmatory report recognized a wider spectrum of contemporary hazards and emphasized how public health problems connect to work. These reports provide factual snapshots at 2 points in time, but they do not explain nor analyze the changing conditions they describe. Including macro-contexts such as globalization, financialization, and neoliberalism, this article demonstrates several unique occupational safety and health implications by clarifying key themes related to the state's role, especially regulation and healthcare delivery systems. Conclusions directly tie the trajectory of occupational disease to workers' collective ability to confront and roll back neoliberalism while pushing occupational disease out of its medical/science silo.

Emergency medical service (EMS) personnel and firefighters (FFs) are first responders in dangerous and stressful situations. They experience high stress due to the nature of their jobs, which can affect their quality of life and various health dimensions. This study aimed to compare quality of life, job stress, and coping strategies in a sample of EMS personnel and FF employees in Iran. This cross-sectional study included 186 FFs and EMS, who were selected using a census sampling method. Our results showed that FFs had a better quality of life, lower perceived stress, and better coping skills than EMS. Individuals living in rural areas, government officials, and staff with regular work shifts also reported less perceived stress. Furthermore, our results indicated a negative and significant correlation between perceived stress and quality of life and a positive and significant correlation between stress management and quality of life in both groups. Given the inevitability of stress in EMS and FF jobs, policymakers need to take interventional measures to reduce anxiety and enhance the quality of life and work for these personnel. Occupational health policies in Iran generally follow the International Labor Organizational recommended standards, however, more attention to managerial interventions that reduce job demands and job stress combined with health promotion programs to improve coping are advised.

Workers' compensation systems aim to financially support injured workers. However, seeking compensation often leads to poorer physical and mental health outcomes. This review examines previous studies to investigate the relationship between workers' compensation and mental health and self-harm outcomes. A three-tiered search strategy across five databases identified studies that examined workers' compensation claims as an exposure or risk factor, with outcomes related to mental health, self-harm and suicidality. Nine full-text studies were included; however, heterogeneity limited generalizability. Most studies supported an association between pursuing compensation and poorer mental health and self-harm outcomes. Some studies attributed this to specific aspects of the system such as justice perception and navigation of the claims system. Findings suggest an association between workers' compensation and mental health or self-harm outcomes. Inconclusive findings highlight the need for further research. Understanding the psychiatric impacts of pursuing compensation is crucial to help formulate a more accessible compensation system.

The annual occupational doses for workers at the Ghana Research Reactor-1 facility were assessed for the period 2018-2021. The dose records of monitored staff were retrieved and analysis done for dose distribution and collective effective doses. Thermoluminiscent dosimeters were used to monitor the occupational exposures. The dosimeters were evaluated for the cumulative radiation dose levels using the Harshaw 6600 TLD reader system. Annual dose of 1.52 mSv/year was the maximum acquired by an individual. An annual average effective dose range of 0.20-1.36 mSv was determined for all workers. The annual total collective effective dose was established to be in the range of 0.40-10.08 man-Sv. The 20 mSv annual limit for occupational exposure was not exceeded for monitored workers. The assessment shows that the GHARR-1 facility, in terms of radiation health effects, is a favorable environment for workers since exposures are mostly below occupational exposure limit.

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries in the United States. Loss of life, injury, and illness estimates in the agriculture industry only measure a fraction of the total burden to society. The purpose of this review was to conduct a comprehensive scan of the peer-reviewed literature to catalog research that explores the burden of agricultural injury to synthesize what is currently known. In total, 116 full-text papers meeting eligibility criteria were reviewed. Publications documenting agricultural injury burden were scanned and observations were categorized using a priori themes previously identified by occupational safety and health researchers. Results from this review indicate the true burden of agricultural injury is more expansive and complex than previous narratives on injury burden would imply. Future research should consider policies that encourage the collection of more expansive injury burden data, as well as methods to incorporate them into standard injury surveillance efforts.

Ensuring the safety and health of workers in this country, who are employed at millions of workplaces that present a dizzying array of hazards, is daunting. Every day, workers are maimed or die from workplace injuries or occupational illnesses. Hence, government agencies must use all available means to ensure the laws intended to keep workers safe and healthy in their workplaces are maximally effective in accomplishing that purpose. This paper addresses this challenge through the lens of strategic enforcement. It examines how federal and state authority are designed to interact to ensure worker protection in this space, and focuses on what tools for deterring violations - many unrecognized or underutilized by worker safety agencies - are available to leverage the limited resources that inevitably constrain the agencies' reach. The forthcoming Part II will, among other things, showcase a number of noteworthy state and local initiatives that exceed the federal standard.

Background: This study, using a nationally representative dataset of the U.S. workforce, examines how punitive workplace drug policies relate to opioid use/misuse and psychological distress. Methods: The sample included adults aged ≥18 years who participated in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and were employed in 2020. Hierarchical multivariate logistical models were constructed to address the research questions. Results: The weighted, design-based estimates indicate that of 147 831 081 workers, 3.38% reported misusing opioids in the last 12 months. Having a punitive workplace policy was associated with higher rates of opioid use/misuse among workers aged ≤ 34 compared to their same-aged counterparts in nonpunitive workplaces, and among workers identifying as Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color who also experienced severe psychological distress the past year. Conclusion: Some employers may think drug testing policies are net-beneficial to worker well-being; these findings indicate such policies may interact in harmful ways with psychological distress.

In part one, we reported on some of the shocking working conditions that the Electronics Watch team found on our visit to cobalt mines in the DRC. Now, we look at the vested interests in Congolese politics, the mining industry, the Congolese government's desire to regulate the cobalt supply chain, and what else might be done to improve conditions.

Electronics Watch travelled to Kolwezi in the province of Lualaba, in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two worlds live side by side here, without ever crossing paths. On the one hand, the world of industrial mines, with their huge machines. On the other, the tens of thousands of "diggers" in small-scale artisanal mines, armed with a simple crowbar to exploit a mineral vein, in extremely dangerous conditions. The DRC alone has 80% of the world's cobalt stocks needed to manufacture batteries to serve the demand for electric vehicles, and no less than 30% of this stock is mined in an artisanal way. One to two million Congolese people depend on this production directly or indirectly, while world demand is booming.