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

Editor's Note: This is a response to "Why a Workplace Barrier Face Covering is a Bad Idea" by Mark Nicas. DOI: 10.1177/10482911231193771.

Workers in global supply chains face forced labour, hazardous working conditions, excessive overtime, violence, union busting, and other abuses. They may be cheated of wages and bonuses promised by recruiters or dismissed without due process. They need remedy and, in fact, have a right to an effective remedy, but remedy for business-related harms in global supply chains is rare. The Principles for Worker-Driven Remedy offer a framework for making remedy a reality for workers when their rights are violated and when they are harmed in global supply chains. Developed by Electronics Watch in consultation with trade unions, labour rights organizations, and public buyers, the Principles put affected workers at the heart of the remedy process. Electronics Watch will develop tools and procedures to help public buyers to use the Principles in supplier engagement, tenders, and contract management. We encourage companies and other organizations to adopt and adapt them to address harm to workers in supply chains.

California is home to a multibillion-dollar cannabis (marijuana) industry, but little is known about the occupational health and safety hazards faced by cannabis workers and even less of the stress, mental health, and coping mechanisms among these workers. Previous research has been based on long-term workers at legal businesses, but most California cannabis is produced and sold unlawfully. There are many seasonal workers whose experiences have not been studied. A qualitative study based on focus group discussions and key informant interviews was performed to understand cannabis workers' experiences, knowledge, and perceptions of occupational hazards. Participants reported sources of stress including production pressure and isolation, and mental health outcomes such as depression and mental fatigue. They described primarily maladaptive coping mechanisms. Unique characteristics of the cannabis industry, including criminalization and isolated, remote farms, make interventions challenging. However, policy approaches that involve community organizations could promote worker health.

Last May 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to restrict the production and use of a dangerous chemical called methylene chloride pursuant to its authority under the Toxic Substance Control Act-the first such measure since Congress significantly overhauled that law in 2016. Methylene chloride presents a variety of health and safety risks, particularly for workers in industries in which the chemical is still widely used. In support of the proposed rule, the EPA prepared a document called a cost-benefit analysis, which purports to evaluate the rule by calculating its net benefits-that is, the rule's likely benefits over and above its likely costs. Cost-benefit analysis has been the subject of substantial criticism in recent decades, and the Biden administration is pursuing significant reforms for how these analyses are performed. Together with my colleague Dr. Federico Holm, I submitted comments to the EPA criticizing the cost-benefit analysis for the proposed methylene chloride rule. In these comments, we criticize the agency for continuing to employ an overly formalistic approach to cost-benefit analysis, which both systematically undervalues the benefits of regulations and ignores impact issues like worker justice. We also criticize several specific aspects of the agency's analytical methodology, including its failure to follow the proposed reforms now being developed by the Biden administration.

The 1984 disaster in Bhopal, India caused much mortality and morbidity of a multisystemic nature in the exposed population. Heated scientific debates occurred about the spectrum of health effects, toxicology, and treatment. The national and transnational aspects of the disaster impeded scientific public health investigation. Some of them included the lack of accident-related and toxicological information, expertise, and funds to conduct investigations. Government agencies failed to coordinate with each other and use validated methods in epidemiological investigation. The complexity of the Bhopal crisis was underscored by the severe mortality and morbidity as well as its occurrence in a developing nation that had little experience in dealing with chemical disasters. Lessons to be learned from the disaster include the use of scientific investigative methods to facilitate clinical investigation, long-term monitoring, rehabilitation, and treatment of the gas victims.

Training can assist in overcoming gaps in disaster response. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Training Program (WTP) funds a network of nonprofit organizations, or grantees, that deliver peer-reviewed safety and health training curricula to workers across a variety of occupational sectors. Grantees' experiences providing training for recovery workers after numerous disasters show the following issues need to be addressed to better protect the safety and health of recovery workers: (1) regulations and guidance documents not sufficient to protect workers; (2) protecting responders' health and safety which is a core value; (3) improving communication between responders and communities to assist in decision-making and guiding safety and health planning; (4) partnerships critical for disaster response; and (5) greater attention to protecting communities disproportionately affected by disasters. This article provides insight into addressing these recurring issues and utilizes them as part of a continuous quality improvement process for disaster responders that may help to reduce responder injuries, illness, and death during future disasters.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic New York City home health aides continuously provided care, including to patients actively infected or recovering from COVID-19. Analyzing survey data from 1316 aides, we examined factors associated with perceptions of how well their employer prepared them for COVID-19 and their self-reported availability for work (did they "call out" more than usual). Organizational work environment and COVID-19-related supports were predominant predictors of self-reported perceptions of preparedness. Worker characteristics and COVID-19-related stressors were predominant predictors of self-reported availability. Mental distress, satisfaction with employer communications, and satisfaction with supervisor instructions were significantly associated with both outcomes. The study uniquely describes self-reported perceptions of preparedness and availability as two separate worker outcomes potentially modifiable by different interventions. Better public health emergency training and adequate protective equipment may increase aides' perceived preparedness; more household supports could facilitate their availability. More effective employer communications and mental health initiatives could potentially improve both outcomes. Industry collaboration and systemic changes in federal, state, and local policies should enhance intervention impacts.

Background: This register-based study provides a profile of work-related Covid-19 cases reported by physicians to the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority (NLIA). Methods: All the reports of work-related Covid-19 cases reported by a physician to the NLIAs Registry for Work-Related Diseases (RAS) between February 2020 and February 2022 were included. Descriptive statistics and the incidence rate of reported cases were computed for age, gender, and occupation. Results: Two hundred and seventeen work-related Covid-19 cases were reported to RAS during the study period. Sixty-five percent of the cases were females (n = 141), and 35 percent (n = 76) were males. Doctors, nurses, and ambulance personnel yielded higher incidence rates than other healthcare and nonhealthcare occupations. Conclusions: This study indicates that women aged 25-39 and employed in the healthcare sector had the highest reported incidence and number of work-related Covid-19 cases. Physician underreporting of work-related Covid-19 cases is an important finding. Plausibly, underreporting is more substantial for at-risk non-healthcare occupations such as waiters, bartenders, food couriers, and taxi drivers than occupations in healthcare.

On July 20, 2023 a letter was sent to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requesting the agency's Healthcare Infection Control Practice Advisory Committee seek input from more stakeholders and the public, recognize the importance of infectious disease transmission by inhalation of human-generated aerosols, and ensure the application of interventions from all levels of the control hierarchy.

In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), became law, with one component being an investment to clean-up Superfund and Brownfield sites. Through BIL funding, the Environmental Protection Agency announced $3.5 billion to clean-up Superfund sites that have been awaiting funding for years in mostly historically underserved communities. As in many states, the 3 Superfund sites used as examples in this essay are in a metropolitan or surrounding area and in residential communities. The photos in this essay help highlight how hazardous waste sites have come to look like normal industrial sites and that communities are often unaware of the dangerous exposures they face. The author suggests that in the age of social media, taking pictures and documentation of hazardous waste sites today in our communities can help mobilize public awareness and drive action to be taken toward delayed clean-up.