Cover Caption: Construction site workers, by wal_172619 via Pixabay.
Cover Caption: Construction site workers, by wal_172619 via Pixabay.
Background: We describe long-term work participation of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) referred to Danish departments of occupational medicine and compare to patients with contact dermatitis.
Methods: One thousand seven hundred and sixty CTS-patients were included in this register-based nationwide longitudinal follow-up study and compared to 3158 contact dermatitis patients. We extracted register data on public benefits 5 years before and after assessment at a department of occupational medicine between 2000 and 2013. We defined a work participation score (WPS) as weeks where the patient was working divided by number of potential work weeks per year, dichotomized into low and high at the 75th percentile. We analyzed the risk of low WPS and of receiving permanent health-related public benefits during follow-up.
Results: Before assessment, both CTS and contact dermatitis patients had high work participation. In the follow-up period work participation decreased permanently for both patient groups. Comparing women with CTS to women with contact dermatitis, odds ratios (OR) of low WPS were 2.56 (2.11-3.11) and 1.68 (1.38-2.05) one and 5 years after assessment. For men, OR of low WPS were 2.01 (95% CI, 1.67-2.44) and 1.27 (95% CI, 1.04-1.56). ORs of receiving permanent health-related public benefits during follow-up were 2.10 (95% CI, 1.56-2.83) for men and 1.97 (95% CI, 1.54-2.54) for women with CTS compared to those with contact dermatitis.
Conclusions: Patients referred to Danish departments of occupational medicine due to CTS have increased risk of reduced long-term work participation and of receiving permanent health-related public benefits compared to patients referred due to contact dermatitis.
Background: Despite the composition of the United States' agricultural workforce and the sector's reliance on Spanish-speaking migrant labor, pesticide labels are largely available in English only. Currently, federal regulators are considering strategies to provide pesticide label information access in Spanish via a QR code or through other electronic methods on the pesticide container. Data on access to labels and the use of QR codes among agricultural workers are limited. We provide policy-relevant findings from surveys collected at a large agricultural worker H-2A visa arrival hub.
Methods: In April and May 2024, we verbally administered Spanish-language, in-person surveys in North Carolina (n = 160). We asked questions about pesticide use, access to labels, and QR code use as well as age, gender, and seasons worked in the United States.
Results: Descriptive analyses revealed approximately 60% of workers had not used a QR code. Among participants who had used pesticides and worked for two or more seasons (42%), approximately 30% reported not having access to the label on the container.
Conclusion: The survey findings show QR-code-based pesticide labels will reach a subset of workers, but substantial gaps will remain.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of adult death in the United States. Numerous studies show that night shift workers face a disproportionately higher risk of CVD compared to non-shift workers. Despite these data, the scientific and medical communities have not identified the physiological mechanisms that contribute to increased CVD risks for night shift workers. We propose that repetitive exposure to blunted blood pressure (BP) dipping associated with sleep loss during night shift work is an important, clinically meaningful, understudied, and modifiable contributor to increased risk of CVD. Blunted BP dipping occurs when BP fails to decrease or "dip" 10%-20% during nighttime hours (typically while sleeping) relative to daytime hours (typically while awake). Blunted BP dipping is widely considered a clinically meaningful indicator of poor cardiovascular health. Previous research suggests it is a common consequence of night shift work and occurs during sleep before and immediately after night shifts. Relatively few studies of shift work and CVD have focused on blunted BP dipping as a mechanism of CVD risk. Recent experimental research shows that restoration of normal BP patterns-during night shift work-is achievable with strategic napping and may reduce the risk of CVD. We present a series of important mechanistic-related questions and next steps for future research focused on blunted BP dipping and night shift work.
The construction industry has always been a large economic sector that is very hazardous to work in. Over the past 40 years there have been major improvements in safety and health practices driven by increased research and more rapid adoption of best practices, not just in the developed countries but also in emerging economies. This special issue aims to showcase a spectrum of perspectives from research to practice, about the current state of construction safety and health.
The transfer of innovation to practice is one of the fundamental challenges of efficient social advancement. Because of its structure, with mostly small employers with limited working capital and short-term thinking arising from working on time-limited projects, historically the construction industry has been a slow adopter of technological advances. Now it is faced with a barrage of new technologies that not only can help solve some of the most pressing occupational safety and health needs but at the same time also contribute to productivity improvements. To address this, we—and others—have been finding ways to bring together tech start-ups and their innovations with construction companies who are willing to put them to use. We present four examples to illustrate how this can be accomplished and discuss the lessons we have learned in doing so.
Objective: This study examines the incidence of injuries among active component service members in Military Working Dog (MWD) handler occupations compared to three other active component occupational groups.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted with a total of 2,524,092 active component service members including, 3935 MWD handlers, 2025 veterinary personnel, 113,413 military police, and 2,404,719 all other active component service members (ACSM). Incidence rate and incident rate ratios of injuries were determined.
Results: MWD handlers had the second highest rates of injuries (14,194.42 injuries per 10,000 p-yrs.) with veterinary personnel having the highest rate of injuries (17,320.11 injuries per 10,000 p-yrs.). Military police (11,521.71 injuries per 10,000 p-yrs.) and other ACSM (11,708.60 injuries per 10,000 p-yrs.) had similar incidence rates. Risk for injury was highest among women and older service members.
Conclusion: This study is among the first investigations into MWD handlers' occupational health outcomes. These results suggest the importance of continued MWD handler health assessment.
Background: Housecleaning work has been characterized as precarious employment with unstable work hours, arbitrary and low pay and benefits, and exposures to chemical, physical, and psychosocial stressors. Understanding how interpersonal power dynamics between workers and clients, a component of precarious work, contributes to work exposures can inform and improve prevention programs.
Methods: We used reflexive thematic analysis of data from seven focus groups with Latinx immigrant housecleaners in New York City to explore workers' experience of interpersonal power dynamics with their clients-whom they referred to as their "employers"-and its influences on working conditions.
Results: Employer direction and monitoring varied and mostly reduced workers' autonomy to choose products, sometimes leading workers to complete tasks in more hazardous ways. Housecleaners reported using larger quantities of products, products with stronger scents, and more physical exertion to increase the efficiency of their cleaning, to complete tasks quickly, and to please their clients. Allotted time, tasks, and pay were interconnected, often resulting in negative reports about health and well-being. As immigrants, they also experienced discrimination and intimidation, which compounded their anxiety due to their employment insecurity. Nevertheless, participants learned and navigated high variance in employers' cleaning preferences and attempted to take control over the conduct of their work, when possible, and sometimes expressed self-advocacy.
Conclusions: Housecleaners' precarious employment arrangements affect how they navigate interpersonal relationships with employers, which impairs their working conditions and occupational exposures. Improvements in labor and social protections, such as designing supportive policies and training for workers and employers, are needed to improve working conditions.
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