Injuries and Occupational Safety

Author(s):  
Dawn N. Castillo ◽  
Timothy J. Pizatella ◽  
Nancy A. Stout

This chapter describes occupational injuries and their prevention. It describes in detail the causes of injuries and epidemiology of injuries. Occupational injuries are caused by acute exposure in the workplace to safety hazards, such as mechanical energy, electricity, chemicals, and ionizing radiation, or from the sudden lack of essential agents, such as oxygen or heat. This chapter describes the nature and the magnitude of occupational injuries in the United States. It provides data on risk of injuries in different occupations and industries. Finally, it discusses prevention of injuries, using a hierarchical approach to occupational injury control.

Author(s):  
Thomas A. Arcury ◽  
Taylor J. Arnold ◽  
Sara A. Quandt ◽  
Haiying Chen ◽  
Gregory D. Kearney ◽  
...  

Children as young as 10 years old are hired to work on farms in the United States (U.S.). These children are largely Latinx. Using interview data collected from 202 North Carolina Latinx child farmworkers in 2017, this analysis documents the heath characteristics and occupational injuries of Latinx child farmworkers and delineates characteristics associated with their health and occupational injuries. Latinx child farmworkers include girls (37.6%) and boys (62.4%), aged 10 to 17 years, with 17.8% being migrant farmworkers. Three-quarters reported receiving medical and dental care in the past year. Respiratory (15.8%) and vision (20.3%) problems were prevalent. Girls more than boys, and younger more than older children had greater health service utilization. Occupational injuries were common, with 26.2% reporting a traumatic injury, 44.1% a dermatological injury, 42.6% a musculoskeletal injury, and 45.5% heat-related illness in the past year. Age increased the odds of reporting work injuries and heat-related illness, and being a non-migrant reduced the odds of reporting work injuries. These results emphasize the need for greater documentation of child farmworker occupational health and safety. They underscore the need to change occupational safety policy to ensure that children working in agriculture have the same protections as those working in all other U.S. industries.


Author(s):  
Devan Hawkins ◽  
Kevin Schott ◽  
Patricia MacCulloch ◽  
Laura Punnett ◽  
David Kriebel

Author(s):  
Theodore F. Schoenborn

It is a pleasure to be here today to speak to you about the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which is landmark legislation by any measure applied to it. The Act applies to every employer affecting commerce in the United States and its territories which was not covered by other Federal occupational safety and health laws, such as the Metal and Non-metallic Mine Act, the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act and the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. By 1973 a study is to be completed containing recommendations for combining all Federal occupational safety and health programs. Paper published with permission.


Author(s):  
T. Mick ◽  
K. Means ◽  
J. Etherton ◽  
J. Powers ◽  
E. A. McKenzie

Between 1986 and 2002, there were 43 fatalities in the United States to operators of recycling industry balers. Of these fatalities, 29 involved horizontal balers that were baling paper and cardboard (Taylor, 2002). Balers often become jammed while the baling process is occurring, and the only way to remove the jam is manually. This requires an employee to place a limb of their body into the jamming area and remove the material that is causing the jam. While lockout and tagout procedures reduce the risk of hazardous energy being released, they can still be easily bypassed, ignored, or forgotten. Recent efforts to reduce machine-related injury and death involve the development of a control system for these machines that automatically detects hazardous operating conditions and responds accordingly. The system is being developed at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This system, JamAlert, automatically terminates the power to the machine when a jam is detected. JamAlert detects a jam by observing both the strain that is experienced by the shear bar of the baler and the hydraulic pressure at which the ram is operating. The strain that is experienced by the baler shear bar when a jam is initiated was calculated in this study through laboratory testing and finite element modeling. Design recommendations are presented on how best to tune the JamAlert’s operating program to most effectively control the jam-clearing hazard.


Author(s):  
Michael Needham

Why is the detection of radioactive sources important to the solid waste industry?: Radioactive material is used extensively in the United States in research, medicine, education, and industry for the benefit of society (e.g. smoke detectors, industrial process gauges, medical diagnosis/treatment). Generally speaking, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state governments regulate the use and disposal of radioactive materials. Licensed radioactive waste disposal facilities receive the bulk of the waste generated in the United States with exceptions for low-level waste (e.g. medical patient waste) that may be disposed of as municipal waste. According to the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc (CRCPD)., there has been an increasing number of incidence involving the detection of prohibited radioactive wastes at solid waste management facilities. While the CRCPD acknowledges that the increased incidence may be partially attributed to the growing number of solid waste facilities that have detection systems, undetected sources of ionizing radiation can harm the environment, have a negative impact on employee health and safety, and result in significant remedial actions. Implementing an effective detection/response plan can aid in the proper management of radioactive waste and serve to minimize the potential for negative outcomes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chensong Fei

In this paper, we firstly analyzed the categories and characteristics of safety hazards of genetically modified organisms. Then, we summarized and compared the laws on safety hazard compensation for genetically modified organisms in the United States, the European Union and China. Finally, suggestions were put forward to solve the existing problems in compensation laws in China so as to ensure the healthy and orderly development of China's genetically modified biological industry. 


1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEANNE B. HEWITT ◽  
PAMELA F. LEVIN

This integrative review of research on workplace violence in Canada and the United States showed that risk factors for homicide and nonfatal assault injuries differed significantly. In 1993, there were 1,063 work-related homicides in the United States (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994). Workplace homicide was the second leading cause of fatal occupational injuries overall, but the primary cause for women. The highest risk for workplace homicide was observed among males, the self-employed, and those employed in grocery stores, eating and drinking establishments, gas service stations, taxicab services, and government service, including law enforcement. The majority of workplace homicides occurred during robberies. Unlike workplace homicide, the majority of nonfatal assaults that involved lost work time occurred to women, primarily employed in health care or other service sector work. The assault rates for residential care and nursing and personal care workers were more than ten times that of private non-health care industries. Minimal intervention research has been reported. In recent years, some governmental agencies and professional organizations have begun to address policy issues related to workplace violence.


Geophysics ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 380-380
Author(s):  
Frank Searcy

The Williams‐Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 has placed new responsibilities on everyone involved in geophysical operations in the United States. This law applies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and territories under the jurisdiction of the United States. The declared congressional purpose of the act is “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources.”


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