Documents plant health organization 73 results

"To control silicosis, we need to understand how change happens in occupational health. Science alone does not drive policy, because we have known the causes of silicosis, and how to prevent it for decades, yet the disease persists. To control occupational disease, we need to enter the social realm of work. To investigate the determinants of a successful silicosis control program, we wrote a social history of the Vermont Granite Industry from 1938 to 1960, examining union journals, newspapers, industry journals, scientific literature and government documents, and interviewing key informants. The crucial factor of the successful program was a strong public health movement to control tuberculosis, rather than pressure to control the occupational disease. Using this lesson, to protect workers from silica exposure now, we chose to regulate silica under an environmental law, the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act. Science is but one small factor, necessary but insufficient, in policy change. We in occupational health need to hitch onto a stronger movement, currently the environmental movement. Where unions are too weak to demand safe technologies, we need to learn to speak the language of employers, because they may have little idea of the costs of interventions. We need to gather more economic information about the costs of interventions."

"An exploratory study of seventy-four women uranium workers employed in the western United States (miners, millers, truck haulers, and office workers) was conducted. These uranium industry workers were employed primarily during the 1970s and 1980s. It was found that approximately 60 percent perceived overall moderate to high levels of dust during their employment, and about 50 percent reported the likelihood of having past, present, or future health problems related to their uranium work. Two of the most-often-identified health problems were respiratory symptoms or illnesses and cancer. Issues regarding public policy, research, and worker rights are discussed. "

"This booklet aims at raising awareness for employers and worker representatives of work-related stress in developing countries. Work-related stress is an issue of growing concern in developing countries due to processes of globalization and the changing nature of work. Raising awareness at an early stage seems all the more important because work-related stress is also a problem which is far from being resolved in developed and industrialized countries. Traditionally, the focus of Occupational Health and Safety initiatives is on chemical, biological and physical exposures, while the psychosocial risks at work are still largely neglected and their causes and consequences still insufficiently understood as they pertain to the developing country context. The current division between working conditions and the (physical) work environment makes the inclusion of the psychosocial risks at work harder to identify by most of the Occupational Health and Safety professionals."