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A Voice in the Wilderness: Alice Hamilton and the Illinois Survey

Today, on Workers Memorial Day we remember those who died from work-related causes and take stock of what we still need to accomplish to reduce the toll of workplace injury, disease, and death. As we do this, it may be helpful to look back at how far we have come and remember one woman in Read More >

Posted on by Leslie Nickels, PhD, MEd8 Comments
Categories History, Lead, Manufacturing, Safety and Health Data

Coccidioidomycosis: An Enduring Work-Related Disease

Background Coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley Fever, is a disease caused by the fungus Coccidioides. The fungus grows in the soil in very dry areas. Coccidioidomycosis is endemic (native and common) in the southwestern United States, the Central Valley of California, Mexico, and parts of Central and South America [CDC 2013a]. About 150,000 new infections Read More >

Posted on by Marie A. de Perio, MD; Gregory A. Burr, CIH10 Comments
Categories Agriculture, Construction, Emergency Response/Public Sector, Oil and Gas, Outdoor Work, Personal Protective Equipment, Respiratory Health

The History and Future of NIOSH Morgantown

To commemorate Workers Memorial Day, NIOSH is hosting a week of blogs with a new post each day ending on Monday, April 28th.  To start us off, we will highlight the past and look to the future with a retrospective on the history of occupational safety and health research and NIOSH in Morgantown, West Virginia. Occupational Read More >

Posted on by Tanya Headley, MS and Katie Shahan, JD4 Comments
Categories History, Policy and Programs

So How Accurate Are These Smartphone Sound Measurement Apps?

NIOSH has released a free smartphone sound measurement app for iOS devices. For more info and to download the app,  see the NIOSH sound level meter app page .  Please share your comments on the related NIOSH science blog post.  As of June 2013, 60% of all mobile subscribers use smartphones—that’s more than 140 million devices. Read More >

Posted on by Chucri A. Kardous, MS, PE and Peter B. Shaw, Ph.D. 211 Comments
Categories Hearing Loss, Technology

Do We Need to Challenge Respirator Filters With Biological Aerosols?

The purpose of this NIOSH Science Blog is to explain what is currently known about an important aspect of respirator filtration.  For decades, respirator researchers have been asked whether filters need to be tested with aerosols similar to those encountered in the environment (Figure 1).  Common sense suggests that viruses or bacteria are collected differently Read More >

Posted on by Lisa M. Brosseau, ScD, CIH and Ronald Shaffer, PhD 8 Comments
Categories Personal Protective Equipment, Respirators, Respiratory Health