Category: Manufacturing

U.S. Businesses Start and Stay Smaller

Next week is National Small Business Week. Recent research finds that U.S. businesses are starting smaller and staying smaller than in decades past. What are the implications for occupational safety and health? Read More >

Posted on by Raymond Sinclair, Ph.D.9 Comments

NIOSH Research on Work Schedules and Work-related Sleep Loss

Yesterday, in honor of National Sleep Awareness Week, we blogged about sleep and work and the risks to workers, employers, and the public when workers’ hours and shifts do not allow for adequate sleep.   This blog provides a brief overview of some of the work that NIOSH intramural scientists are carrying out to better understand Read More >

Posted on by Claire Caruso, PhD, RN; Luenda Charles, PhD; Tina Lawson, PhD; Akinori Nakata, PhD; Karl Sieber, PhD; Sudha Pandalai, MD, PhD; and Ted Hitchcock, PhD28 Comments

Sleep and Work

Sleep is a vital biological function and many Americans don’t get enough. To coincide with National Sleep Awareness Week, the new NIOSH blog post: Sleep and Work summarizes the risks to workers, employers and the public when long hours and irregular shifts required by many jobs do not allow workers to get adequate sleep. Read More >

Posted on by Claire Caruso, PhD, RN, and Roger R Rosa, PhD80 Comments

Buy Quiet

Quieter tools and machines lead to decreased hearing loss among the workers who use them. So why aren't companies "buying quiet"? Read more about the challenges in this area and what NIOSH is doing to make it easier to "buy quiet."  Read More >

Posted on by Heidi Hudson, MPH, and Chuck Hayden, MS, PE26 CommentsTags

Prevention through Design Standard

A new ANSI/ASSE Prevention through Design standard provides guidance on how to avoid, eliminate, reduce and control occupational safety and health hazards in the design and redesign process.  Read More >

Posted on by Donna S. Heidel, CIH20 Comments

Keeping Workers Hydrated and Cool Despite the Heat

Many areas of the country have been experiencing extreme temperatures this summer, and sadly the news has been full of stories about the lives lost due to heat stroke.  Read More >

Posted on by Brenda Jacklitsch, MS38 Comments

Low-dose CT Scans and Lung Cancer Screening in the Occupational Setting

Lung cancer mortality is high and better survival prognosis for early stage cases makes early detection an appealing public health strategy. For years studies have been conducted to find an effective screening method; the NLST is the first randomized trial to show a significant reduction in mortality from lung cancer with low-dose CT screening.  Read More >

Posted on by Simone Tramma, MD, MS; Eileen Storey, MD, MPH; Douglas B. Trout, MD, MHS; Marie Haring Sweeney, PhD, MPH11 Comments

Helical CT Scans and Lung Cancer Screening

New research has revealed that a relatively new form of screening using helical computerized tomography (CT) may result in fewer lung cancer deaths. This finding is of interest to the occupational safety and health community to potentially improve cancer screening among workers with increased risk for lung cancer because of past occupational exposures. Read More >

Posted on by Simone Tramma, MD, MS; Eileen Storey, MD, MPH; Douglas B. Trout, MD, MHS; Marie Haring Sweeney, PhD, MPH4 Comments

The Effectiveness of Workplace Training

In light of the costs and time involved with safety and health training, businesses want to know whether training can meet the goals of decreasing workplace injuries and illness, and whether the cost of training programs can be justified. Researchers, training providers, labor, and management should continue to work together to advance the knowledge of effective practices in education and training. Read More >

Posted on by Carol Merry Stephenson, PhD38 Comments

Workplace Hearing Loss

It is estimated that over 22 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise on the job and an additional nine million are at risk for hearing loss from other agents such as solvents and metals. Read more about a new surveillance program and provide input on future efforts to prevent hearing loss in the workplace.  Read More >

Posted on by Captain William Murphy, PhD, and SangWoo Tak, ScD, MPH34 CommentsTags

The Business Case for Safety and Health

NIOSH has partnered with the Williams College of Business at Xavier University and the National Safety Council to offer a new course to MBA students titled "Business Value of Safety and Health." The course teaches the next generation of executives the advantages of implementing occupational and environmental health and safety programs. Read More >

Posted on by Steve Wurzelbacher, PhD, CPE, Ginny Frings, PhD, Mei-Li Lin, PhD15 Comments

NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Program

Dose reconstruction is a scientifically complex process. In fact, the entire Compensation Program involves many challenging issues—many of them outside the realm of science. The NIOSH process has always been an open one. And, as always, we welcome comments and questions.  Read More >

Posted on by Larry Elliott31 Comments