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20 results for future of work

Work-family Conflict, Sleep, and the Heart

  Health care workers represent an increasingly important and ever growing work force in our society. They are also a group of “high-risk workers” meaning they report a lot of musculoskeletal pain, work-related injuries and sleep deficiencies. In addition to this, many health care workers labor in rotating shifts, with little time in-between shifts, so

Posted on by Orfeu M. Buxton, PhD and Henrik Jacobsen, PhD 7 Comments

Protecting Workers from Ebola: Eight Knowledge Generation Priorities

  On November 3, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academies convened a workshop of distinguished representatives from the public and private sectors.   The participants were asked to suggest priorities for research that will “provide public health officials, healthcare providers, and the general public with the most up-to-date information

Posted on by John Howard, MD; Margaret Kitt, MD; Maryann D’Alessandro, PhD; Lisa Delaney, MS, CIH; Chad Dowell MS, CIH13 Comments

Keeping the Momentum Going for Total Worker Health

Earlier this month NIOSH hosted the  1st International Symposium to Advance Total Worker HealthTM together with 17 other partners. The symposium was a tremendous success. The over 350 attendees were able to learn from the perspectives of over 100 presenters from within the United States and other countries representing nonprofit, private, government, and academic institutions,

Posted on by Heidi Hudson, MPH and Michelle Lee, BA, CWWS5 Comments

Can Predictive Analytics Help Reduce Workplace Risk?

“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” — Niels Bohr   Text message to chemical plant manager: Chlorine leak expected on line 2 tomorrow. Inspect and repair. High priority email and automatic call to coal mine superintendent: 83% chance of roof fall on section 4. Evacuate immediately and take corrective actions. Monthly

Posted on by Gregory R. Wagner, M.D.29 Comments

Reports of Worker Fatalities during Flowback Operations

Although worker safety hazards in the oil and gas extraction industry are well known, there is very little published data regarding occupational health hazards (e.g., types and magnitude of risks for chemical exposures) during oil and gas extraction operations. To address the lack of information, NIOSH requests assistance from oil and gas stakeholders in further

Posted on by John Snawder, Ph.D, DABT; Eric Esswein, MSPH, CIH; Bradley King, MPH, CIH; Michael Breitenstein, BS; Marissa Alexander-Scott, DVM, MS, MPH; Kyla Retzer, MPH; Max Kiefer, MS,CIH and Ryan Hill, MPH. 27 Comments

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

Posted on by Tanya Headley, MS and Katie Shahan, JD4 Comments

World Cancer Day – Cancer Detectives in the Workplace

Today is World Cancer Day. Around the world, 12.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year, and the number is expected to increase due to the growth and aging of the population, as well as reductions in childhood mortality and deaths from infectious diseases in developing countries (ACS 2011). Cancer is the leading cause

Posted on by Mary K. Schubauer-Berigan, Ph.D.; Tania Carreόn-Valencia, Ph.D.; Avima M. Ruder, Ph.D.; Lynne E. Pinkerton, M.D., M.P.H.8 Comments

Persistent Pain in the Neck! What Resources Help you Prevent MSDs in the Workplace?

Repetitive tasks, awkward postures, twisting and turning, or forceful exertions at work are often associated with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as neck or back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, or tendinitis. These are disorders or injuries that affect muscles, tendons, nerves, discs, ligaments, etc. They remain a leading work-related condition. About 30% of all injuries and

Posted on by Tom Slavin, Kristine Krajnak, Brian D. Lowe, Thais C. Morata 16 Comments

The Importance of Occupational Safety and Health: Making for a “Super” Workplace

There’s just something about superhero movie summer releases that gets us here at NIOSH excited about safety. This summer the source of our inspiration came from the Man of Steel© movie. In the film, pre-Superman Clark Kent is working as a commercial fisherman (a hazardous job if you’re not a man of steel). He risks

Posted on by Jaclyn Krah, MA; Richard L. Unger 29 Comments

NIOSH HPD Well-Fit™: The Future is Fit-Testing

Today is Save Your Hearing Day.  For workers and others who are exposed to dangerously loud noises which cannot be reduced or eliminated, hearing protection devices (HPDs) are absolutely necessary to save their hearing.  But if HPDs are not properly selected or correctly worn, the devices may not block out enough noise and the wearer

Posted on by Captain William J. Murphy, Ph.D.; Dr. Mark R. Stephenson, Ph.D.; Captain David C. Byrne, M.S. CCC-A; Christa L. Themann, M.S. CCC-A 13 Comments

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY 2013

On Workers Memorial Day, we honor the men and women who suffered work-related injury, illness, and death, and we rededicate ourselves to the mission of preventing future tragedies.  Earning a day’s pay should not place anyone at risk of losing life or livelihood. Thanks to a concerted partnership of labor, industry, government, science, and public

Posted on by John Howard, MD14 Comments

Work-Related Amputations: Who’s Counting?

Knowing how many, who and where injuries or disease are occurring is a basic premise of preventing injuries and illnesses. If we don’t have accurate information on injury/illness occurrence, we don’t know how many resources to devote, what action(s) to take or whether the action we do take is effective. New findings from Michigan State

Posted on by Kenneth D. Rosenman M.D. 11 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.

Posted on by Claire Caruso, PhD, RN, and Roger R Rosa, PhD79 Comments

A Comprehensive Approach to Workforce Health

“Traditional” occupational hazards and personal characteristics and conditions, such as age, gender, genetics, or weight, are typically considered separately in the workplace. However, most of the diseases and health conditions experienced by workers are influenced by multiple factors. NIOSH authors provide a framework for considering the health of working people in a comprehensive manner.

Posted on by Paul Schulte, PhD, and Sudha P. Pandalai, MD, PhD14 CommentsTags

Workers Memorial Day 2011

Work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths have devastating consequences. This terrible toll is perhaps most visible to the general public in the aftermath of large-scale disasters that claim multiple lives. Workers Memorial Day, April 28, reminds us that the tragedies of work-related death, disability, impairment, and pain also occur, and indeed more commonly occur, outside the

Posted on by John Howard, MD9 Comments

Strains, Sprains, and Pains in Home Healthcare: Working in an Uncontrolled Environment

Home healthcare providers face an uncontrolled environment with each residence they enter. The most prevelant occupational injuries among them are strains and sprains. However, workers and employers can do many things to improve conditions and reduce injuries.

Posted on by Traci Galinsky, PhD, and Garrett Burnett, MS, MBA54 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.

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.

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

H1N1: Protecting Healthcare Workers

As of July 31, 2009, there were 162,380 documented cases of human infection with H1N1 throughout the world, including the United States. As of August 6, 2009, there were 6,506 hospitalized cases and 436 deaths in the U.S. From the time of its emergence earlier this year, H1N1 has prompted a concerted response from health agencies.

Posted on by Maryann D'Alessandro, PhD, and Ed Fries54 Comments

The “No Fit Test” Respirator Research Workshop

NIOSH is hosting the “No Fit Test” Respirator Research Workshop on November 6, 2008. The workshop aims to examine how the latest material technology (shape-changing polymers, adhesives, etc.) may be leveraged to improve current and future respirator designs including the long-term possibility of moving away from current fit-testing requirements, while preserving user protection.

Posted on by Ed Fries and Ron Shaffer, PhD24 CommentsTags ,