Concept:

The workplace should not expose workers to environments with preventable hazards.  The work site should foster a healthy life style.

Key Words:

Work site, occupation, environment, hygiene, hygienists, engineers, Material Safety Data Sheets, Threshold Limiting Values, Personal Protective Equipment, toxicology, safety.

Objectives

of this presentation is to provide you with an overview of the function, and scope of work of the Occupational Medicine physician and the Industrial Hygienist.  The two professions complement each other in ensuring a safe workplace for employees.

Issues

Review the historical data provided in the first session of this course to examine how long worker's health has been a concern of health professionals.

First review Slide presentations from Dr Compton. (pdf Version)
The Occupational Health Program (discussion of basic elements of an OH program)
Disability Cost/Benefits (the value of having the OH program manage the disability benefits program

Also investigate the following Web Sites to look at information that would be useful in counseling workers about options if disabled as well as general Occupational Med reference information.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (pay attention to the health issues)
Americans with Disabilities. (scan for main elements)
VCU's Work Support Page (what is the purpose of this program?)
Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics
ACOEM (American College of Occupational Environmental Medicine)

The following web sites also provide important information  related to occupational health & industrial hygiene

NIOSH (there are excellent fellowship opportunities at this site)
        Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (What is the purpose of the guide?)
Health Hazard Evaluations (be prepared to define a health hazard)
OSHA  (Occupational Safety & Health Administration)
ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists)
OH/IH Web sites

Then review the Slides provided by Dr. Vance.  Dr Vance's slides as PDF File.  Examine the Links to web sites provided by Dr. Vance and be prepared to discuss current occupational health issues.

Then look at the Primer on Carcinogenesis as an introduction to the issue of chemical effects in  the workplace.

The following short pieces should stimulate some thoughts about Asbestos as a carcinogen. 
What types of cancer does it cause?
How much exposure is needed to obtain an effect?

1) This first article was one of the first cohort studies in the US.
This set of articles started to concerns following WW!! and became an issue in the 1950s

Although a number of epidemiologists cautioned that more data was need following the media 'feeding frenzy' it was not until a further review 20_years later when some of the news media harassment died down.

2) The look at the table from Selikoff's original study and consider what this tells you about the comparative dangers of asbestos exposure and smoking.

3) Then review the short summary  and the indicators for Health Effects Monitoring using the preceding as an example of an issues needing such monitoring.

4) Finally try and get a feel for what parts per million, billion and trillion mean when this kind of data is quoted by the EPA and activists.

Bookmarks for Lecture