Despite many advances, 20 American workers die each day as a result of occupational injuries. And occupational safety and health (OSH) is becoming even more complex as workers move away from the long-term, fixed-site, employer relationship. This book looks at worker safety in the changing workplace and the challenge of ensuring a supply of top-notch OSH professionals. Recommendations are addressed to federal and state agencies, OSH organizations, educational institutions, employers, unions, and other stakeholders. The committee reviews trends in workforce demographics, the nature of work in the information age, globalization of work, and the revolution in health care deliveryâ€"exploring the implications for OSH education and training in the decade ahead. The core professions of OSH (occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and occupational medicine and nursing) and key related roles (employee assistance professional, ergonomist, and occupational health psychologist) are profiled-how many people are in the field, where they work, and what they do. The book reviews in detail the education, training, and education grants available to OSH professionals from public and private sources.

Before effective treatments were introduced in the 1950s, tuberculosis was a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Health care workers were at particular risk. Although the occupational risk of tuberculosis has been declining in recent years, this new book from the Institute of Medicine concludes that vigilance in tuberculosis control is still needed in workplaces and communities. Tuberculosis in the Workplace reviews evidence about the effectiveness of control measuresâ€"such as those recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionâ€"intended to prevent transmission of tuberculosis in health care and other workplaces. It discusses whether proposed regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would likely increase or sustain compliance with effective control measures and would allow adequate flexibility to adapt measures to the degree of risk facing workers.

The workplace is where 156 million working adults in the United States spend many waking hours, and it has a profound influence on health and well-being. Although some occupations and work-related activities are more hazardous than others and face higher rates of injuries, illness, disease, and fatalities, workers in all occupations face some form of work-related safety and health concerns. Understanding those risks to prevent injury, illness, or even fatal incidents is an important function of society. Occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance provides the data and analyses needed to understand the relationships between work and injuries and illnesses in order to improve worker safety and health and prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. Information about the circumstances in which workers are injured or made ill on the job and how these patterns change over time is essential to develop effective prevention programs and target future research. The nation needs a robust OSH surveillance system to provide this critical information for informing policy development, guiding educational and regulatory activities, developing safer technologies, and enabling research and prevention strategies that serves and protects all workers. A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of OSH surveillance. This report is intended to be useful to federal and state agencies that have an interest in occupational safety and health, but may also be of interest broadly to employers, labor unions and other worker advocacy organizations, the workers' compensation insurance industry, as well as state epidemiologists, academic researchers, and the broader public health community. The recommendations address the strengths and weaknesses of the envisioned system relative to the status quo and both short- and long-term actions and strategies needed to bring about a progressive evolution of the current system.

A quick, easy-to-consult source of practical overviews on wide-ranging issues of concern for those responsible for the health and safety of workers This new and completely revised edition of the popular Handbook is an ideal, go-to resource for those who need to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and control conditions that can cause injury or illness to employees in the workplace. Devised as a “how-to” guide, it offers a mix of theory and practice while adding new and timely topics to its core chapters, including prevention by design, product stewardship, statistics for safety and health, safety and health management systems, safety and health management of international operations, and EHS auditing. The new edition of Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health has been rearranged into topic sections to better categorize the flow of the chapters. Starting with a general introduction on management, it works its way up from recognition of hazards to safety evaluations and risk assessment. It continues on the health side beginning with chemical agents and ending with medical surveillance. The book also offers sections covering normal control practices, physical hazards, and management approaches (which focuses on legal issues and workers compensation). Features new chapters on current developments like management systems, prevention by design, and statistics for safety and health Written by a number of pioneers in the safety and health field Offers fast overviews that enable individuals not formally trained in occupational safety to quickly get up to speed Presents many chapters in a "how-to" format Featuring contributions from numerous experts in the field, Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health, 3rd Edition is an excellent tool for promoting and maintaining the physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations and is important to a company’s financial, moral, and legal welfare.