ANNUAL REVIEWS
Further
Quick links to online content Annu. Rev. Public Health. 1990. 11:89-103
Annu. Rev. Public Health 1990.11:89-103. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Texas Christian University on 01/31/15. For personal use only.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IN THE 1990s1 David H. Wegman Department of Work Environment, College of Engineering, University of Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854
Lawrence 1. Fine Director, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226
Where have we come since the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed
in
1970?
Have we made progress in this country toward "safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women?" Many hazardous exposures that were prevalent before the creation of NIOSH, OSHA, and MSHA have been reduced. Exposure to asbestos, coal dust, silica, lead, and cotton dust are common examples. Through OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard and state Right to Know laws as well as an increase in the dissemination of information, the average employer and worker today is better informed of
specific hazards on the job, and more attentive to safety measures. However, the high toll
of work related disease and injuries continues today (17).
Introduction
Following World War II, improvements in the control of health risks associ ated with work led to a gratifying rate of reduction in some work-related problems such as uncontrolled or inadequately controlled asbestos exposure. In recent years there has been a continuing expansion of the knowledge concerning health risks at work and their control. This knowledge has resulted in part from expanded efforts directed at understanding work-related disease coupled with creative developments in engineering controls and the replace ment of some hazardous materials (e.g. asbestos and benzene). These developments have occurred in the context of new occupational health and safety laws, especially the Occupational Safety and Health Act 'The US Government has the right to retain a nonexclusive, royalty·free license in and to any copyright covering this paper.
89
Annu. Rev. Public Health 1990.11:89-103. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Texas Christian University on 01/31/15. For personal use only.
90
WEGMAN & FINE
(26) and the Federal Mine Health and Safety Act (8). A great deal of experience has been gained in the design of regulations and the implementa tion of enforcement efforts. With the assistance of the new federal commit ment, it is evident that implementation of controls based on the knowledge about risks has made today's work environments generally much safer places than at the close of World War II. Recently, particular attention has been paid to occupational injuries and accidental deaths. Adding to the new emphasis placed on injury prevention by the Center for Disease Control, special attention has been directed to the work setting (13, 20, 30, 36). Efforts are underway to record the continued toll of mortality and morbidity from workplace accidents and to analyze their causes. Calls have been issued for greatly improved commitment, action, and funds for their control. With attention already directed toward occupational injury control, the following review focuses on the remaining tasks in truly achiev ing occupational health for all in the 1990s.
Uneven Progress The rate of improvement in the identification and prevention of occupational disease has been uneven. During the 1980s, exposures to a number of common chemical and noise hazards still were found in excess of Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) (Table 1). These and a number of other hazards expose many workers and remain of concern. In addition to these known hazards, some materials and processes in use with established technologies have not yet been fully evaluated for public health impact. For example, in the 1980s we have seen the need to initiate a broad research program to examine cancer risks of electrical and magnetic fields. During the past five years, substantial funds were allocated by the states of New York and California and by the Electric Power Research Institute to investigate these problems. Re lated work has been undertaken in Canada and Europe. The lack of steady improvement in identification and prevention of occupa tional disease stems from the continuous but uneven introduction of new industrial processes, materials, and products since the industrial revolution. This pattern has been independently accompanied by an uneven and sub stantially lagged response in public health intervention. The lag results from a combination of the time needed to develop new scientific knowledge and time needed for society to determine that the new knowledge should lead to intervention. An examination of the current work environment calls attention to areas in which technology is having its greatest impact. For example, in the electron ics industry, a variety of potential hazards are associated with the use of a number of exotic chemicals. Recently, the newest semiconductor (gallium arsenide) was reported to be a suspect human carcinogen (23). Problems of new materials and new industrial developments are not limited to new in-
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Table 1
NOES estimates and OSHA sampling results for selected chemicals'
% >PELb
Chemical name
Annu. Rev. Public Health 1990.11:89-103. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Texas Christian University on 01/31/15. For personal use only.
91
% >.5 PEL
No. Samples
Full time
federal/state OSHA
exposure NOES II
2-Butanone (MEK)
4.4
10
3 199
Acetone
1.5
3
1965
170,338
Carbon black
12.8
32
282
205,443
Cotton dust
1 13,005
137,257
37.3
69
697
Copper
7.8
15
12035
46,481
Dichloromethane
5.5
11
1429
135,259
Petroleum distillates
1.6
3
2 174
41,509
2-Butoxy ethanol
0.3
Further
Quick links to online content Annu. Rev. Public Health. 1990. 11:89-103
Annu. Rev. Public Health 1990.11:89-103. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Texas Christian University on 01/31/15. For personal use only.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH IN THE 1990s1 David H. Wegman Department of Work Environment, College of Engineering, University of Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854
Lawrence 1. Fine Director, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226
Where have we come since the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed
in
1970?
Have we made progress in this country toward "safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women?" Many hazardous exposures that were prevalent before the creation of NIOSH, OSHA, and MSHA have been reduced. Exposure to asbestos, coal dust, silica, lead, and cotton dust are common examples. Through OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard and state Right to Know laws as well as an increase in the dissemination of information, the average employer and worker today is better informed of
specific hazards on the job, and more attentive to safety measures. However, the high toll
of work related disease and injuries continues today (17).
Introduction
Following World War II, improvements in the control of health risks associ ated with work led to a gratifying rate of reduction in some work-related problems such as uncontrolled or inadequately controlled asbestos exposure. In recent years there has been a continuing expansion of the knowledge concerning health risks at work and their control. This knowledge has resulted in part from expanded efforts directed at understanding work-related disease coupled with creative developments in engineering controls and the replace ment of some hazardous materials (e.g. asbestos and benzene). These developments have occurred in the context of new occupational health and safety laws, especially the Occupational Safety and Health Act 'The US Government has the right to retain a nonexclusive, royalty·free license in and to any copyright covering this paper.
89
Annu. Rev. Public Health 1990.11:89-103. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Texas Christian University on 01/31/15. For personal use only.
90
WEGMAN & FINE
(26) and the Federal Mine Health and Safety Act (8). A great deal of experience has been gained in the design of regulations and the implementa tion of enforcement efforts. With the assistance of the new federal commit ment, it is evident that implementation of controls based on the knowledge about risks has made today's work environments generally much safer places than at the close of World War II. Recently, particular attention has been paid to occupational injuries and accidental deaths. Adding to the new emphasis placed on injury prevention by the Center for Disease Control, special attention has been directed to the work setting (13, 20, 30, 36). Efforts are underway to record the continued toll of mortality and morbidity from workplace accidents and to analyze their causes. Calls have been issued for greatly improved commitment, action, and funds for their control. With attention already directed toward occupational injury control, the following review focuses on the remaining tasks in truly achiev ing occupational health for all in the 1990s.
Uneven Progress The rate of improvement in the identification and prevention of occupational disease has been uneven. During the 1980s, exposures to a number of common chemical and noise hazards still were found in excess of Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) (Table 1). These and a number of other hazards expose many workers and remain of concern. In addition to these known hazards, some materials and processes in use with established technologies have not yet been fully evaluated for public health impact. For example, in the 1980s we have seen the need to initiate a broad research program to examine cancer risks of electrical and magnetic fields. During the past five years, substantial funds were allocated by the states of New York and California and by the Electric Power Research Institute to investigate these problems. Re lated work has been undertaken in Canada and Europe. The lack of steady improvement in identification and prevention of occupa tional disease stems from the continuous but uneven introduction of new industrial processes, materials, and products since the industrial revolution. This pattern has been independently accompanied by an uneven and sub stantially lagged response in public health intervention. The lag results from a combination of the time needed to develop new scientific knowledge and time needed for society to determine that the new knowledge should lead to intervention. An examination of the current work environment calls attention to areas in which technology is having its greatest impact. For example, in the electron ics industry, a variety of potential hazards are associated with the use of a number of exotic chemicals. Recently, the newest semiconductor (gallium arsenide) was reported to be a suspect human carcinogen (23). Problems of new materials and new industrial developments are not limited to new in-
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Table 1
NOES estimates and OSHA sampling results for selected chemicals'
% >PELb
Chemical name
Annu. Rev. Public Health 1990.11:89-103. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Texas Christian University on 01/31/15. For personal use only.
91
% >.5 PEL
No. Samples
Full time
federal/state OSHA
exposure NOES II
2-Butanone (MEK)
4.4
10
3 199
Acetone
1.5
3
1965
170,338
Carbon black
12.8
32
282
205,443
Cotton dust
1 13,005
137,257
37.3
69
697
Copper
7.8
15
12035
46,481
Dichloromethane
5.5
11
1429
135,259
Petroleum distillates
1.6
3
2 174
41,509
2-Butoxy ethanol
0.3
