History Of Occupational Health Research Articles

Prevención de infecciones relacionadas con la asistencia sanitaria en atención primaria. Lecciones de la pandemia

The health system failed to guarantee the safety of both professionals and citizens who came to the centers at the beginning of the pandemic.The lack of materials and guidelines for the prevention of infections caused in Spain the worst catastrophe in the history of patient safety and occupational health in healthcare. It also happened in other countries but Spain had the highest rates of infected health workers in the world. It was a largely avoidable event.We review what measures have been taken to prevent infections in primary care centers, such as hand hygiene, masks and personal protection material or the maintenance of social distance, among others. We update the recommendations and raise the perspectives in a situation that requires flexibility and adaptability to maintain quality and safe care.

Occupational health and safety in Cyprus: A historical overview

This article views the history of occupational health and safety in Cyprus through the lens of the country’s rather turbulent modern history, from the first instances of industrialization up to this day. In the early 20th century, great poverty in times of drought and famine led many Cypriot landless to the copper and asbestos mines, where they worked as miners and labourers. The harsh conditions in Cypriot mines led to the emergence of interest on matters of occupational health and safety and subsequently to the promulgation of the first laws for the protection of workers. Progress was slow at times and the division among the ranks of Cypriot workers and labour unionists made things even more difficult. The article discusses the problems faced and the gradual modernisation of the country’s industrial, political and legal systems through the establishment of new rules and regulations for the protection of workers.

Review of Occupational Health and Safety in the World Maritime Industry faced with the Ship Repair Industry of the Republic of Indonesia at the National Shipyard

The development of Occupational Health and Safety is very rapid, especially in developed countries. The era of 1970 was a milestone in the history of Occupational Health and Safety marked by the concern of world organizations in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) forum, which was subsequently adopted by countries in the world to enforce their national laws. This review of Occupational Health and Safety in the World Maritime Industry is intended to find out the achievements that have been carried out in developed countries to be applied to work in the Indonesian Maritime Industry so that workers in addition to getting Occupational Health and Safety can also enjoy the welfare of their work. As an overview, the application of international regulations on Occupational Health and Safety in the maritime industry in Indonesia has not been able to protect workers, and this can be seen from the many reports of ship accidents that occur in the Indonesian Territory so that it is necessary to adjust the rules of Occupational Health and Safety rules that must be applied according to the culture. Culture in Indonesia

Guardians of Workers’ Bodies? Trade Unions and the History of Occupational Health and Safety

Critically assessing the role and influence of trade unions on occupational health and safety (OHS), and tracing their contribution to OHS discourse, is here examined through the lens of history in Britain positioned relative to international experience. The idea of trade union neglect of OHS is challenged through study of the historic role of trade unions and the more recent experience (since the 1970s) of unions’ growing interest in OHS whilst simultaneously experiencing a sharp decline in membership and the adverse impact of this disempowerment on OHS standards. Acknowledging the politics of gender shows British unions neglected occupational health and embodiment issues that impacted upon women as workers. Robust and compelling evidence from the mid-twentieth century - that unions were a powerful countervailing force to workplace dangers, as key sentinels shielding workers’ bodies - is followed by evidence of increasing occupational illnesses in the period of union decline and precarious work from c. 1980. The article urges more critical reflection on trade unions as actors and as a voice in the OHS discourse.

Poisons in the Twentieth Century: Unpunished Crimes, Slow Violence and the Role of History

This article will provide a review of recent historical scholarship on toxic products. It will start by discussing studies on the history of nineteenth-century criminal poisoning and continue with recent literature on twentieth-century toxic hazards in workplaces, agriculture, foodstuffs and the environment. The aim is to highlight continuities and changes in historical studies on poisons and toxic risks over the last two decades. The author will review the main studies which have guided his own research while describing the main trends in crime history studies, environmental history and the history of public and occupational health. He contends that the area will benefit from more multidisciplinary exchanges in order to consolidate its position in current public debates.

A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present

A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present

A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present. The Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in Nevada History. By Michelle Follette Turk

A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present. The Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in Nevada History. By Michelle Follette Turk

A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present. By Michelle Follette Turk. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2018. xii + 356 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth $44.95, e-book $44.95.

<i>A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present</i>. By Michelle Follette Turk. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2018. xii + 356 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth $44.95, e-book $44.95.

Brief history of occupational health in Italy

Italy is a relatively young nation, no more than 160 years old. From the 1860s and for many decades the country remained mainly rural with little industrial activity. Nevertheless, the latter constituted the seeds for the Italian “economic miracle” of the 1960s–1970s, and, today, Italy is one of the world's largest advanced economies. Occupational health has followed a similar pace as the country's industrial development, cultural growth, and historical events. Over the time, the nature of the most common occupational health problems changed from poverty-related diseases (infectious diseases, acute and chronic poisonings, severe pneumoconiosis, etc.) to occupational cancer and other noncommunicable diseases. Ergonomic and psychosocial disorders have a more recent origin, and it should be noted that today there has also been a non-negligible resurgence of illnesses related to poor conditions among small groups of workers.

A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present by Michelle Follette Turk

A History of Occupational Health and Safety: From 1905 to the Present by Michelle Follette Turk

Reciprocal Relations between Work and Health: A Theoretical Understanding from the History of Occupational Health and Behaviour

Reciprocal Relations between Work and Health: A Theoretical Understanding from the History of Occupational Health and Behaviour

The history of occupational health in South Korea

South Korea has experienced rapid economic development over a 60-year period, since the 1960s, rising up from the ruins of the 1950–1953 Korean War. During this short period, South Korea experienced a wide range of occupational safety and health (OSH) problems, similar to that experienced in most developed countries about 100–200 years previously. In response, the South Korean government established a national OSH services system that is on par with most developed countries. In recent years, South Korea now faces a new collection of OSH challenges, such as mental health issues, microenterprise issues, precarious workers, and the promotion of work ability in a rapidly changing socioeconomic structure. This study evaluates the establishment of South Korea’s OSH services system, including the socio-politico-economic contexts that have had a profound influence on the system during each historical period.

Conceptualizing work-related mental distress in the British coalfields (c.1900\u20131950)

The history of occupational health is now an established and growing field of study, yet to date comparatively little research has been undertaken on the history of work-related mental health issues, which currently account for 40% of all work-related illnesses in the UK. Work-related stress is usually seen as a post-war and post-industrial phenomenon, largely confined to white collar and service sectors, which developed as a consequence of changing working cultures. However, through a close reading of diverse source sets generated by, or pertaining to, the coal industry, this article unearths another history of work-related mental health issues; a history focussing on a heavy industry in the early years of the twentieth century. Through this analysis, we argue that the heavy industries more typically associated with physical illnesses and disabilities also generated mental distress amongst their workers, which reflected the distinctive pressures of these working environments. The article explores how understandings of the mental distress experienced by miners were shaped by medical, political, economic, occupational and industrial factors, and generated debates between different organizations as to the cause of these disorders and appropriate responses. Further analysis of work-related mental disorders in different occupational sectors may allow researchers to tease out the nuanced role played by workplace environments and working practices on mental health, and to examine the relationship between physical and mental health at work.

Monsanto, PCBs, and the creation of a \u201cworld-wide ecological problem\u201d

For the past three decades, we have written on the history of occupational and environmental health, authoring books and articles on lead poisoning, silicosis, asbestosis, and angiosarcoma of the liver, among other diseases. One book, Deceit and Denial, focused specifically on the chemical and lead industries. Because of the rarity of historians who study this history, we have been asked to testify on behalf of workers who allege harm from these industrial materials and by state, county, and local governments who seek redress for environmental damages and funds to prevent future harm to children. In about 2010, we began testifying in law suits brought by individuals who claimed that they had suffered from cancers, specifically non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, because of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their bodies. At that time, we wrote a Report to the Court about industry knowledge of the dangers of PCBs to workers and the environment. More recently, we have been approached by attorneys representing government agencies on the West Coast of the United States which are seeking funds to abate PCB pollution in their ports, bays, and waterways. The focus of these lawsuits is the Monsanto Corporation, the sole producer of PCBs in the United States from the 1930s through 1977. Through these law suits, an enormous trove of previously private Monsanto reports, papers, memos, letters, and studies have been made available to us and this paper is the result of our examination of these hundreds of thousands of pages. The documents from this collection (with the exception of privileged materials that Monsanto has not made public, and upon which we have not relied) are available on www.ToxicDocs.org, the website we have developed with Professor Merlin Chowkwanyun of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. (Almost all of the references that are from this collection can be accessed by readers by clicking on the reference hyperlink.) This monograph is adapted from a report to the court that was originally produced for litigation on behalf of plaintiffs in PCB lawsuits. We are grateful to the Journal of Public Health Policy for publishing this detailed examination of these documents and we hope it will stimulate further research into this important, and now public, archive of industry records.

History of environmental and occupational health

History of environmental and occupational health

‘Produce More Coal’ = ‘Produce More Silicosis’? Re-training, Re-employment, and Respiratory Illnesses in the South Wales Coalfield, 1938–1945

By 1939, the coal industry, like all industries, was facing the pressure of war, bringing an increased concern not only for the state of the industry, but for the health of its workers. The government’s preoccupation with production in preparation for war had long overtaken any particular attention to health and safety measures. The prevailing policy culture provided minimal financial compensation to workers incapacitated through respiratory illnesses. While historians have investigated the history of occupational health in the coalfield, no detailed analysis has been undertaken on the government’s response. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of the area experiencing the highest incidence of respiratory illnesses in wartime – the south Wales coalfield. It will examine the steps attempted by the government and the trade unions to address these issues, and show how the experiences in south Wales provided the platform for national changes in coalmining practices.

"Educate the Individual... to a Sane Appreciation of the Risk" A History of Industry's Responsibility to Warn of Job Dangers Before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Workers Right to Know laws later in that decade were signature moments in the history of occupational safety and health. We have examined how and why industry leaders came to accept that it was the obligation of business to provide information about the dangers to health of the materials that workers encountered. Informing workers about the hazards of the job had plagued labor-management relations and fed labor disputes, strikes, and even pitched battles during the turn of the century decades. Industry's rhetorical embrace of the responsibility to inform was part of its argument that government regulation of the workplace was not necessary because private corporations were doing it.

Reflections on the State of Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Health &amp; Safety in the United States and Canada

When an article similar to this one was published in Canada, it reflected primarily knowledge derived from firsthand experience in several provinces and territories, and empirical research in Ontario and British Columbia. Since that article was published in 2013, this new article reflects my research on recent publications in the United States on Workers’ Compensation. The article begins by explaining the damaging and overwhelming significance of experience rating. To enhance an understanding of current situations, the article then explains the legal history of Occupational Health &amp; Safety and Workers’ Compensation. Then the role of physicians is discussed, particularly the difficulties they often have in distinguishing questions of law from questions of medicine. The article then deals with how decisions are made in the claims department of a Workers’ Compensation Board and by appeals tribunals. The practice of actuaries is explained, including the problems that their role creates. The limited role of judicial review is then mentioned, and finally the significance of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization. The article concludes with conclusions and comments.

BLANC, Paul D. and DOLAN, Brian (eds.). At work in the world: proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the History of Occupational and Environmental Health. Berkeley: University of California Medical Humanities Press, 2012.

BLANC, Paul D. and DOLAN, Brian (eds.). At work in the world: proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the History of Occupational and Environmental Health. Berkeley: University of California Medical Humanities Press, 2012.

Role of occupational physician for workersʼ mental health

In this paper, I briefly review the history of occupational mental health as well as administrative trends in Japan, and summarized how occupational physicians should get involved in these activities. As for mental health in the workplace, occupational physicians are required to participate in a large number of wide-ranging activities, including the management of mental illness. On the other hand, approving the occupational physician who is in charge of mental health affairs only has some important ramifications which cannot be disregarded. Careful consideration should be given to this matter.