Evaluating the impact of occupational noise exposure on workplace fatal and nonfatal injuries in the U.S. (2006-2020).

Objectives: This study assessed the relationship between occupational noise exposure and the incidence of workplace fatal injury (FI) and nonfatal injury (NFI) in the United States from 2006 to 2020. It also examined whether distinct occupational and industrial clusters based on noise exposure characteristics demonstrated varying risks for FI and NFI.

Methods: An ecological study design was utilized, employing data from the U.

Workplace Exposures Vary Across Neighborhoods in the US: Implications on Social Vulnerability and Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities.

Ignoring workplace exposures that occur beyond the local residential context in place-based risk indices like the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) likely misclassifies community exposure by under-counting risks and obscuring true drivers of racial/ethnic health disparities. To investigate this hypothesis, we developed several place-based indicators of occupational exposure and examined their relationships with race/ethnicity, SVI, and health inequities. We used publicly available job exposure matrices and employment estimates from the United States (US) Census to create and map six indicators of occupational hazards for every census tract in the US.

Nonpharmacological pain management approaches among U.S. construction workers: A cross-sectional pilot study.

Background: U.S. construction workers experience high rates of injury that can lead to chronic pain.

A pilot study on psychosocial factors and perceptions of organizational health among a sample of U.S. waste workers.

Solid waste workers encounter a number of occupational hazards that are likely to induce stress. Thus, there are likely to be psychosocial factors that also contribute to their overall perceptions of organizational health. However, attitudes regarding the aforementioned among solid waste workers' have not been assessed.

Risk perception or hazard perception? Examining misperceptions of miners' personal exposures to noise.

While perceptions of risk have been examined in the workplace to understand safety behavior, hazard perception has been overlooked, particularly for chemical, physical, and biological agents. This study sought to establish the prevalence of one type of mismatch in hazard perception, - noise misperception - among miners, to examine whether different types of noisy environments (e.g.

Characterization of perceived biohazard exposures, personal protective equipment, and training resources among a sample of formal U.S. solid waste workers: A pilot study.

In the United States, the majority of waste workers work with solid waste. In solid waste operations, collection, sorting, and disposal can lead to elevated biohazard exposures (e.g.

Associations between Poorer Mental Health with Work-Related Effort, Reward, and Overcommitment among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and overcommitment at work have been associated poorer mental health. However, nonlinear and nonadditive effects have not been investigated previously.

Methods: The association between effort, reward, and overcommitment with odds of poorer mental health was examined among a sample of 68 formal United States waste workers (87% male).

Linking environmental injustices in Detroit, MI to institutional racial segregation through historical federal redlining.

Objectives: To identify the most pervasive environmental exposures driving environmental disparities today associated with historical redlining in Detroit.

Methods: We overlaid Detroit's 1939 Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) shapefile from the Mapping Inequality project onto the EPA EJScreen and the DOT National Transportation Noise maps to analyze differences in current demographic and environmental indicators between historically redlined (D-grade) and non-redlined neighborhoods using simple linear regression and a boosted classification tree algorithm.

Results: Historically redlined neighborhoods in Detroit experienced significantly higher environmental hazards than non-redlined neighborhoods in the form of 12.

Evaluating Occupational Noise Exposure as a Contributor to Injury Risk among Miners.

Objectives: This study: (i) assessed the relationship between noise exposure and injury risk, comprehensively adjusting for individual factors, psychosocial stressors, and organizational influences; (ii) determined the relative importance of noise on injuries; (iii) estimated the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) of noise on injury risk to determine the threshold of noise considered hazardous to injuries; and (iv) quantified the fraction of injuries that could be attributed to hazardous noise exposure.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study at 10 US surface mine sites, traditional mixed effects, Poisson regression, and boosted regression tree (BRT) models were run on the number of reported work-related injuries in the last year. The LOAEL of noise on injuries was identified by estimating the percent increase in work-related injuries at different thresholds of noise exposure using a counterfactual estimator through the BRT model.

Effort-Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers.

Background: Solid waste workers are exposed to a plethora of occupational hazards and may also experience work-related stress. Our study had three specific hypotheses: (1) waste workers experience effort−reward imbalance (ERI) with high self-reported effort but low reward, (2) unionized workers experience greater ERI, and (3) workers with higher income have lower ERI. Methods: Waste workers from three solid waste sites in Michigan participated in this cross-sectional study.

Noise exposure and mental workload: Evaluating the role of multiple noise exposure metrics among surface miners in the US Midwest.

This study examined associations between metrics of noise exposure and mental workload. In this cross-sectional study, five occupational noise metrics computed from full-shift dosimetry were evaluated among surface mine workers in the US Midwest. Mental workload was evaluated using a modified, raw NASA-TLX and clustered with a k-means clustering algorithm.

Retrospective assessment of the association between noise exposure and nonfatal and fatal injury rates among miners in the United States from 1983 to 2014.

Background: Mining is a significant economic force in the United States but has historically had among the highest nonfatal injury rates across all industries. Several factors, including workplace hazards and psychosocial stressors, may increase injury and fatality risk. Mining is one of the noisiest industries; however, the association between injury risk and noise exposure has not been evaluated in this industry.

Fraction of acute work-related injuries attributable to hazardous occupational noise across the USA in 2019.

Introduction: The contribution of hazardous noise-a ubiquitous exposure in workplaces-to occupational injury risk is often overlooked. In this ecological study, the fraction of US workplace acute injuries resulting in days away from work in 2019 attributable to hazardous occupational noise exposure was estimated.

Methods: Using the NoiseJEM, a job exposure matrix of occupational noise, and 2019 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data, the proportion of workers experiencing hazardous occupational noise (≥85 dBA) was estimated for every major US Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) group.

Work Task Association with Lead Urine and Blood Concentrations in Informal Electronic Waste Recyclers in Thailand and Chile.

The informal recycling of electronic waste ("e-waste") is a lucrative business for workers in low- and middle-income countries across the globe. Workers dismantle e-waste to recover valuable materials that can be sold for income. However, workers expose themselves and the surrounding environment to hazardous agents during the process, including toxic metals like lead (Pb).