Occupational health and safety surveillance and research using workers' compensation data.

Objective: Examine uses of US workers' compensation (WC) data for occupational safety and health purposes.

Methods: This article is a summary of the proceedings from an invitational workshop held in September 2009 to discuss the use of WC data for occupational safety and health prevention purposes.

Results: Workers' compensation data systems, although limited in many ways, contain information such as medical treatments, their costs and outcomes, and disability causes that are unavailable from national occupational surveillance sources.

Occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among workers in the services sector industries: 2003 to 2007.

Objective: Provide descriptive statistics and discuss priorities for injury and fatality risks among services sector workers.

Methods: Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data for 2003 to 2007 were analyzed to identify occupational injury and fatality risks for services sector industry groups.

Results: Many services sector industry groups experienced, on average, greater than one occupational fatality per week, and survey of occupational injuries and illnesses days-away-from-work rates in excess of those for all US workers.

Defensive Chemistry of Lycid Beetles and of Mimetic Cerambycid Beetles that Feed on Them.

Beetles of the family Lycidae have long been known to be chemically protected. We present evidence that North American species of the lycid genera Calopteron and Lycus are rejected by thrushes, wolf spiders, and orb-weaving spiders, and that they contain a systemic compound that could account, at least in part, for this unacceptability. This compound, a novel acetylenic acid that we named lycidic acid, proved actively deterrent in feeding tests with wolf spiders and coccinellid beetles.

A cohort mortality study of chemical laboratory workers at Department of Energy Nuclear Plants.

Objective: This study evaluates the mortality experience of 6,157 chemical laboratory workers employed at United States Department of Energy facilities.

Methods: All cause, all cancer and cause-specific standardized mortality ratios were calculated. Cox regression analyses were conducted to further evaluate the relation between chemical exposure and mortality risk due to selected cancers.

The 15-Country Collaborative Study of Cancer Risk among Radiation Workers in the Nuclear Industry: estimates of radiation-related cancer risks.

A 15-Country collaborative cohort study was conducted to provide direct estimates of cancer risk following protracted low doses of ionizing radiation. Analyses included 407,391 nuclear industry workers monitored individually for external radiation and 5.2 million person-years of follow-up.