On the use of simulation in robotics: Opportunities, challenges, and suggestions for moving forward.

The last five years marked a surge in interest for and use of smart robots, which operate in dynamic and unstructured environments and might interact with humans. We posit that well-validated computer simulation can provide a virtual proving ground that in many cases is instrumental in understanding safely, faster, at lower costs, and more thoroughly how the robots of the future should be designed and controlled for safe operation and improved performance. Against this backdrop, we discuss how simulation can help in robotics, barriers that currently prevent its broad adoption, and potential steps that can eliminate some of these barriers.

A Control Banding Framework for Protecting the US Workforce from Aerosol Transmissible Infectious Disease Outbreaks with High Public Health Consequences.

Recent high-profile infectious disease outbreaks illustrate the importance of selecting appropriate control measures to protect a wider range of employees, other than those in healthcare settings. In such settings, where routine exposure risks are often high, control measures may be more available, routinely implemented, and studied for effectiveness. In the absence of evidence-based guidelines or established best practices for selecting appropriate control measures, employers may unduly rely on personal protective equipment (PPE) because of its wide availability and pervasiveness as a control measure, circumventing other effective options for protection.

NIOSH's Respiratory Health Division: 50 years of science and service.

The year 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of NIOSH's Respiratory Health Division (RHD). RHD began in 1967 as the Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Diseases (ALFORD), with a focus on coal workers' pneumoconiosis. ALFORD became part of NIOSH in 1971 and added activities to address work-related respiratory disease more generally.

Working safely with robot workers: Recommendations for the new workplace.

The increasing use of robots in performing tasks alongside or together with human co-workers raises novel occupational safety and health issues. The new 21st century workplace will be one in which occupational robotics plays an increasing role. This article describes the increasing complexity of robots and proposes a number of recommendations for the practice of safe occupational robotics.

Long-term exposure to silica dust and risk of total and cause-specific mortality in Chinese workers: a cohort study.

Background: Human exposure to silica dust is very common in both working and living environments. However, the potential long-term health effects have not been well established across different exposure situations.

Methods And Findings: We studied 74,040 workers who worked at 29 metal mines and pottery factories in China for 1 y or more between January 1, 1960, and December 31, 1974, with follow-up until December 31, 2003 (median follow-up of 33 y).

Occupational safety and health in the USA: now and the future.

In the USA, national worker protection legislation was enacted in 1970. The legislation required that research, recommendations and guidance be developed to aid employers and workers, that workplace health and safety standards be adopted, that employer comply with those rules and that the government police employer compliance, and that assistance be offered to employers and workers to help them maintain a safe and healthful workplace. In the 40 yr since passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, worker injury, illness and fatalities have declined but not been eliminated.