Occupational Disease in New York State: An Update.

An assessment of occupational disease in New York State was undertaken that partially replicated and expanded earlier work from 1987. Utilizing an expanded conception of occupational disease, the assessment used a variety of data sources and methods to provide estimates of mortality and morbidity of occupational disease; workers exposed to specific workplace hazards; disparities in occupational disease among racial/ethnic groups and gender; costs and distribution of costs of occupational disease; and accessible occupational medical resources. Examples of the pathways work may impact health in some of the major health issues of current import including stress-related health conditions; substance use; and overweight/obesity were included.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Opioids and the Workplace - Risk Factors and Solutions.

The workplace has been a neglected element in the national response to the opioid crisis. This ignores that workplace safety and health and drug policies have become important factors in opioid use disorder among workers. This results from physical or emotional pain related to workplace injuries, illnesses, and stress, and through punitive workplace drug policies, failure to address stigma, and inadequate access to treatment and recovery resources.

Instructor Training on Opioids and the Workplace, Prevention and Response in the Plumbing and Pipe-Fitting Industry: An Interview With Cheryl Ambrose.

Workers in the plumbing and pipe-fitting industry experience a wide variety of physical and emotional pain related to job hazards and lifestyle issues. Pain treatment and stress can lead to prescription or illicit substance use. The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe-Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada has taken on these issues by adapting training developed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Opioids and the Workplace, Prevention and Response Training.

Occupational Stress Among Home Healthcare Workers: Integrating Worker and Agency-Level Factors.

Home healthcare work is physically and emotionally exhausting. In addition, home healthcare workers frequently work under precarious work arrangements for low wages and in poor work conditions. Little is known about how sources of job strain for home healthcare workers might be reduced.

Organizational Policies and Programs to Reduce Job Stress and Risk of Workplace Violence Among K-12 Education Staff.

We examine strategies, programs, and policies that educators have developed to reduce work stressors and thus health risks. First, we review twenty-seven empirical studies and review papers on organizational programs and policies in K-12 education published from 1990 to 2015 and find some evidence that mentoring, induction, and Peer Assistance and Review programs can increase support, skill development, decision-making authority, and perhaps job security, for teachers-and thus have the potential to reduce job stressors. Second, we describe efforts to reduce workplace violence in Oregon, especially in special education, including legislation, collective bargaining, research, and public awareness.

Predictors for return to work for those with occupational respiratory disease: clinical and structural factors.

Background: Few occupational researchers have examined "return to work" among patients with work-related respiratory diseases. In addition, prior studies have emphasized individual patient characteristics rather than a more multi-dimensional approach that includes both clinical and structural factors.

Methods: A retrospective chart review identified patients with occupational respiratory diseases in the Occupational Health Clinical Center, Syracuse, NY between 1991 and 2009.