Feasibility of a daily noise monitoring intervention for prevention of noise-induced hearing loss.

Background: Despite the existence of hearing conservation programmes complying with regulatory standards, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) remains one of the most prevalent occupational diseases. Compulsory daily monitoring of noise exposure has been associated with decreased NIHL risk. We report on the experience of a voluntary daily noise monitoring intervention among noise-exposed workers.

Early hearing slope as a predictor of subsequent hearing trajectory in a noise-exposed occupational cohort.

Variations in individual susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss have been observed among workers exposed to similar ambient noise levels but the reasons for this observation are poorly understood. Many workers are exposed to hazardous levels of occupational noise throughout their entire careers. Therefore, a mechanism to identify workers at risk for accelerated hearing loss early in their career may offer a time-sensitive window for targeted intervention.

Risk of Injury by Unionization: Survival Analysis of a Large Industrial Cohort.

Objective: To investigate the effect of union status on injury risk among a large industrial cohort.

Methods: The cohort included hourly employees at 19 US plants between 2000 and 2007. Plants were classified by union status, and injuries were classified by severity.

Assessing Hearing Conservation Program Effectiveness: Results of a Multisite Assessment.

Objectives: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) remains one of the most prevalent occupational diseases. Occupational hearing conservation programs (HCPs) can reduce the risk of NIHL, but there remains no consensus on assessing HCP effectiveness. We conducted a multisite, mixed-method assessment of HCP programs.

Costs and effectiveness of hearing conservation programs at 14 US metal manufacturing facilities.

Objective: This study characterised overall and specific costs associated with hearing conservation programmes (HCPs) at US metal manufacturing sites, and examined the association between these costs and several noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) outcomes.

Design: We interviewed personnel and reviewed records at participating facilities. We also measured noise for comparison to the ten-year average of measurements made by each facility.

Patterns of Opioid Prescribing and Predictors of Chronic Opioid Use in an Industrial Cohort, 2003 to 2013.

Objective: To appreciate the impact of the opioid epidemic in workers, we described opioid prescription patterns in a US industrial cohort over a 10-year period and assessed predictors of chronic prescription.

Methods: A multiyear (2003 to 2013) cross-sectional analysis of employer-sponsored health care claims for enrolled workers (N: 21,357 to 44,769) was performed.

Results: The proportion of workers prescribed opioids nearly doubled in the 10-year period.

Occupational noise exposure and risk of hypertension in an industrial workforce.

Background: Community noise exposure has been shown to increase the risk of hypertension; however, the relationship between occupational noise exposure and hypertension is less clear.

Methods: Using an inception cohort of workers in a specialty metals manufacturing company, we retrospectively assessed occupational noise exposure, hearing acuity, and incident hypertension diagnoses using administrative datasets. Time-weighted average noise exposure levels were assigned to employees based on their job histories.

Evaluation of safety climate and employee injury rates in healthcare.

Objectives: Safety climates that support safety-related behaviour are associated with fewer work-related injuries, and prior research in industry suggests that safety knowledge and motivation are strongly related to safety performance behaviours; this relationship is not well studied in healthcare settings.

Methods: We performed analyses of survey results from a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Safety Barometer employee perception survey, conducted among VHA employees in 2012. The employee perception survey assessed 6 safety programme categories, including management participation, supervisor participation, employee participation, safety support activities, safety support climate and organisational climate.

Expert ratings of job demand and job control as predictors of injury and musculoskeletal disorder risk in a manufacturing cohort.

Objective: To examine associations between workplace injury and musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk and expert ratings of job-level psychosocial demand and job control, adjusting for job-level physical demand.

Methods: Among a cohort of 9260 aluminium manufacturing workers in jobs for which expert ratings of job-level physical and psychological demand and control were obtained during the 2 years following rating obtainment, multivariate mixed effects models were used to estimate relative risk (RR) of minor injury and minor MSD, serious injury and MSD, minor MSD only and serious MSD only by tertile of demand and control, adjusting for physical demand as well as other recognised risk factors.

Results: Compared with workers in jobs rated as having low psychological demand, workers in jobs with high psychological demand had 49% greater risk of serious injury and serious MSD requiring medical treatment, work restrictions or lost work time (RR=1.

Early-Life State-of-Residence Characteristics and Later Life Hypertension, Diabetes, and Ischemic Heart Disease.

Objectives: We examined how state characteristics in early life are associated with individual chronic disease later in life.

Methods: We assessed early-life state of residence using the first 3 digits of social security numbers from blue- and white-collar workers from a US manufacturing company. Longitudinal data were available from 1997 to 2012, with 305 936 person-years of observation.

Does tinnitus, hearing asymmetry, or hearing loss predispose to occupational injury risk?

Objective: To determine the relative contributions of tinnitus, asymmetrical hearing loss, low frequency hearing loss (pure tone average of 0.5, 1, 2, 3 kHz; PTA.5123), or high frequency hearing loss (pure tone average of 4, 6 kHz; PTA46), to acute injury risk among a cohort of production and maintenance workers at six aluminum manufacturing plants, adjusting for ambient noise exposure and other recognized predictors of injury risk.

Bladder cancer screening in aluminum smelter workers.

Objective: To present results of a bladder cancer screening program conducted in 18 aluminum smelters in the United States from January 2000 to December 2010.

Methods: Data were collected on a cohort of workers with a history of working in coal tar pitch volatile exposed areas including urine analysis for conventional cytology and ImmunoCyt/uCyt+ assay.

Results: ImmunoCyt/uCyt+ and cytology in combination showed a sensitivity of 62.

Association between ambient noise exposure, hearing acuity, and risk of acute occupational injury.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the associations between acute workplace injury risk, ambient noise exposure, and hearing acuity, adjusting for reported hearing protection use.

Methods: In a cohort of 9220 aluminum manufacturing workers studied over six years (33 300 person-years, 13 323 person-jobs), multivariate mixed effects models were used to estimate relative risk (RR) of all injuries as well as serious injuries by noise exposure category and hearing threshold level (HTL) adjusting for recognized and potential confounders.

Results: Compared to noise <82 dBA, higher exposure was associated with elevated risk in a monotonic and statistically significant exposure-response pattern for all injuries and serious injuries with higher risk estimates observed for serious injuries [82-84.

Occupational injury risk by sex in a manufacturing cohort.

Objectives: This study expands previous research comparing injury risk for women and men in a cohort of 24,000 US aluminium manufacturing workers in 15 facilities from 2001 to 2010.

Methods: We compared injury rates (all injury, first aid, medical treatment, restricted work and lost work time) by sex and by job and sex. Using a mixed effect modelling approach, we calculated ORs and 95% CIs adjusting for age, job tenure, ethnicity and year as fixed effects and person, job and plant as random effects.

Individual-level and plant-level predictors of acute, traumatic occupational injuries in a manufacturing cohort.

Objectives: Workplace and contextual factors that may affect risk for worker injury are not well described. This study used results from an employee job satisfaction survey to construct aggregate indicators of the work environment and estimate the relative contribution of those factors to injury rates in a manufacturing cohort.

Methods: Principal components analysis was used to construct four plant-level factors from responses to a 32 question survey of the entire workforce, administered in 2006.

Contribution of health status and prevalent chronic disease to individual risk for workplace injury in the manufacturing environment.

Objectives: An 'information gap' has been identified regarding the effects of chronic disease on occupational injury risk. We investigated the association of ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, depression and asthma with acute occupational injury in a cohort of manufacturing workers from 1 January 1997 through 31 December 2007.

Methods: We used administrative data on real-time injury, medical claims, workplace characteristics and demographics to examine this association.

Effect of systematic ergonomic hazard identification and control implementation on musculoskeletal disorder and injury risk.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effect of an ergonomic hazard control (HC) initiative, undertaken as part of a company ergonomics standard, on worker injury risk.

Methods: Using the company's ergonomic hazards database to identify jobs with and without ergonomic HC implementation and linking to individual job and injury histories, injury risk among person-jobs with HC implementation (the HC group) was compared to those without HC (NoHC group) using random coefficient models. Further analysis of the HC group was conducted to determine the effect of additional ergonomic hazards controlled on injury risk.

Sex differences in injury patterns among workers in heavy manufacturing.

The objective of the study was to determine if female workers in a heavy manufacturing environment have a higher risk of injury compared with males when performing the same job and to evaluate sex differences in type or severity of injury. By use of human resources and incident surveillance data for the hourly population at 6 US aluminum smelters, injuries that occurred from January 1, 1996, through December 21, 2005, were analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression, adjusted for job, tenure, and age category, was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for female versus male injury risk for all injuries, recordable injuries, and lost work time injuries.

Beryllium sensitization in aluminum smelter workers.

Objective: To determine whether beryllium-related disease exists among aluminum smelter workers.

Methods: A total of 1278 employees from four aluminum smelters determined to have significant beryllium exposure based on 5 years of sampling were invited to participate in medical surveillance that included a respiratory symptoms questionnaire, spirometry, and blood beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test.

Results: Of these, 734 employees participated in the program.

Incidence of asthma among aluminum workers.

Exposures to respiratory irritants encountered in aluminum smelters in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand have been suggested as the cause of "potroom asthma." However, there remains disagreement in North America regarding the existence of this entity. This study was designed to assess whether asthma occurs excessively among potroom workers and if so, delineate dose-response relationships for possible causal risk factors.