Industry-specific prevalence of elevated blood lead levels among Pennsylvania workers, 2007-2018.

Objectives: To use industry-specific denominators to more accurately examine trends in prevalence rates for occupational cases of elevated blood lead levels (eBLLs) in Pennsylvania.

Methods: We used adult (aged ≥16 years) blood lead level data from Pennsylvania (2007-2018) and industry-specific denominator data from the US Census Bureau's County Business Patterns to calculate prevalence rates for eBLLs, defined as ≥25 µg/dL.

Results: Of the 19 904 cases with eBLLs, 92% were due to occupational lead exposure, with 83% from workers in the battery manufacturing industry.

Occupational use of high-level disinfectants and asthma incidence in early- to mid-career female nurses: a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: Occupational use of disinfectants among healthcare workers has been associated with asthma. However, most studies are cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies are not entirely consistent. To limit the healthy worker effect, it is important to conduct studies among early- to mid-career workers.

Carbon monoxide exposures among U.S. wildland firefighters by work, fire, and environmental characteristics and conditions.

Carbon monoxide (CO) exposure levels encountered by wildland firefighters (WLFs) throughout their work shift can change considerably within a few minutes due to the varied tasks that are performed and the changing environmental and fire conditions encountered throughout the day. In a U.S.

Occupational use of high-level disinfectants and fecundity among nurses.

Objective This study aimed to examine the relationship between occupational use of high-level disinfectants (HLD) and fecundity among female nurses. Methods Women currently employed outside the home and trying to get pregnant (N=1739) in the Nurses' Health Study 3 cohort (2010-2014) were included in this analysis. Occupational exposure to HLD used to disinfect medical instruments and use of protective equipment (PE) was self-reported on the baseline questionnaire.

Precautionary practices of healthcare workers who disinfect medical and dental devices using high-level disinfectants.

BACKGROUND High-level disinfectants (HLDs) are used throughout the healthcare industry to chemically disinfect reusable, semicritical medical and dental devices to control and prevent healthcare-associated infections among patient populations. Workers who use HLDs are at risk of exposure to these chemicals, some of which are respiratory and skin irritants and sensitizers. OBJECTIVE To evaluate exposure controls used and to better understand impediments to healthcare workers using personal protective equipment while handling HLDs.

Occupational carbon monoxide fatalities in the US from unintentional non-fire related exposures, 1992-2008.

Objective: To analyze characteristics of, and trends in, work-related carbon monoxide (CO) fatalities in the US.

Methods: Records of unintentional, non-fire related fatalities from CO exposure were extracted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Integrated Management Information System for years 1992-2008 and analyzed separately.

Results: The average number of annual CO fatalities was 22 (standard deviation=8).

Characterization of lead in US workplaces using data from OSHA's integrated management information system.

Background: Lead hazards continue to be encountered in the workplace. OSHA's Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) is the largest available database containing sampling results in US workplaces.

Methods: Personal airborne lead sampling results in IMIS were extracted for years 1979-2008.

Task- and time-dependent weighting factors in a retrospective exposure assessment of chemical laboratory workers.

A chemical exposure assessment was conducted for a cohort mortality study of 6157 chemical laboratory workers employed between 1943 and 1998 at four Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Aiken, South Carolina. Previous studies of chemical laboratory workers have included members within professional societies where exposure assessment was either limited or not feasible, or chemical processing employees where laboratory and production workers were combined. Because sufficient industrial hygiene records were unavailable for all four sites, weighted duration of employment was used as a surrogate for the magnitude of exposure.