A Summary of a Study Conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that is within the Department of Health and Human Services has a unit called the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. This unit, according to the article, is responsible in doing research and recommendations to help prevent work-related illness and injuries.
One of the concerns of this unit is asbestos exposure in the workplace. Asbestos microscopes could be used to identify asbestos fibers and to evaluate the degree of asbestos exposure in a specific workplace. Today, asbestos is used less and regulated more to ensure the safety of the population. Asbestos microscopes have been a tremendous help in accurately identifying a material if it contains asbestos. Specialty contractors that are trained to safely remove and contain asbestos use these asbestos microscopes in the laboratory.
Aside from asbestos, NIOSH also made a research of exposure and transmission of these elements: beryllium, lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, pesticides, caustic farm products, chlorinated hydrocarbons, estrogenic substances, asthmagens and allergens, fibrous glass, cyclothriethylenetriamine (RDX), and infectious agents.
The article summarizes the rout of transmission of these harmful elements from the workers to their families and the environment. Work clothing, tools and equipment, taking items home from work, the worker’s body, cottage industries, farming, and family visits to the workplace are the most common routes of transmission. When the workers are exposed to the above-mentioned harmful elements, they carry the risk of exposing their families to the same harmful elements when they hug, kiss, do the laundry, cook, etc. The families of these workers are unaware that they are exposing or contaminating themselves to these harmful elements. Making these employees aware of the potential harmful effects of contaminating their families when they do not safeguard themselves and follow the safety guidelines and procedures will ensure that they follow these rules. An informed employee is more compliant to these rules and regulation compared to an employee that is ignorant of these facts.
Prevention is better than cure (and a whole lot cheaper, too). Methods of preventing transmission or exposure of workers’ families to these contaminants include utilizing and practicing safety measures (in the part of the worker), having a change of clothes before going home, taking a shower before going home, separate their laundry from other members of the family, prohibiting taking home of materials from the workplace to the home, and disallowing family members to visit the workplace as much as possible.
In case prevention was not successful, the article also cited ways of decontamination. Decontamination procedures that were stated in the original article were air showers, laundering, dry cleaning, shampooing, airing, vacuuming and other methods for cleaning surfaces.
There are also Federal Laws that are aimed to protecting the population from contamination and reducing exposure and work-related illness in the workplace. These laws include Occupational Safety and Health Act, The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act-Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, and Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. There are also state laws that require reporting cases of lead and pesticide poisoning.
