Occupational And Environmental Health Nursing: An Overview Flashcards
Primary objectives of occupational health and safety practice
- Prevent work related illness and injuries
- Evaluating and treating work related illness or injury
- Promoting health and safety behaviors
- Implementing hazard prevention and abatement interventions
- Advocating organizational attention to environmental concerns
Occupational health discipline collaborations
- Occupational and environmental health nurses
- Occupational physicians
- Industrial hygienists
- Safety engineers
- Epidemiologists
- Toxicologists
- Industrial engineers
- Ergonomists
- Health educators
- Occupational and physical therapists
- Vocational rehabilitation specialists
Dimensions of workplace that affect worker health and safety
- Social
- Cultural
- Political
- Economic
- Organizational
Social components of workplace
- Meaning of work
- Social milieu of worker, including baseline health
- Structure of work
Cultural components of workplace
- Beliefs
- Attitudes
- Values
All as related to work
Economic components of workplace
- Levels of unemployment
- Competition
- Wage regulation
- Overall health of local economy
Organizational components of workplace
- Corporate mission, philosophy and values
- Financial and structural viability of organization
- Job security issues
- Production structure and requirements
Groups affected by occupational health and safety programs
- Worker
- Workers family and significant others
- Community
- Larger society
The concept and value of work is fundamental to every…
- Nation
- Race
- Culture
- Time
Earliest reference to occupational health was made by….
Hippocrates
Hippocrates and occupational health
- recognized clusters of specific disease that were more prevalent in craftsmen
- 400 bc
Plinny the Elder
- 23-79 ad
- observed ancient miners wearing protective breathing devices to avoid inhaling toxic dusts and vapors
Much work in the Middle Ages occurred
In homes and small shops
Profitable work in the Middle Ages
- consisted primarily of crafts and arts
- used various metals, chemicals and minerals
- was accompanied by observed adverse health effects
- increased competition resulted in increased production and escalating work hazards
Location of manufacturing in the Middle Ages
- most was conducted in rural homes
- some occurred in guild shops in towns
Notable commentaries on occupational health and safety in the pre-industrial era
- Georgius Agricola
- Paracelsus
- Bernardino Ramazzini
Georgius Agricola
- 1494-1555
- described the ailments of miners
Ailments of miners described by Georgius Agricola
Joint, lung and eye problems
Paracelsus
- 1493-1541
- identified acute and chronic health effects in craftsmen exposed to metal smelting fumes
- articulated the principle paradigm of toxicology, the dose/response ratio
Bernardino Ramazzini
- 1633-1714
- father of occupational medicine
- published De Morbis Artifactum Diatriba (The Diseases of Workmen)
- encouraged physicians to inquire into their patients’ occupations as part of their assessments
De Morbis Artifactum Diatriba (The Disease of Workmen)
- Ramazzini
- 1713
- described more than 100 different trade occupations, their associated hazards, and various methods of protection for tradespeople
- included protective clothing, adequate ventilation and proper working posture
Major shift in working conditions occurred during…
The Industrial Revolution
Shifts in working conditions during the Industrial Revolution
- Agrarian or home based hand manufacturing to urban based industrial processes
- Power driven machinery introduced
- Mass factory production began in England in 1718
- Machine driven jobs became specialized
- Work became monotonous
- Economic and social impact of work related injury, illness and death became evident
- High rates of factory workers affected
American workers during the Industrial Revolution
- Health and safety profoundly affected
- Economic focus shifted from agriculture to industry
- Millions flocked to urban industrial centers
- Company owned housing districts
- Massive exploitation of women, children and non-English speaking immigrants
- Child labor, indentured servitude and slavery were routine
Characteristics of company owned housing districts
- Overcrowded
- Unsanitary
- Centers of poverty and communicable disease
Trends during the American Industrial Revolution
- Division of labor
- Ownership of the means of production
- Capitalism
Workplace mindset during the Industrial Revolution
- Accidents and workplace deaths are inevitable and acceptable consequences of progress
- Profit and property rights above human rights
Working conditions during the Industrial Revolution
- abysmal
- machines largely without protective devices
- accidental death rates were high
Occupational health and safety during the Industrial Revolution
- Responsibility for work related injuries and illnesses was placed in the worker
- Services focused on pre-employment physical examinations
- Prevention strategies aimed at altering worker behavior
Primary causes of accidents idenfied during the Industrial Revolution
- Lack of English language skills
- Inexperience
- Worker carelessness
Alice Hamilton
- 1869-1970
- matriarch if American occupational health
- first American physician to devote life’s work to industrial health
- studied and documented adverse human effects associated with occupational exposure to lead, arsenic, carbon monoxide and solvents
- published Industrial Poisons in the United States (1925) and Exploring Dangerous Trades (1943)
- editor of The Journal of Industrial Hygiene
Government agencies and legislation focusing on workplace health and safety emerged during….
The industrial revolution
Formal workplace regulation began…
- in the textile manufacturing sector
- England
Eight Factory Acts were passed:
Between 1802 and 1891
Factory Acts aimed at improving conditions for laborers including:
- Limiting working hours to 12 hours daily
- Raising minimal age limit for working children from 10 to 11
- Prohibited employment of pregnant women within one month of delivery
- Required that workplace injuries and deaths be reported to a surgeon who was to investigate the cause and report result to factory inspector
First factory inspection department in the US
Massachusetts, 1867
State and federal reporting requirements for industrial accidents began…
Late 1800s
Concerns of workers and occupational health and safety professionals have historically and often been misperceived as….
Opposing the concerns of the business sector
The first factory inspection department was created in Massachusetts
1867
The Bureau of Labor Statistics was established
1869
Pennsylvania passed legislation requiring two exits from all mines
1869
Employer Liability Law passed
1877
Massachusetts passed the first law requiring safeguards for hazardous machinery
1877
The Federal Bureau of Labor, reorganized as the United States Department of Labor (USDL) in 1913, was created to foster promote and develop the welfare of wage earners in the US
1884
The US Department of Interior created the Bureau of Mines to investigate accidents, examine health hazards and make recommendations for improvement
1907
Wisconsin passed the first effective workers’ compensation law
1911
The US Public Health Service (USPHS) was established to scientifically investigate, and analyze the effects of toxins on individual workers
1912
The US Department of Labor was established
1913
The National Council of Industrial Safety was organized and renamed two years later as the National Safety Council to collect and document occupational injury and illness data
1913
The Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs (OWCP) was established for federal employees
1916
The New Deal, introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, included occupational health reform statutes, and encouraged a renewed advocacy for workplace health and safety– efforts that had waned in the anti-labor sentiment following World War I
1933
The Division of Labor Standards was established to collaborate with other organizations to develop safety codes and standards, disseminate information about chemical hazards to workers, and improve the efficacy of factory inspection processes
1934
The Social Security Act was signed into law
1935
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act) was enacted to govern relations between workers and management which had, before that time, been confrontational, litigious and sometimes violent
1935
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established the first minimum wage at 25 cents/hour, which was well below what most covered workers already earned; additionally, FLSA initiated the 8 hour workday
1938
The Equal Pay Act banned wage discrimination based on gender
1963
The Civil Rights Act banned institutional forms of racial discrimination
1964
The standard 8-hour workday was federally legislated
1968
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) was signed into law and established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as an agency within the USDL and the OSH Act established the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as an institute within USPHS; it is currently positioned within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
1970
The Federal Mine Safety Act was passed
1977
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) was passed
1986
The Community Right-to-Know Act was passed, requiring that the public be made aware of any potentially hazardous materials used by local industries
1986
The Amended Clean Air Act of 1970 was passed
1990
The Family and Medical Leave Act required covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks unpaid leave and continued medical benefits to eligible employees during any 12 month period
1993
Tuberculosis standard was proposed and defeated
1997
After a 10 year effort by OSHA and state OSH Administrations, a federal ergonomic standard was released; it was overturned the following year by the president and congress
2000
Agriculture was the major US industry
1600s
Boston shipyard workers formed the first political organization, called the “Caucus”
1739
Trade associations developed among carpenters, tailors and iron workers
1750
American and European economies shifted toward a merchant/ capitalist system
1780s
Philadelphia printers conducted the first successful strike for higher wages
1786
Philadelphia carpenters waged the first strike in the building trades, demanding a 10 hour workday
1791
The 10 hour workday was initiated after a general labor strike in Philadelphia the previous year
1836
The National Labor Union was established following an economic depression
1866
Factory inspection was introduced in Massachusetts
1867
The first barrier safeguard patent was awarded
1868
The Noble and Holy Knights of Labor, one of the earliest labor unions, which admitted into membership both skilled and unskilled workers of both sexes, was formed and began agitating for workplace safety laws
1869
The Colored National Labor Union was formed
1869
The Socialist Labor Party established its headquarters in Newark, New Jersey; the party was renamed in 1877 as the Workingman’s Party of America
1876
The first Labor Day Parade was organized in New York City
1882
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded
1886
The United Mine Workers Union was founded in Ohio
1890
The first recorded workplace safety program was established in an Illinois steel plant, in response to a flywheel explosion
1892
International Ladies Garment Workers Union was founded, primarily to organize workers at Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
1900
The Women’s Trade Union League was formed at the AFL convention
1903
International Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) was founded; it aimed to organize all unions into a labor solidarity in preparation to topple capitalism. IWW is now remembered for organizing women, blacks, new immigrants, and unskilled and migratory laborers, all of whom the AFL had shunned
1905
“Uprising of the 20,000”- female shirtwaist makers in New York City strike against sweatshop conditions
1909
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed 146 workers, trapped by the lack of fire escapes and locked exit doors
1911
20% of American workers walked out in a great strike wave, including national clothing, coal and steel workers
1919
The nations first African-American union was founded, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; although receiving support from the AFL, the union was opposed by the Pullman Company, and the brotherhood did not receive an international charter until 1936
1925
The New Deal was introduced to congress by President Roosevelt to stimulate the economy after the Great Depression had increased unemployment by 12 million in three years; millions found employment in federally sponsored works programs
1933
The National Labor Relations Act of —- (Wagner Act) legalized union practices such as collective bargaining and the closed shops, and outlawed certain anti-union practices such as blacklisting
1935
The Committee for Industrial Organizations (CIO), at that time a constituency of the AFL, organized strikes in all major industries
1937
The Congress of Industrial Organizations was formed as an independent federation
1938
The CIO formed the first political action committee to get out the vote for President Roosevelt
1943
The Full Employment Act was signed to increase national employment
1946
The Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act), ostensibly enacted to govern relations between workers and management, in fact restricted union behavior and the activities of union members in order to allow commerce to develop
1947