The US workplace is a product of our social, economic, and cultural history, and therefore is littered with gender, racial, and ethnic “job ghettos.” Workers of color generally are underrepresented in professional categories and overrepresented in bluecollar and service jobs, especially in certain occupations. 1ĭo occupational health disparities exist by class, race, and ethnicity? If so, what is their cause? Are there differential exposures to occupational and environmental toxicants by class, race, and ethnicity? Are there differences in genetic susceptibility to occupational exposures? To what extent do other factors such as stress, lack of access to medical care, and poor nutrition result in disparate work-related health outcomes? For example, although less than 3% of the labor force works on farms, farm workers have one of highest fatality rates, at 20 per 100 000 workers in 2000. The risk of injury and death is not evenly distributed. 2 Estimates for annual deaths from work-related diseases is between 50 000 and 60 000 workers per year. There were 362 500 newly reported cases of occupational illnesses in private industry in 2000. 1 This means that for each day of 2000 more than 16 workers died on the job, and some 15 600 were injured or became ill in the private sector. 1 The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 5915 traumatic occupational fatalities in 2000, and over 6 million work-related injuries and illnesses were reported in the private and public sectors. Far too many US workers die on the job, despite the fact that the rate for occupational fatalities has fallen from 18 per 100 000 workers in 1970, when the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed, to 4.3 per 100 000 workers in 2000. OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE and injury are significant, if underappreciated, public health problems in the United States and worldwide.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |