We measure the importance of risk within a firm that pays its workers piece rates, exploiting data from payroll records and a series of field experiments conducted within the firm. These data are used to identify and estimate worker preferences, abilities and risk exposure. These estimates are combined to measure the workers’ cost of risk: their willingness to pay to avoid risky contracts. We f...

BACKGROUND Numerous surveys reveal high levels of pesticide residue contamination in honey bee comb. We conducted studies to examine possible direct and indirect effects of pesticide exposure from contaminated brood comb on developing worker bees and adult worker lifespan. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Worker bees were reared in brood comb containing high levels of known pesticide residues (...

Over the past decade, several molecular techniques for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been developed that have implications for occupational health practice. This review describes the techniques used for qualitative and quantitative detection of the viral genome, and briefly explains nucleic acid sequencing and anal...

Setting limits for safe exposure to toxic agents in the workplace is a complex process involving science, law, and policy. Development and use of occupational exposure limits (OELs) transcends national interests and international borders. Even though OELs have a lengthy history, and they form the cornerstone of most occupational risk assessment and risk management plans, their effectiveness in ...

The Canadian poultry production industry contributes nearly $10 billion to the Canadian economy and employs nearly 50,000 workers. However, modern poultry facilities are highly contaminated with airborne dust. Although there are many bioaerosols in the poultry barn environment, endotoxin is typically attributed with the negative respiratory symptoms observed in workers. These adverse respirator...

There are several advantages to using task-based assessment to determine magnetic field exposures. Job title based assessment is the common approach. A worker’s job title, however, does not necessarily indicate the magnetic field exposure tasks a worker performs. Task-based assessment is more efficient in that there are fewer tasks required to cover a population than job titles. It is easier to...