Slips, trips, and falls (STF) represent a serious hazard to workers and occupants in many industries, homes, and communities. Often, the cause of a STF incident is multifactorial, encompassing human, environmental, and task risk factors. A STF-related disability can greatly diminish the occupational capability and quality of life of individuals in both the workplace and the home. Countering STF...

Officials from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended that hospitals and other healthcare employers adopt measures, including the use of needleless and safe-needle devices, to prevent injuries and illnesses from accidental needlesticks in the workplace. “Today’s healthcare workforce faces a multitude of risks,” said NIOSH Director Linda Rosenstock, MD, MPH....

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to update rate files for the NIOSH Life Table Analysis System for Personal Computers (PC LTAS) reflecting the newly adopted tenth revision changes to the International Classification of Diseases. METHODS PC LTAS allows researchers to conduct comparative mortality and morbidity analyses for the purpose of identifying disease-exposure associations using...

Silica, or silicon dioxide (SiO2), is a group IV metal oxide, which naturally occurs in both crystalline and amorphous forms (i.e. polymorphic; NTP, 2005). The various forms of crystalline silica are: α-quartz, β-quartz, α-tridymite, β-tridymite, α-cristobalite, β-cristobalite, keatite, coesite, stishovite, and moganite (NIOSH, 2002). The most abundant form of silica is α-quartz, and the term q...

In 1970, the OSH Act was promulgated with the intent focus “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions” (29 U.S. Code 671). The question of how to accomplish that goal has been the subject of discussions throughout the SH&E community long before the act was passed. Over the years, practitioners and researchers have suggested that...

The standard method for determining diesel particulate matter (DPM) exposures in underground metal/nonmetal mines provides the average exposure concentration for an entire working shift, and it can take weeks to obtain results. This approach is problematic because, although it reports that an overexposure has occurred, it fails to provide critical information about cause or prevention. Converse...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a partnership relationship with the asphalt paving and roofing industries and their associated unions. Our partners saw in the EHP Focus article “Paving Paradise: The Peril of Impervious Surfaces” (Frazer 2005) the statement on page A459: “Asphalt is one concern, as it contains coal tar pitch, a recognized human carcinogen .....

NIOSH has embarked on a project to update its exposure sampling strategies manual. The current NIOSH strategy has a number of limitations. This is an opportunity to develop a robust and comprehensive exposure assessment strategy. Some of the key features of such a strategy are outlined. The importance of accurate professional judgment and exposure modeling is discussed. Bayesian statistics offe...

The 2009 H1N1 pandemic emphasized a need to evaluate zoonotic transmission of influenza A in swine production. Airborne influenza A virus has been detected in swine facilities during an outbreak. However, the personal exposure of veterinarians treating infected swine has not been characterized. Two personal bioaerosol samplers, the NIOSH bioaerosol sampler and the personal high-flow inhalable s...