Fatal injuries at work in California

Article Abstract:

Deaths in the US workplace number between 7,000 and 11,500 annually, despite safety standards and increased efforts at prevention. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established safety standards for certain high-risk occupations and for the prevention of associated injuries. Most deaths occur in areas in which existing standards are not applied, such as motor vehicle and air transportation, suicides, homicides, and firefighting. These deaths were not included in a recent report that suggested a declining rate of occupational deaths. Available records of all occupationally-related deaths, standards and non-standards related, for a one-year period, were collected and analyzed, in an effort to evaluate and develop potential prevention strategies. Records of actual work-related deaths for the year 1983 were assembled. Three separate data bases were merged and reviewed. A total of 682 occupational injury deaths were identified; more than 65 percent were from non-standards related causes. Deaths were higher in men than women, highest in black workers, and lowest in Asian workers. The petroleum, coal, trucking, and warehousing occupations were the highest risk industries. These deaths are non-random events, and the number could be further reduced by the addition and enforcement of new safety standards in areas that are not presently covered. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Statistics, California, Accidents, Occupational mortality

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Silica exposure and tuberculosis: an old problem with some new twists

Article Abstract:

The relationship between silicosis, a lung irritation resulting from inhalation of silica dust, and tuberculosis, has been well established. It seems that silica dust has the capacity to decrease resistance to microbacterial infection. Recent studies have established that the most significant factor increasing the risk of tuberculosis is the inhalation of the silica alone, even where there is no clinical evidence of silicosis. Specifically, a long-term study of foundry workers in Denmark, published in the February 1990 issue of Journal of Occupational Medicine, indicates more than a threefold elevation in the rate of tuberculosis in foundry workers who did not develop silicosis. The results of this study demonstrate the need for increased surveillance programs for tuberculosis among workers exposed to silica. The study relied heavily on disease registries maintained in Denmark. A similar study would have been difficult to conduct in the United States, since there is insufficient data on the incidence of silicosis or on the incidence of tuberculosis among exposed workers. Thus, the study highlights the importance of maintaining these types of registries to monitor the incidence of disease. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

editorial

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Morbidity of pulmonary tuberculosis among silicotic and nonsilicotic foundry workers in Denmark

Article Abstract:

Exposure to silica particles in sufficient dosage frequently results in a lung irritation called silicosis. Silicosis has long been recognized as a contributing factor to various pulmonary diseases, including pulmonary tuberculosis. Between 1967 and 1986 a study was conducted of foundry workers in Denmark. It involved both workers affected by silicosis and those who were not affected (nonsilicotic workers). It was determined that the overall incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis among all foundry workers, silicotic and nonsilicotic, was approximately twice that of the general Danish population. The incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis had a strong correlation to the duration of employment in the foundry. Both silicotic and nonsilicotic workers employed for at least 25 years had significantly higher rates of pulmonary tuberculosis than did those employed for shorter periods of time. However, there were cases of pulmonary tuberculosis among shorter term workers as well, both silicotic and nonsilicotic. These results suggest that exposure to silica dust puts workers at increased risk for the development of pulmonary tuberculosis, even when silicosis is not apparent on chest X-ray. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Denmark, Surveys, Silicotics

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