Last data update: May 06, 2024. (Total: 46732 publications since 2009)
Records 1-12 (of 12 Records) |
Query Trace: Hearl F[original query] |
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Response to Letter to the Editor: "The Role of Occupational Risk Assessment and Health Surveillance in SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Testing of Unexposed Asymptomatic Workers in Selected Workplaces".
Schulte PA , Piacentino J , Weissman D , de Perio M , Chiu SK , Radonovich L , Trout D , Beezhold D , Hearl F , Howard J . J Occup Environ Med 2021 63 (12) e959 We appreciate the comments of Chirico and Szarpak1 and their efforts to elucidate several important issues related to antigen testing in the employment setting. We agree that screening testing is one part of a comprehensive approach to reducing transmission in workplaces, which also includes vaccination, risk assessments, contact tracing, physical distancing, and mask use. | | Chirico and Szarpak reiterated the false negative issue in persons with low viral load but confirmed the utility of antigen testing in those with high viral load and no symptoms. They noted that the cost of antigen testing may be an issue in some countries, and this is true. However, in many countries the costs should be within the range of doing business and not constraining. In addition, it is important to consider the potential cost savings and other benefits associated with preventing workplace transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We agree with the point raised that there is more to the costs than the cost of the actual test and emphasize that there is also the need for contact tracing and trained personnel. |
Proposed Framework for Considering SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Testing of Unexposed Asymptomatic Workers in Selected Workplaces.
Schulte PA , Piacentino JD , Weissman DN , de Perio MA , Chiu SK , Radonovich LJ , Trout D , Beezhold D , Hearl FJ , Howard J . J Occup Environ Med 2021 63 (8) 646-656 OBJECTIVES: To propose a framework for considering SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing of unexposed asymptomatic workers in selected workplaces. METHODS: This is a commentary based on established occupational safety and health principles, published articles, and other pertinent literature, including non-peer-reviewed preprints in medrixiv.org prior to April 16, 2021. RESULTS: Not applicable to this commentary/viewpoint article. CONCLUSION: Antigen testing is a rapidly evolving and useful public health tool that can be used to guide measures to reduce spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community and in selected workplaces. This commentary provides a proposed framework for occupational safety and health practitioners and employers for considering antigen testing as a method to screen asymptomatic workers in selected non-healthcare settings. When applied selectively, antigen testing can be a useful, effective part of a comprehensive workplace program for COVID-19 prevention and control. |
Considerations for Pooled Testing of Employees for SARS-CoV-2.
Schulte PA , Weissman DN , Luckhaupt SE , de Perio MA , Beezhold D , Piacentino JD , Radonovich LJJr , Hearl FJ , Howard J . J Occup Environ Med 2021 63 (1) 1-9 OBJECTIVES: To identify important background information on pooled tested of employees that employers workers, and health authorities should consider. METHODS: This paper is a commentary based on the review by the authors of pertinent literature generally from preprints in medrixiv.org prior to August 2020. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: Pooled testing may be particularly useful to employers in communities with low prevalence of COVID-19. It can be used to reduce the number of tests and associated financial costs. For effective and efficient pooled testing employers should consider it as part of a broader, more comprehensive workplace COVID-19 prevention and control program. Pooled testing of asymptomatic employees can prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and help assure employers and customers that employees are not infectious. |
On the use of simulation in robotics: Opportunities, challenges, and suggestions for moving forward
Choi H , Crump C , Duriez C , Elmquist A , Hager G , Han D , Hearl F , Hodgins J , Jain A , Leve F , Li C , Meier F , Negrut D , Righetti L , Rodriguez A , Tan J , Trinkle J . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 118 (1) The last five years marked a surge in interest for and use of smart robots, which operate in dynamic and unstructured environments and might interact with humans. We posit that well-validated computer simulation can provide a virtual proving ground that in many cases is instrumental in understanding safely, faster, at lower costs, and more thoroughly how the robots of the future should be designed and controlled for safe operation and improved performance. Against this backdrop, we discuss how simulation can help in robotics, barriers that currently prevent its broad adoption, and potential steps that can eliminate some of these barriers. The points and recommendations made concern the following simulation-in-robotics aspects: simulation of the dynamics of the robot; simulation of the virtual world; simulation of the sensing of this virtual world; simulation of the interaction between the human and the robot; and, in less depth, simulation of the communication between robots. This Perspectives contribution summarizes the points of view that coalesced during a 2018 National Science Foundation/Department of Defense/National Institute for Standards and Technology workshop dedicated to the topic at hand. The meeting brought together participants from a range of organizations, disciplines, and application fields, with expertise at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and physics-based simulation. |
A control banding framework for protecting the US workforce from aerosol transmissible infectious disease outbreaks with high public health consequences
Sietsema M , Radonovich L , Hearl FJ , Fisher EM , Brosseau LM , Shaffer RE , Koonin LM . Health Secur 2019 17 (2) 124-132 Recent high-profile infectious disease outbreaks illustrate the importance of selecting appropriate control measures to protect a wider range of employees, other than those in healthcare settings. In such settings, where routine exposure risks are often high, control measures may be more available, routinely implemented, and studied for effectiveness. In the absence of evidence-based guidelines or established best practices for selecting appropriate control measures, employers may unduly rely on personal protective equipment (PPE) because of its wide availability and pervasiveness as a control measure, circumventing other effective options for protection. Control banding is one approach that may be used to assign job tasks into risk categories and prioritize the application of controls. This article proposes an initial control banding framework for workers at all levels of risk and incorporates a range of control options, including PPE. Using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) risk groups as a surrogate for toxicity and combining the exposure duration with the exposure likelihood, we can generate the risk of a job task to the worker. |
NIOSH's Respiratory Health Division: 50 years of science and service
Cummings KJ , Johns DO , Mazurek JM , Hearl FJ , Weissman DN . Arch Environ Occup Health 2018 74 1-15 The year 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of NIOSH's Respiratory Health Division (RHD). RHD began in 1967 as the Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Diseases (ALFORD), with a focus on coal workers' pneumoconiosis. ALFORD became part of NIOSH in 1971 and added activities to address work-related respiratory disease more generally. Health hazard evaluations played an important role in understanding novel respiratory hazards such as nylon flock, diacetyl, and indium-tin oxide. Epidemiologic and laboratory studies addressed many respiratory hazards, including coal mine dust, silica, asbestos, cotton dust, beryllium, diesel exhaust, and dampness and mold. Surveillance activities tracked the burden of diseases and enhanced the quality of spirometry and chest radiography used to screen workers. RHD's efforts to improve scientific understanding, inform strategies for prevention, and disseminate knowledge remain important now and for the future. |
Aggregate exposure and cumulative risk assessment-integrating occupational and non-occupational risk factors
Lentz TJ , Dotson GS , Williams PR , Maier A , Gadagbui B , Pandalai SP , Lamba A , Hearl F , Mumtaz M . J Occup Environ Hyg 2015 12 Suppl 1 S112-26 Occupational exposure limits have traditionally focused on preventing morbidity and mortality arising from inhalation exposures to individual chemical stressors in the workplace. While central to occupational risk assessment, occupational exposure limits have limited application as a refined disease prevention tool because they do not account for all of the complexities of the work and non-occupational environments and are based on varying health endpoints. To be of greater utility, occupational exposure limits and other risk management tools could integrate broader consideration of risks from multiple exposure pathways and routes (aggregate risk) as well as the combined risk from exposure to both chemical and non-chemical stressors, within and beyond the workplace, including the possibility that such exposures may cause interactions or modify the toxic effects observed (cumulative risk). Although still at a rudimentary stage in many cases, a variety of methods and tools have been developed or are being used in allied risk assessment fields to incorporate such considerations in the risk assessment process. These approaches, which are collectively referred to as cumulative risk assessment, have potential to be adapted or modified for occupational scenarios and provide a tangible path forward for occupational risk assessment. Accounting for complex exposures in the workplace and the broader risks faced by the individual also requires a more complete consideration of the composite effects of occupational and non-occupational risk factors to fully assess and manage worker health problems. Barriers to integrating these different factors remain, but new and ongoing community-based and worker health-related initiatives may provide mechanisms for identifying and integrating risk from aggregate exposures and cumulative risks from all relevant sources, be they occupational or non-occupational. |
Working safely with robot workers: recommendations for the new workplace
Murashov V , Hearl F , Howard J . J Occup Environ Hyg 2015 13 (3) 1-34 The increasing use of robots in performing tasks alongside or together with human co-workers raises novel occupational safety and health issues. The new 21st century workplace will be one in which occupational robotics plays an increasing role. This paper describes the increasing complexity of robots and proposes a number of recommendations for the practice of safe occupational robotics. |
The economics of risk
Hearl F , Pana Cryan R , McLaughlin C . Synergist (Akron) 2014 25 (5) 35-38 We make personal decisions about risk every day. These decisions depend on our understanding of risk and the options we have to reduce or control it. To understand risk, we need to understand both the probability and severity of the potential loss. We may have many options to control risk, but their potential costs and benefits may vary widely. Considering the risk-cost tradeoffs allows us to understand which risk control options make the most sense. Risk assessment results that are used to make risk management decisions generally do not have bright lines of demarcation for deciding safe from unsafe. The level of risk deemed to be safe (or tolerable or acceptable) is often a judgment based on ethical considerations and technical and economic factors in addition to risk estimates. Regardless of how risk management decisions are made, economic analysis is an additional informative tool that can guide these decisions. |
World Trade Center Health Program; addition of certain types of cancer to the list of WTC-related health conditions. Final rule
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Hearl FJ . Fed Regist 2012 77 (177) 56138-68 Title I of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 amended the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) to establish the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. The WTC Health Program, which is administered by the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides medical monitoring and treatment to eligible firefighters and related personnel, law enforcement officers, and rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers who responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and to eligible survivors of the New York City attacks. In accordance with WTC Health Program regulations, which establish procedures for adding a new condition to the list of covered health conditions, this final rule adds to the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions the types of cancer proposed for inclusion by the notice of proposed rulemaking. |
Long-term exposure to silica dust and risk of total and cause-specific mortality in Chinese workers: a cohort study
Chen W , Liu Y , Wang H , Hnizdo E , Sun Y , Su L , Zhang X , Weng S , Bochmann F , Hearl FJ , Chen J , Wu T . PLoS Med 2012 9 (4) e1001206 BACKGROUND: Human exposure to silica dust is very common in both working and living environments. However, the potential long-term health effects have not been well established across different exposure situations. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We studied 74,040 workers who worked at 29 metal mines and pottery factories in China for 1 y or more between January 1, 1960, and December 31, 1974, with follow-up until December 31, 2003 (median follow-up of 33 y). We estimated the cumulative silica dust exposure (CDE) for each worker by linking work history to a job-exposure matrix. We calculated standardized mortality ratios for underlying causes of death based on Chinese national mortality rates. Hazard ratios (HRs) for selected causes of death associated with CDE were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model. The population attributable risks were estimated based on the prevalence of workers with silica dust exposure and HRs. The number of deaths attributable to silica dust exposure among Chinese workers was then calculated using the population attributable risk and the national mortality rate. We observed 19,516 deaths during 2,306,428 person-years of follow-up. Mortality from all causes was higher among workers exposed to silica dust than among non-exposed workers (993 versus 551 per 100,000 person-years). We observed significant positive exposure-response relationships between CDE (measured in milligrams/cubic meter-years, i.e., the sum of silica dust concentrations multiplied by the years of silica exposure) and mortality from all causes (HR 1.026, 95% confidence interval 1.023-1.029), respiratory diseases (1.069, 1.064-1.074), respiratory tuberculosis (1.065, 1.059-1.071), and cardiovascular disease (1.031, 1.025-1.036). Significantly elevated standardized mortality ratios were observed for all causes (1.06, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.11), ischemic heart disease (1.65, 1.35-1.99), and pneumoconiosis (11.01, 7.67-14.95) among workers exposed to respirable silica concentrations equal to or lower than 0.1 mg/m(3). After adjustment for potential confounders, including smoking, silica dust exposure accounted for 15.2% of all deaths in this study. We estimated that 4.2% of deaths (231,104 cases) among Chinese workers were attributable to silica dust exposure. The limitations of this study included a lack of data on dietary patterns and leisure time physical activity, possible underestimation of silica dust exposure for individuals who worked at the mines/factories before 1950, and a small number of deaths (4.3%) where the cause of death was based on oral reports from relatives. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term silica dust exposure was associated with substantially increased mortality among Chinese workers. The increased risk was observed not only for deaths due to respiratory diseases and lung cancer, but also for deaths due to cardiovascular disease. |
Occupational safety and health in the USA: now and the future
Howard J , Hearl F . Ind Health 2012 50 (2) 80-3 In the USA, national worker protection legislation was enacted in 1970. The legislation required that research, recommendations and guidance be developed to aid employers and workers, that workplace health and safety standards be adopted, that employer comply with those rules and that the government police employer compliance, and that assistance be offered to employers and workers to help them maintain a safe and healthful workplace. In the 40 yr since passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, worker injury, illness and fatalities have declined but not been eliminated. Efforts to accelerate the standards adoption process are much discussed in the USA along with how to protect workers from emerging hazards like nanotechnology. New strategies which seek to eliminate not only the causes of work-related injury and illness, but also more broadly, worker injury and illness, are on the horizon. |
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