In 1984, the Council of State Science Supervisors, in association with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, published the safety guide School Science Laboratories: A Guide to Some Hazardous Substances to help science teachers identify hazardous substances that may be used in school laboratories and provide an inventory of these substances. Because school science curricula have changed since then, the safety guide has been updated and revised to reflect those changes. This guide on safety in the chemistry laboratory was also...

Surveillance data can be used to identify new emerging pesticide problems, estimate the magnitude of pesticide poisoning, and evaluate intervention and prevention efforts. Recognizing this, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Strategic Surveillance Plan recommends that States conduct surveillance for acute pesticide-related illness and injury. Since 1987, NIOSH has provided financial and technical support for State-based acute pesticide poisoning surveillance programs. NIOSH is not the only organization that has recommended improved and/or expanded surveillance...

Every day across the nation, emergencies occur that threaten our lives, well-being, property, peace, and security. Every day, we rely upon our local police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, public health professionals, and others to arrive quickly and do what needs to be done to restore the safety, the security, the peace, and the routine to our lives. These emergency responders are trained to handle such emergencies that occur day by day in our cities, towns, villages, and countrysides. On rare occasions, emergencies occur that are so large in scale and so severe that...

Ionizing radiation and its sources are used every day in medical, industrial and governmental facilities around the world. Although some health risks from ionizing radiation exposures are widely recognized, the association of these exposures to specific diseases, especially various types of cancer, remains uncertain. Workers at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities have produced nuclear weapons, provided nuclear fuel materials for power reactors, and conducted a wide spectrum of research related to nuclear safety and other scientific issues. While completing this work, many of the...

The purpose of this document is to help public health researchers and practitioners, particularly those in occupational safety and health, to broaden their understanding of workers' compensation insurance, relevant aspects of the insurance industry records, and the potential uses of that information for public health purposes. Workers' compensation insurance has been established in all states to provide income protection, medical treatment, and rehabilitation for employees who are injured or become ill as a result of work. Workers' compensation claims and medical treatment records along with...

The focus of this document is to identify and describe strategies for the engineering control of worker exposure during the production or use of engineered nanomaterials. Engineered nanomaterials are materials that are intentionally produced and have at least one primary dimension less than 100 nanometers (nm). Nanomaterials may have properties different from those of larger particles of the same material, making them unique and desirable for specific product applications. The consumer products market currently has more than 1,000 nanomaterial-containing products including makeup, sunscreen,...

(Information Circular 9505) From the first day of new miner training until the day they retire, mine workers will experience changes due to the normal aging process. It is an unfortunate fact of life that many age-related changes result in diminished physical, sensory, or cognitive capabilities. Of course, workers also gain a tremendous wealth of experience, knowledge, and insight as they age, making them a vitally important resource for their company. Effective leveraging of this precious resource requires both an appreciation of the changes that occur with age and an understanding of...

In the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress declared that its purpose was to assure, so far as possible, safe and healthful working conditions for every working man and woman and to preserve our human resources. In this Act, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is charged with recommending occupational safety and health standards and describing exposure concentrations that are safe for various periods of employment-including but not limited to concentrations at which no worker will suffer diminished health, functional capacity, or life expectancy...

Since the establishment of the original Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH) values in 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has continued to review available scientific data to improve the methodology used to derive acute exposure guidelines, in addition to the chemical-specific IDLH values. The primary objective of this Current Intelligence Bulletin (CIB) is to present a methodology, based on the modern principles of risk assessment and toxicology, for the derivation of IDLH values, which characterize the health risks of occupational exposures to...

Surveillance is the cornerstone of prevention: It helps us identify new and emerging problems, track and monitor issues over time, target and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention efforts, and anticipate future needs and concerns. Those who have long struggled with these issues in the occupational setting will share my enthusiasm for this first edition of the Worker Health Chartbook. One of the primary goals in compiling the chartbook was to create a resource that could be used by anyone interested in workplace safety and health, including occupational safety and health practitioners,...