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122 Results for search "Occupational Health".

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The chemical plant worker wore safety glasses -- a fine item of protective equipment in its proper place, but the wrong kind for the particular hazard he faced. When a mishap occurred, alcohol fumes wafted around the safety glasses and injured the man's eyes. The metalworker at a mom-and-pop workshop wore no eye or face protection as he dumped concentrated sodium hydroxide into a water bath. The r...

Perhaps the greatest threat of injury on the job comes from the welding fumes. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the risks depend on the workplace conditions and the materials being welded: Nickel, for example, can cause asthma and cancer, manganese can cause Parkinson's disease, and zinc can cause flu-like symptoms. Certain coatings, like paints, resi...

In an overall environment of physical danger where there is little margin for error, the specter of trench cave-ins looms particularly large. Federal reports show that working near unstable ground or in trenches, excavations, or other confined spaces that aren't properly shored up may invite disaster. In one case, a 35-year-old man working in an unreinforced trench died when the walls of a manhole...

It wasn't that long ago that a California man in his mid-30s walked into a doctor's office with such astronomical levels of lead in his blood that he was barred from returning to work. Alarmed, health officials began looking into his workplace, the Alco Iron and Scrap Metal Co. in San Leandro, California. What they found at Alco was shocking: So much lead dust permeated the plant's atmosphere that...

No one would consider being an accountant as dangerous an occupation as, say, race-car driving or coal-mining. But Alan Franciscus, a former accountant at a software company in San Francisco, says the profession has its own set of hazards. He suffered anxiety attacks from work-related stress, eye strain from staring at numbers on a computer monitor, and body aches from sitting at a desk all day. ...

When teenagers go job hunting, they often have just one thing in mind: money -- money for dates, college, or even their family's rent and groceries. They aren't worried about long-term job security or climbing the career ladder. And for the most part, they don't even think about job safety. They're young and invincible, and nobody would give them an unsafe job... right? Wrong. Job safety may be n...

Fifteen years after taxi drivers began lobbying for protections against the alarming assaults and murders plaguing cabbies across the country, the federal government weighed in on the issue. In the spring of 2000, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) warned of the dangers of driving a cab -- taxi drivers today are in the top ten occupations with the highest homicide rates -- a...

In December 2010, the Broadway audience watching a preview of the stage musical "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark" saw the webbed avenger poised on a bridge, about to swing through space to rescue his girlfriend, Mary Jane. But as he leaped off the edge, his safety harness flew open, dropping him more than 30 feet to the orchestra pit in front of the horrified patrons. The show abruptly ended, with ...

Aerobics teacher Debra Lanham knew she wasn't supposed to jump on the job, but she did anyway. She loved her job teaching aerobics at several gyms in San Francisco so much that once in front of a class, she was barely aware of the pain from heel spur syndrome and plantar fasciitis. And the high-energy music she played during class made her forget her injuries as well. "I'd turn up the music, reall...

One summer day, Rebecca "Lambchop" Reilly was speeding through the streets of Washington D.C. The 31-year-old bike messenger was making great time until a nearby Mercedes made a sudden bid for a parking space. On the spur of the moment, the driver decided to wedge her car into one of the few available parking spaces. The back tire of Reilly's bike got caught on the back of the Mercedes, which pull...

Eric Barkley, a software engineer with Computer Sciences in Los Angeles, never even has to think twice when asked to work overtime. Even in his off-hours -- whether at home or work -- the affable 40-year-old can most often be found in his favorite spot: smack in front of a glowing computer screen. But like many other programmers, Barkley has suffered the consequences of his long-standing love affa...

Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge, was ugly and lame, the revered misfit who crafted weapons and armor for his swift and beautiful relatives on Mount Olympus. Like their mythical forebear, modern blacksmiths wrestle with iron and fire and carry the marks of the craft on their bodies. "My right eye is held in place with a plastic cup," says Rob Edwards, editor of The Anvil magazine. "When I go to...

Her scrunched-up shoulders and urge to weep when she got to work told Christine Zook all she needed to know about her future as a bus driver. Zook used to drive a bus for an urban transit district in Northern California. There was much about the job that she loved, especially the economic rewards -- decent pay, good family medical benefits, and a great pension. But after 10 years behind the wheel...

Cindi Trahan tries to joke away her stress from on-the-job sex discrimination and harassment -- and the death threats she said she got for complaining. An air traffic controller, she said she had to manage in-bound 747s while fending off lewd propositions from her married manager. So unnerving and distracting were his attentions that she worried the planes she was tracking might be in danger. Sex ...

Summer was starting and Robin Shahar had it made. She'd graduated sixth in her class at Emory Law School and was getting ready to start a new job as a staff attorney at the legal office where she'd worked as a law clerk the previous summer. And she was in love and preparing to solemnify her commitment in a Jewish ceremony that July. But Shahar's love was a woman, and when her new employer found ou...

Greg Bellisime gets envious comments when he talks about the five weeks he took off after the birth of his daughter, Beatrice. Even after his time off, he returned to work only three days a week, saving most of his week to care for his wife and daughter. Bellisime, a 35-year-old inventory manager for Patagonia outdoor clothing company in Ventura, California, wanted to make sure his wife was recupe...

It takes light skin and thin lips to be a good bank teller -- at least according to a former personnel officer at the First Alabama Bank in Mobile. The officer's notes, jotted down during interviews, say it all: One prospective teller was described as "an attractive white female, blond hair, blue eyes, teller-type appearance." Another: "very large lips and hips, overweight, dark skin, black girl, ...

As a freelance cameraman for domestic and international news outlets for 16 years, David Lee has witnessed disaster on an epic scale. His work has taken him far and wide in search of some of the most vivid images of the last quarter century. In 1986, he landed in Mexico City after one of the country's most devastating earthquakes. Then, during the Los Angeles race riots in 1992 that followed the a...

Just days before the school principal called her in on a parent's complaint in fall 1999, it occurred to teacher Ellen Hayward that she had been crossing the line in the classroom for some time. "I didn't have the same patience with the kids," recalls the 56-year-old Hayward. "I was getting more volatile and losing my temper. I don't know how I kept working." The teacher's apparent personality ch...

It began as an ordinary day on the job. A 31-year-old carpenter was replacing the roof of a house in Pennsylvania, standing on an aluminum ladder-jack scaffold while he made some adjustments. Then the aluminum drip edging he was installing accidentally bumped the 7,200-volt power line located just above the roof. The current from the line roared through the man's body, killing him instantly. That...

Like many college students, Kathy Morrison was an expert at remote learning. While her professors lectured on physics and Shakespeare, Morrison would often stay in bed, giving herself a remote chance to pass. She had her reasons for skipping classes. Sometimes she was exhausted from the odd jobs she held to help pay her tuition -- babysitter, cocktail waitress, and convenience store clerk, among ...

Scott Opperman, 38, had been at his new job in Connecticut for only a month when it happened. He was doing exactly the kind of work he'd done for the past 16 years, but early one winter afternoon, the journeyman carpenter went hurtling through an open second-story window. He'd been standing on a stepladder and drilling into a window frame when the drill slipped, and he lost his balance. Falling 14...

Longtime mechanic Carlos Contreras says, "a million things can go wrong when working on a car." And a lot of them hurt like heck. Once, while changing a brake drum, Contreras gouged his forehead on a sharp metal shaft sticking out from the wheel well. He jerked back in pain, only to bang his head against the fender. It was almost a moment of slapstick, but Contreras wasn't laughing. And if he hadn...

If someone suspicious walks into a Ricker's convenience store in Anderson, Indiana, supervisor Tracy Fowler won't be caught with her guard down. Mindful that there's always the potential for a robbery, Fowler says she's vigilant when a suspicious shopper moves through the store. "You should always keep eye contact," she says. "If you keep eye contact with someone and say something, I think it mak...

Grinning slyly, a coworker beckons you into his office. He says he has something for you to look at. You round his desk to take a look at the material he's indicated, then step back -- revolted, angry, and embarrassed. It's pornography. He's called you over to get your reaction to magazine photos of nude women in sexual poses. And he's standing there enjoying your distress. There's another scenari...

If Robert Unsworth hadn't been passionate about cooking since childhood, becoming a chef would have immediately killed his pleasure in the job. Standing all day on rock-hard cement floors, often without a single break, strained his back for the eight years he worked as a cook. He tolerated grueling 12-hour days and collapsed after work. The final blow, however, wasn't the punishing seven-day work ...

When you step into your workplace, doesn't it look different than it did just a few years ago? Nationally, these are some of the changes we are experiencing. Women and minorities account for roughly 46 and 30 percent, respectively, of the U.S. workforce. 18.6 million physically and mentally challenged -- but able -- workers are in the workforce as well. An estimated 10 percent of the population is...

Carl von Czoernig, a deputy sheriff in a small county in Ohio, started every workday with an involuntary ritual. After showering and shaving, he'd vomit in the toilet. Then he'd grab a fistful of Rolaids (known in law enforcement as "cop candy") to keep his stomach settled during the day ahead. No doubt about it, police officers work a dangerous beat. Every year, close to 60,000 cops are attacked...

"Dancing engages your body, mind, and spirit in such a complete way that it's thoroughly exhausting and thrilling," says former Feld Ballet dancer Buffy Miller, reflecting on the wonders and hardships of her calling. "It uses your whole self -- that's what I love about it." Dance may be thrilling, but as with most other professions, the exhilaration comes after years of unswerving dedication and ...

Theresa Quillen, a day-care worker for the last 20 years in Philadelphia, deeply loves children -- even the one who sent her to the hospital. The 3-year-old boy didn't mean to hurt her. He just happened to be standing around when another 3-year-old was looking for someone to punch. Quillen rushed to pull the boy out of harm's way. "As soon as I picked him up, I felt a sharp pain in my back," she ...

As a dentist for more than 30 years, Mike Downing, DDS, of Billings, Montana, has seen human fear in all its forms, from nervous twitches and darting eyes to outright crying -- and not just from kids, either. But when Downing puts on his mask and picks up a drill, he feels calm and confident. In the end, most patients relax after a little small talk. And while dentistry can be a tricky and stress...

Sixty feet below the water's surface off Key Largo, the Aquarius, the last underwater science habitat in the world, was caught in a maelstrom. As Hurricane Gordon's churning waves battered the giant yellow cylinder, Aquarius was reduced to auxiliary battery power. Worse, its generators had shut down and one had caught fire. As the ailing vessel devoured its remaining power, those inside began a ...

It took a freak accident to get pediatrician Betsy MacGregor to do something about a life on the verge of breakdown. MacGregor had always been passionate about her job, and for 15 years she thrived as head of adolescent medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York Center. Working with teens, she says, taught her that medicine should treat the whole person, not just the disease. So engrossin...

At 17, Cody Geurin was working the night shift at a Washington fast-food restaurant when one of the pressure cookers began to release steam early in its cycle. Before he could react, the lid burst open, spraying him with eight gallons of scalding oil. "It got my arms, face, and luckily my fry apron first," he says. "As I turned away from the spray, it doused my back. I ripped my rubber gloves off ...

Avoiding falls Over the past 20 years, thousands of construction workers have fallen to their death -- many of them from ladders and scaffolds. Here is how you can protect yourself:

  • Get trained on how to use this equipment and how much weight it can safely hold.
  • Ensure scaffolds and ladders are inspected before each shift, as well as extended three feet above roofs or floors and...

John Sevcik is an exceptionally meticulous man. Whether tending his yard or repairing a porch railing, he'll check, then recheck every detail -- once, twice, maybe even three times. No, he's not obsessive-compulsive. It's that as an electrician, he likes to play it 100 percent safe -- all the time. "You have to have a healthy respect for electricity," says Sevcik, who has worked as an electrician...

Like almost every rancher within 40 miles of Big Timber, Montana, 43-year-old Doug Lair raises sheep. (There's a reason the local high school sports teams are known as the "Fighting Sheepherders.") Lair is typical in another way, too: He no longer has his full allotment of thumbs. A few years ago, Lair was planting fence poles with a metal device called a "post pounder." His mind wandered for a ...

"The Perfect Storm," which portrays the deadly voyage of a small swordfish boat in Massachusetts, gave many moviegoers their first glimpse into the risks of commercial fishers. For Marcus Ballweber, who has spent the past 13 years working in the Alaskan fishing industry, many of the hazards depicted on the big screen are all too familiar. Ballweber once saw a massive wave knock a man from his bun...

As a young employee at McDonald's, Tom Smith learned early that he would have to be careful with more than just flipping burgers. Although the restaurant enforced strict safety rules, one night while routinely cleaning the grill, Smith didn't put on the insulated, fireproof gloves provided by the restaurant. When his arm slipped onto the grill, he sustained a nasty burn. "I thought I knew everythi...

Every year, more than 100 firefighters die in the line of duty. Here are some recommendations from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for saving firefighters' lives:

  • Reduce on-duty heart attacks by screening, minimizing stress, and encouraging physician involvement. NIOSH -- whose fatality investigations include many firefighters felled by sudden cardiac arrest -- re...

No one will forget the devastating collapse of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Nor will we likely forget the images of the heroic firefighters who tried to save those who might still be alive under the 110 floors of collapsed concrete and steel. The search stretched on for weeks and was exceedingly dangerous. Every time rubble was moved, it created a vent for oxygen to feed the sm...

William Counce loves football. He also loves parties. He particularly loves chatting about football at parties. That's why he was so upset at one social gathering when the woman with whom he was having a lively discussion about the University of Tennessee football team asked him what he did for a living. He told her he was a funeral director. "There was dead silence," recalls Counce, who is also...

Garbage collector David Richard was on his usual pickup route in Boca Raton, Florida, when a fluke accident ended his life. No one knows what happened, but Richards was standing behind his truck when it started moving in reverse. It knocked him over, dragging him 20 feet before crashing through a fence. Firefighters found him dead when they arrived. At first glance, garbage collecting may not see...

With all of the grim, nasty jobs out there, gardeners know they have it good. All other things being equal, would anyone really rather stand in an assembly line or sit at a desk than kneel in a rose bed? But as Bonnie Lee Appleton and many others have found out, it's easy to get too much of a good thing. A professional horticulturalist and gardener for the last 30 years, Appleton has spent more t...

Gardening is relaxing and gratifying, but there are still things to watch out for. Here's a rundown of common gardening hazards, along with some tips to help you avoid them:

  • Stretch before you start work. Backs, shoulders, arms, and hands get the brunt of the abuse from tilling the soil all day. A good routine of stretching exercises before you begin will help to get your muscles ready an...

Janice Williams worked for more than two decades as a cashier at an Oakland, California supermarket without sustaining a single injury. But shortly after the store installed electronic scanners in 1993, she began feeling twinges of pain in her right hand and arm. "On the older machines, you could rest your hands," recalls Williams, a shop steward with the United Food and Commercial Workers union ...

Jenny Blair, a hairdresser for two years in Minnesota, has the kind of enthusiasm for her work that other people might envy. "I love having social time at work," Blair says. "There are constantly people stopping in -- I get my social and work time done at the same time. And I love being able to be creative and make a good living." Her zeal is shared by many people who cut hair for a living, says...

When Pilar Medrano arrived at her janitorial job in a Los Angeles office building one day in September 1999, her boss handed her a bottle of an unfamiliar liquid and told her to remove some stains in the carpet. Medrano had no idea how much trouble this seemingly simple chore would cause her. "While I was cleaning, some of the liquid sprayed on my face," she says through a Spanish interpreter. "T...

Faye Morris, RN, spent 15 years working as a hospital nurse, an often stressful and exhausting job by anyone's standards. But that wasn't the job that broke her back. Three years ago, Morris, 45, left hospitals behind to start a new career as an in-home nurse with Alacare Home Health Services in Birmingham, Alabama. One afternoon in the summer of 1999, she stepped out of a patient's house into th...

The law partners at Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway knew they had a problem. One of the Shreveport, Louisiana, firm's best lawyers and a 20-year partner, Ed Blewer Jr., was clearly drinking too much. The year was 1980, and the partners held what today would be known as an intervention. They sequestered Blewer in a room and told him point blank: although he was a good lawyer and they cared about ...