Image: Thinkstock
Ehstoday 2262 Occupationaldisease
Ehstoday 2262 Occupationaldisease
Ehstoday 2262 Occupationaldisease
Ehstoday 2262 Occupationaldisease
Ehstoday 2262 Occupationaldisease

NSC 2015: Sitting Down for Occupational Illness

Oct. 5, 2015
Check out our complete coverage of the 2015 National Safety Council Congress & Expo.

Rows of empty seats stretched across the Thomas Murphy Ballroom at the Georgia World Congress Center.

The giant room in which the keynote addresses for National Safety Council Congress & Expo were held was hardly full as leaders in the safety industry gathered for another featured session, this one on occupational illness.

“I’m struck by the numbers in the room for occupational illness compared to previous sessions like this,” said Colin Duncan, CEO of BST and the moderator of the occupational keynote session.  “That speaks to the problem.”

Occupational illnesses account for about 10 times more work-related deaths than on-the-job injuries and cost billions of dollars, yet receive significantly less attention.

Peg Seminario, safety and health director for the AFL-CIO, attributes this problem in part to the difficulty of identifying and tracking occupational disease and to the complex regulatory process.

“The problem is massive and the impacts are huge,” Seminario said. “Our systems are not set up to capture this. Most diseases aren’t recognized by physicians.”

And efforts to regulate the known causes of such diseases are drawn out; the new standard on silica still hasn’t passed after decades of attempts.

Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels called the process “onerous.”

“It takes us decades,” Michaels said. “OSHA standards are weak or nonexistent.”

More often, companies are left to set their own occupational exposure limits, Michaels said. And, while that may work for the large chemical companies, it leaves  small companies with limited resources at a loss.

Sponsored Recommendations

3 Essential Elements for a Strong Safety Culture

March 13, 2024
Organizations globally have increased their attention on safety culture: trying to figure out what it really is and the aspects that are necessary to develop and sustain it. And...

Making the Case for Occupational Health Software

March 13, 2024
Deciding to invest in Occupational Health (OH) software can be a challenging leap for many organizations. This article will equip businesses with insightful strategies for effectively...

Fighting the Flu: Solutions for the Workplace

March 13, 2024
Seasonal flu continues to wreak considerable havoc both on individual wellness, as well as on our business continuity and productivity. Explore these solutions for protecting ...

Preventing SIFs with Digitization: Reduce Serious Injuries and Fatalities with Technology

March 13, 2024
This eBook discusses the origins of SIF prevention, outlines principles, models and tools available to EHS leaders to better detect and address SIF potential in their business...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of EHS Today, create an account today!