RESUMO
Assesses the ways in which epidemiological research can be used to determine when factors in the workplace operate as causes of disease or accidents. Addressed to occupational safety and health personnel, the book serves as both a detailed guide to the application of different epidemiological methods and a review of what these methods have already contributed to knowledge about health risks in the work environment and methods of prevention. In view of the complexity of human and environmental factors that need to be elucidated, the book gives particular attention to questions of study design and methodology that can strengthen the capacity of epidemiolgical research to yield sensitive, specific, and reliable data. The first main chapter, devoted to work-related diseases, concentrates on chronic nonspecific respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and musculo-skeletal disorders, including low-back pain, neck and upper limb disorders, and osteo-arthrosis. These common disorders, which were selected because of their complex multifactorial etiology, are used to illustrate specific problems inherent in epidemiological research aimed at identifying and quantifying the etiology of work-related disorders. Readers are given a formula for computing the strength of a given etiological factor, advice on the selection of indicators and measures of exposure, and a comparison of the appropriateness of different methodological approaches and study designs for providing evidence for or against the causality of an observed association. Data indicating the work-relatedness of each of these disorders are also succinctly reviewed. Work-related accidents are covered in the second half of the book, which reminds readers that an estimated 180,000 deaths and 110 million injuries are attributed each year to accidents at the workplace. An outline of present recording systems and problems with the statistical collection of data is followed by a detailed discussion of the uses of epidemiology to focus attention on dangerous trades, occupations, or tasks, to identify the causes of accidents within particular occupational environments, and to test the effectiveness of preventive methods. Details range from criteria for reporting near-accidents and dangerous occurrences to features of plant design and operation associated with superior safety performance
Assuntos
Doenças Profissionais , Acidentes de Trabalho , Métodos EpidemiológicosRESUMO
Los accidentes relacionados con el trabajo pueden ser causados por numerosos factores ambientales y humanos. La investigación epide-miológica puede ayudar a identificar tales factores de riesgo y sugerir estrategias eficaces de control. El elemento más importante del control es la prevención, que incluye la protección del medio laboral. la capacitación en seguridad de los trabajadores y administradores, el estableci-miento de prácticas laborales apropiadas y seguras, y la aplicación de principios ergonó-micos básicos. Las enfermedades ocupacionales a menudo se relacionan con diversos factores de riesgo, incluidos el estilo de vida de los trabajadores, los hábitos y la susceptibilidad individual. En el pasado no era difícil identificar las enferme-dades ocupacionales específicas, dado que los factores causales en el lugar de trabajo podían ser reconocidos fácilmente. No obstante, muchas enfermedades que hoy día se consideran relacio-nadas con el trabajo tienen una complicada etiología que puede dilucidarse únicamente a través de adecuados estudios epidemiológicos, mediante los cuales se podrá proporcionar orientación para la detección precoz y el control de tales enfermedades. La experiencia ha demostrado que la participa-ción de los trabajadores y administradores, y la organización adecuada de los servicios de salud, seguridad e higiene del trabajo, son esenciales para establecer y mantener un ambiente laboral seguro y saludable, y para lograr un nivel óptimo de salud física y mental en el lugar de trabajo. La información epidemiológica puede utilizarse como argumento para apoyar el mejoramiento del ambiente laboral y la prestación de servicios sanitarios para los trabajadores
Assuntos
Doenças Profissionais , Acidentes de Trabalho , Métodos EpidemiológicosRESUMO
A detailed evaluation of the principles and methods currently used to explore the association between exposure to chemicals and the development of adverse neurobehavioural changes. Emphasis is placed on the use of animals as systems to model and predict adverse reactions in the human nervous system. The book has five sections. The first deals with general factors to be considered in the design of neurotoxicity studies and in the statistical analysis of their results. Experience acquired in the recent outbreaks of poisoning from methyl mercury and carbon disulfide are used to demonstrate both the importance of evaluating the neurotoxicity of chemicals and the power of animal studies to predict human responses. The remaining sections provide extensive information on methods developed in each of the four major research disciplines that contribute to the neurotoxic assessment of environmental chemicals