Workplace Health

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Shift workers, especially men, may be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes compared to people not on such schedules, a new study suggests. Also at special risk are shift workers who don't work on a set schedule, with shifts moving around at various times of the day.

The number of people overdosing from opioid prescription painkillers is staggering, killing 45 people each day. Twenty-three percent of the workforce has misused prescription painkillers, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, making opioid use a serious threat to employee safety.

The EPA wraps up four days of public hearings on its Clean Power Plan today -- and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) rally against it tomorrow in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Sure, you’re spraying on insect repellent when you’re going to be spending time outside, but are you reapplying it when it wears off? Are  your outdoor workers?

Preventing gun violence will require a scientific public health approach and recognition of the limits of predicting individual cases of violence, according to experts slated to speak at the American Psychological Association’s 122nd Annual Convention. The experts will discuss how gun violence disproportionately affects different populations and results in consequences such as suicide, homicide and unintentional shootings.

Home blood pressure-monitoring kits can save insurance companies money by improving healthcare quality and reducing healthcare costs, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension. In the United States, more than 76 million adults have diagnosed high blood pressure, and many more are undiagnosed.

Workers with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are more likely to have a flat or declining "work trajectory," reports a study in the July Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

U.S. workplaces may need to consider innovative methods to prevent fatigue from developing in employees who are obese. Based on results from a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH), workers who are obese may have significantly shorter endurance times when performing workplace tasks, compared with their non-obese counterparts.

With obesity rates continuing to rise in the U.S. (they’ve doubled since 1980), health experts are urging Americans to be more physically active, and urging policy makers to help them do that. A new report from the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion rates the progress on both those fronts, state by state.

Summertime activities can bring people into close proximity to burn hazards in the form of fire pits, campfires and outdoor grills. Dr. Richard Gamelli, director of the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill. said burns due to fire can happen easily and quickly, especially when alcohol has been abused or children are present.