BACKGROUND The presence of PCB in caulking (sealant) material found in masonry buildings has been well-documented in several countries. A recent investigation of 24 buildings in the greater Boston area found that 8 buildings had high PCB levels in caulking materials used around window frames and in joints between masonry blocks. Workers removing caulking material have been shown to have elevate...

RESULTS: The prevalence of the overall respiratory symptoms in the last 12 months was higher in dusty occupation workers than its prevalence in office workers. Statistically significant difference was found between the prevalence of cough in construction workers, agricultural workers and bakers, as well as between the prevalence of phlegm in construction workers, furniture manufacturers and agr...

OBJECTIVES To show trends in age-standardised hospital admission ratios (SHR) for chronic lower respiratory diseases, estimated for Danish construction workers over three time periods (1981-1990, 1991-2000, 2001-2009). DESIGN Within consecutive cohorts of all male building and construction workers in Denmark, selected occupations: bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, painters, plumbers and ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in Latino poultry-processing workers. METHODS Symptoms and nerve conduction studies were used to prospectively assess 287 Latino poultry-processing workers and 226 Latinos in other manual-labor occupations. RESULTS The prevalence of CTS was higher in poultry-processing (8.7%) compared with nonpoultry manual workers (4.0%;...

Abstract Due to the dynamic and complex nature of construction sites, conventional method safety monitoring which relies mainly on manual observation by inspectors is highly susceptible human errors, time-consuming, also becoming increasingly difficult identify all incidents. Wearable Internet Things (WIoT) in industry creates a lot opportunities for health management such as identifying real-t...

Meat processing is a labor-intensive industry dealing with manual handling of heavy loads of meat at high frequency. Meat processing workers are under pressure to maintain high rates of work, performing arduous repetitive motions while keeping awkward postures. Ergonomic risk assessments reveal that manual material handling and repetitive tasks expose meat-processing workers to high physical ri...

BACKGROUND Construction workers are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) but often have no periodic audiometric testing. METHODS The participants were construction workers assessed for Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) at the Occupational Health Clinic, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. Audiometry was offered and 169 of the 191 workers assessed for HAVS agreed to have the aud...