Dying for work: The magnitude of US mortality from selected causes of death associated with occupation

Abstract

Our estimate is in the range reported by previous investigators, although we have restricted ourselves more than others to only those diseases with well-established occupational etiology, biasing our estimates conservatively. The underlying assumptions and data used to generate the estimates are well documented, so our estimates may be updated as new data emerges on occupational risks and exposed populations, providing an advantage over previous studies. We estimate that occupational deaths are the 8th leading cause of death in the US, after diabetes (64,751) but ahead of suicide (30,575), and greater than the annual number of motor vehicle deaths per year (43,501).

Health Disparities among Occupations in Taiwan: A Population Study

“…The literature concerning occupational health disparities and occupational health psychology seem to suggest that mental (e.g., burnout) or physical health disparities (e.g., CVD or asthma) may be attributed to working conditions and job characteristics such as ergonomic risk factors 20) ; exposures to vinyl chloride, silica, carbon fuel, wood dust, asbestos, mineral oils; or external ionizing radiation at work [21][22][23] ; amount of control or discretion at work [24][25][26][27][28][29][30] ; and skills and abilities required to perform tasks (e.g., regulating one's emotions and ways of expressing them to meet requirements at work 31) . Other contributing factors also include shift work and eating habits 32) , management and organizational structure 33) , safety and health climate 34) , nature of jobs that create conflict between work and family 35) , access to and utilization of quality health care 36) and organizational regulations or policies (e.g., sick leave policies or return to work policies).…”

The Prevalence of Tobacco Use among Manufacturing Workers: Findings from the Baseline Survey of the Mumbai Worksite Tobacco Control Study

“…Although a few studies in India have documented the association between occupation and tobacco use [16][17][18][19][20][21], with higher rates for unskilled workers, the factors contributing to this disparity are not clear. Furthermore, most global research on the association between occupation and tobacco use relates to smoking [22][23][24], a prevalent form in most countries. But in India, tobacco is consumed more in smokeless forms than smoking forms [4].…”

Quantitative estimates of work-related death, disease and injury in New Zealand

“…The first step was the selection of diseases to include. The list of causes of death associated with occupation, as used previously by Steenland et al (3), included only diseases with a well-established link with occupational exposures (eg, lung cancer, asthma). We used this list (list A) to obtain a conservative or lower bound estimate.…”

“…Third, although most of the limitations of these analyses could be expected to lead to an underestimation of the numbers of work-related deaths, diseases, and injuries, there are some issues that could lead to overestimations, including inadequate adjustment for confounding factors in some of the studies used, lack of recent studies in industries in which exposure levels have been declining (3), and an overestimation of the joint effects of multiple exposures. It should be emphasized that an occupational exposure does not need to be a necessary or sufficient cause of disease for some cases of the disease to be attributable to the exposure.…”