This is the first textbook that makes workplace health surveillance accessible to a broad audience. Step-by-step, it shows how to establish or improve a surveillance system. The reader learns about defining objectives, seeking organizational support, forming a surveillance workgroup, collecting data, calculating basic injury and illness statistics, designing databases, analyzing and interpreting surveillance data, setting priorities, making protocols for follow-up and case management, marketing results and giving feedback, and evaluating surveillance systems. Links are emphasized between surveillance and workplace follow-up, community-based intervention programs, cost-benefit analysis, and other prevention activities. Readers get a solid foundation of epidemiologic concepts reinforced by examples that use simple arithmetic. Leading practitioners from government, business, and unions illustrate the surveillance of injuries, lead poisoning, pesticide illness, cumulative trauma disorders, asthma, noise-induced hearing loss, silicosis, cancer, and chemical and physical hazards. Non-traditional data sources are examined, including health and disability insurance, hospital discharge, and poison control centers. Disability surveillance, return-to-work, and the quality/effectiveness of health services also are explored. Surveillance is shown to be an action-oriented tool for decision-making that is the key to a successful health and safety program.

Early in 1985, a meeting was held to discuss the organization of a work shop in honour of Professor Reinier L. Zielhuis on the occasion of his retirement on November 30,1986. Various themes for such a workshop were considered, but it was Zielhuis himself, who ultimately selected "Health surveillance of individual workers exposed to chemical agents" as the theme of the workshop. Although this topic is of the utmost im portance for occupational health practice, it is also a very difficult one, given our currently limited knowledge on the subject. The choice of this topic is characteristic of Reinier Zielhuis, a scientist and scholar who throughout his career has been deeply concerned with the health and health risks of workers. Because he regards occupational and environmental exposure - including life style - as two aspects of the total exposure to chemical and physical factors, he emphasizes the need to assess the impact of this total exposure on workers' health. The impact of total exposure probably detennines to a large extent the in dividual variability in response. This was the main reason why he selected the above-mentioned topic for the workshop.

The workplace is where 156 million working adults in the United States spend many waking hours, and it has a profound influence on health and well-being. Although some occupations and work-related activities are more hazardous than others and face higher rates of injuries, illness, disease, and fatalities, workers in all occupations face some form of work-related safety and health concerns. Understanding those risks to prevent injury, illness, or even fatal incidents is an important function of society. Occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance provides the data and analyses needed to understand the relationships between work and injuries and illnesses in order to improve worker safety and health and prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. Information about the circumstances in which workers are injured or made ill on the job and how these patterns change over time is essential to develop effective prevention programs and target future research. The nation needs a robust OSH surveillance system to provide this critical information for informing policy development, guiding educational and regulatory activities, developing safer technologies, and enabling research and prevention strategies that serves and protects all workers. A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of OSH surveillance. This report is intended to be useful to federal and state agencies that have an interest in occupational safety and health, but may also be of interest broadly to employers, labor unions and other worker advocacy organizations, the workers' compensation insurance industry, as well as state epidemiologists, academic researchers, and the broader public health community. The recommendations address the strengths and weaknesses of the envisioned system relative to the status quo and both short- and long-term actions and strategies needed to bring about a progressive evolution of the current system.

MONITORING FOR HEALTH HAZARDS AT WORK Monitoring for Health Hazards at Work remains the seminal textbook on measuring and ­controlling the risk of workplace exposure to physical, chemical, and biological hazards. Designed for students studying occupational hygiene and exposure science, this comprehensive and accessible volume provides step-by-step guidance on identifying hazards and quantifying their risks in various workplace environments. Complete with checklists and practical examples, the authors present clear explanations of all types of hazards that can arise in the workplace, including dust, particles, fibrous aerosols, gases, vapours, and bioaerosols. The fifth edition features revised material throughout, and remains an essential resource for students and professionals in occupational hygiene, reflecting global standards and recent developments in monitoring equipment, modelling methods, exposure assessment, and legislation on workplace safety. Several new or substantially revised chapters cover topics such as human biomonitoring, exposure modelling, hazardous substances, physical agents, evaluating ventilation, PPE, and other control measures Updated sections discuss the equipment currently available, the importance of risk communication, assessing dermal and inadvertent ingestion exposures, and more Examines common workplace comfort issues such as noise, vibration, heat and cold, and lighting Offers practical advice on conducting and presenting risk assessments and reports Discusses the future of the development and application of hazard measurement equipment and methods Monitoring for Health Hazards at Work, is required reading for students and professionals in occupational hygiene, environmental health and safety, occupational health and safety, and exposure science.

This report presents the findings of a survey of employers carried out to provide a comprehensive picture of current health surveillance in Britain. The objectives were to assess employers' understanding of the term health surveillance, establish the various risks employees are exposed to in the workplace and explore the costs and benefits of health surveillance.