Occupationally related disease

Each of these diseases still affects many workers today.   Over the years there have been major public health campaigns to address them.  Organized labor has often lead the campaigns.   Select one of these diseases and search the web to learn about the history of the public health campaigns and the current status of the disease and related occupational health policies.   (What are the OSHA or MSHA regulations regarding the exposures that cause the disease that you selected to review?)   
  • The occupational disease that I looked up was Asbestosis. Asbestos is in so many places and it is a mineral that can be incorporated into construction, commercial, and household products.  There is some legislation around Asbestos such as the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and Reauthorization Act.  
  • OSHA does highly regulate asbestos.  There are standards for the construction industry, general industry and shipyard employment sectors.  The standards aim to reduce the risk to workers by making it standard for employers to provide personal exposure monitoring to assess the risk and hazard awareness training for operations where there may be potential risk to asbestos.  
  • OSHA has set standards on the permissible exposure limits (PEL), assessment, monitoring, training, surveillance, communication and demarcation, and records.
  • You can also file a complaint and ask OSHA to inspect the workplace if they think there is a hazard that their employer is not following the OSHA guidelines.  

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