Week 4, Friday Lecture Outline
- I. Changing nature of occupational health
- II. Workplace diseases of the 90s
- III. The mysterious case of CTDs
- IV. Exam and paper update
- unions worked to produce safe working conditions
- protective legislation (e.g., creation of the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration - OSHA)
- dramatic decline in injury and death rates
- increase in claims for disease categories
- diagnostically confusing
- widely publicized
- controversial
- incidence is increasing rapidly
- What it is:
- CTD = Cumulative Trauma Disorder
- affects soft tissue and nerves
- aggravated by repetitive use of same muscle group
- Specific diseases and syndromes:
- carpal tunnel syndrome
- tenosynovitis or "tennis elbow"
- median and ulnar nerves connect fingers to the brain
- compression of these nerves by the transverse carpal ligament causes CTS
- result is numbness, burning, and tingling
- Incidence:
- 18% of all occupational disease reports in 1981
- 66% in 1993 (302,400 cases)
- predicted damage claims over $10 billion
- Who gets it:
- meat cutters (1993: 36,500)
- grocery clerks (1993: 5,800)
- auto workers (1993: 42,600 cases)
- during 80s -- epidemic among Australian computer users, rare in U.S.
- conflicting evidence from NIOSH studies
- same work, different incidence rates
- industrial engineers -- design ergonomically appropriate tools
- unions -- change work rules
- physical therapists -- conduct job training
- doctors -- screen for people at risk
- government -- develop standards
- psychologists -- search for psychosocial causes
- Exam:
- one hour, in class on Monday, October 23
- 6 to 8 questions, you write 4 or 5
- you may bring one 3" x 5" index card, filled on both sides with notes
- Paper:
- due in lecture, Friday, October 30 (24 days)
- read guidelines carefully
- come to office hours if you have questions!
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Revised - November 4, 1996