Thursday, December 10, 2009
Silicosis Conference
Work-to-Live sponsored and participated in a conference held by OK International to address disease from Silica dust. Our role was mostly to document the discussion around Silicosis in the developing world. We hired a film crew from India who showed up with 12 people! I've never produced a film before, so managing 12 people proved to be a challenge. Not to mention the fact that I'm in India and don't speak Hindi. Hopefully after some editing we will have some compelling footage and this will be a jumping off point for awareness around occupational health issues.
OK International did a great job bringing parties together to discuss awareness and possible solutions to the impacts of Silica exposure in the developing world. Participants included Indian NGOs, Labor Minister Shri Harish Rawat, The World Bank, The Public Health Foundation of India, The World Health Organization, an advocate from the Supreme Court of India, and a Medical Director from the Central Lobor Institute. A New Dehli Based NGO even brought Silicosis victims to plead for government assistance.
It was a great group with heated discussions. NGO's challanged government officials for not doing their jobs. The need was discussed for confidence building by regulatory authorities. It was also pointed out that employers in India do not think of employee health as an investment but as welfare.
At times the discussions were really depressing. The people who work in the unorganized mining sector are unskilled workers. It's hard to present the economic advatages to employers of keeping workers healthy, when those workers require little or no training. On the bright side some engineering efforts have led to effective and affordable solutions.
There is much more to be said about the conference and I hope to blog about it more. But I'm going to relax for a few days and gather my thoughts.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Trust
My job is to make Twitter a better place to work; it's a fabulous place. Some people don't see the connection between my work at Twitter and my non-profit, but I'm essentially trying to do the same thing in both positions: build trust.
What I've learned so far is that things go wrong when we give up faith in human reason. Why are we so ready to abandon trust in each other as a requirement in our daily interactions? The hardest thing I deal with when I go to India is the resistance towards non-profits. People I work with in the mining sector don't seem to believe that I am trying to improve the world without getting paid for it. India's economy is fiercely competitive. The idea that you shouldn't get the most out of every situation is unfamiliar to many people I meet. People I have encountered in public health have a hard time trusting anyone. This makes working together for the common good difficult and frustrating.
Very rarely, I see the same thing happen at Twitter. Things go really well until we stop trusting each other. Once you lose trust, it becomes almost impossible to get back. Competition can be good, but when it hinders teamwork, it can be the end of an organization. Working together requires dedication to mutual respect. Fortunately, we still have that, and with some luck and hard work, we can keep it.
Some companies focus on bringing an organization together by rallying against their competitors. This might bring people together as a team, but it is based on a ethos we are trying to distance ourselves from. At Twitter, we often get excited about coming together to make something amazing. I believe that's what we are doing now and hope that, as we get larger, it will continue to be the focus. Culturally, this is our most valuable asset.
This December, I hope OK International, Work-to-Live, Doctors, The Public Health Foundation in India, and several others can sit down and work towards the common good. I don't want to talk about compensation for victims or politics. I want to address the small changes that can be made in working environments to mitigate disease. I want the construction companies who are in attendance to trust that we want what's best for everyone involved. Sometimes, human nature surprises me and motivation goes beyond selfishness. I sincerely hope this will be one of those times.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Logo
Monday, August 31, 2009
Upcoming Workshop : Silica Hazards in Construction and Mining: Reducing Exposures and Preventing Disease
Intent of Workshop
The intent of the workshop is to raise awareness among key stakeholders and encourage the adoption of model specifications for the procurement of stone from facilities that control silica emissions. Additional policy options to reduce silica related disease will be discussed with the purpose of outlining specific initiatives to accomplish these goals Specific outcomes from the meeting will include
· Adoption of model specifications, created with input from various stakeholders, for the procurement of stone.
· An action plan to improve and expand outreach and education programs including the dissemination of model stone crushing procurement specifications.
· A list of specific, policy recommendations (including preferred purchasing programs) to promote the use of dust-control technologies.
In addition, we plan to implement the following strategies to promote the adoption of pollution control technologies in this industry:
· Work with government to plan a coordinated response among health, environment and transport ministries;
· Design policies and economic incentives such as preferred purchasing programs to encourage mill owners to install dust controls; and
· Build capacity among Indian NGOs, health professionals, government, trade associations, and others to disseminate this information through regional training seminars and local demonstration projects.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
An Overview of Occupational Health Research In India
With these structural changes the workers in low resources settings are more likely to be affected by the dangers of high technology than their counterparts in developed countries. Due to lack of education, unaware of the hazards of their occupations, general backwardness in sanitation, poor nutrition and climatic proneness of this geographic region to epidemics aggravate their health hazards from work environmentOccupational research is seen as a more complex issue in India, which includes child labor, poor industrial legislation, vast informal sector, less attention to industrial hygiene and poor surveillance data across the country. While India is experiencing an economic transition, occupational research should find a balance between understanding the modern industrial exposures and health risks of traditional sectors like agriculture and plantations. Strategies like modern occupational health legislation, enforcement machinery in sub-district levels, training to health professionals, need for epidemiological evidence and international collaborations were discussed to deal with the situation.
In the Asian continent, India is emerging as the major user of asbestos where the developed world is phasing out its use. Due to poor occupational health and safety systems in India and difficulties in early detection of pulmonary malignancy related to asbestos, the Indian government should consider the ban of this material in the future.
As many as 10 million industrial or mine workers in India may be exposed to asbestos or other dusts at concentrations of health concern
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Ship-breaking Booming as Economy Worsens
"Idle ships are a huge financial burden, so ship owners don't have any option but to get rid of their ships, even if it means scrapping them years ahead of schedule," said Vishnu Kumar Gupta, joint secretary at the Alang Ship Breakers Association.
Alang has received more than 125 ships in the past three months, compared with 136 in all of 2007 and 2008, Mr. Gupta said. Ship-breakers expect the total this year to reach 250.
"In the past five to six years of the boom, very few ships were scrapped, and we were working on zero margins, as there was intense competition for the few ships that were coming in," Mr. Gupta said.
The practice of breaking down decommissioned ships can lead to a variety of occupational injuries and asbestos-related diseases. Several activist groups have been paying close to this recent increase and have been complaining that existing workplace safety regulations are becoming more relaxed as worldwide demand for scrap metal increases.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Bhopal at 25 - New Fallout Study in the Works
According to some estimates, 25,000 people have died of gas-related diseases. Several thousands were maimed for life.
Calling it "an unfinished story that requires an urgent relook", secretary of the newly formed Department of Health Research (DHR) and director general of ICMR Dr V M Katoch told TOI that proposals had been invited from the country's scientific fraternity to restudy what is considered one of the world's worst industrial disasters.
The ICMR is putting out a call for research proposals. The research is going to measure the presence of low birth weight in children born in December 1984 and if there was an increase in congenital malformations and genetic disorders in the community since the disaster.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
New Finnish Study Finds that Long Work Hours can Cause Rapid Mental Decline
2214 middle-aged British civil servants participated in the present study which was a part of the Whitehall II study. They took five different cognitive tests in 1997—99 and again in 2002—04. When compared with employees with normal working hours (35-40 per week), employees working very long hours (> 55 hours per week) and those with an average length of working week (41—55 hours) performed worse in a vocabulary test already at the baseline study. At follow-up, both over-time groups performed again worse in a vocabulary test and also had a declined test score in a cognitive reasoning test.
This, of course, was in the UK. Can you imagine the loss of cognitive skills among workers in countries without adequate overtime legislation and enforcement?
Friday, February 27, 2009
On This Side of the Pond - Obama Wants More OSHA Funding
"For the past eight years, the department's labor law enforcement agencies have struggled with growing workloads and shrinking staff," the 134-page document said. "The president's budget seeks to reverse this trend, restoring the department's ability to meet its responsibilities to working Americans under the more than 180 worker protection laws it enforces."
The McClatchy Newspapers article cites a recent investigative article that appeared in the Charlotte Observer as evidence that additional funding and enforcement by the agency is desperately needed in the poultry industry. The article found that laxed government enforcement has caused increasing numbers of workplace injuries to go unprotected and is putting consumer products at risk of disease contamination.
Though Work-to-Live is focused on workplace health in India and other developing countries, it is great to see the leaders in our own country working to restore the image of a neglected agency. It allows American nonprofits to seem less hypocritical when we are advocating increased OSH funding and regulatory enforcement in the developing world.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Indian Government Aims to Reduce Workplace Stress
“The environment in the workplace is important — from the point of view of health, safety and efficiency,” said Sudhir Dave, former director of the National Institute of Occupational Health in Ahmedabad. “The space available at workplaces, the lighting, even noise levels are all important — they can affect health in the long term, but we’ve never given them the importance they deserve,”
OSH legislation often times means very little if not backed up by swift government action. In India, sadly, this has been severely lacking with previous pieces of legislation. It's our hope that at the very least this government action brings more attention to these critical OSH issues that are growing in importance as India's economy becomes increasingly dependent on white-collar jobs.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
OK International Highlights Lead Poisoning in the Developing World
There are 120 million people who are overexposed to lead around the world. That's three times the number infected by HIV AIDS. And this problem is going largely unnoticed, under the radar screen, because people are not aware that the common battery used in vehicles and other appliances are causing severe poisoning around the world.
Listen to the full interview.
Friday, February 6, 2009
IJOEH Publishes Winter 2009 Issue
There's also an editorial praising the Big Three American auto companies (Ford, GM, and Crysler) for their efforts to educate workers on the harmful affects of asbestos exposure through brake replacement and manufacture. It's rare to see an OSH editorial praising large corporations for their efforts. This one, of course, is pretty timely given the PR nightmare these companies have been through following the December bailout hearings.
Access to the current issue and the journal's archives are free, but the site does require user registration.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Possible Link Between Silicosis and Lung Cancer Explored
Monday, January 26, 2009
UK Zones in on Silicosis at Small Businesses
Many small contractors are still unaware of the dangers of silica dust, the Health and Safety Executive has warned. Dr Robert Ellis – from the regulator's chemicals risk management unit, which is leading the HSE's "Clean the Air" campaign – said despite a marked increase in awareness of silicosis across big business, he found smaller firms were often still uninformed.
The campaign will rely primarily on over 200,000 leaflets and 3,000 DVDs to help inform contractors, especially small construction companies, of the dangers of inhaling crystalline dust. Still, many British public health professionals worry about the effectiveness of such a campaign stating that smaller companies tend to get lost in the shuffle and usually lack the infrastructure that larger companies have to get the information out.
In most developing countries, this challenge is even greater. India in particular is seeing most of its economic growth from SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises). The success of this campaign could provide a good model for a similar education campaign in developing countries despite there being substantial differences between the two economies.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Survey Says Worksite Clinics Gaining in Popularity
Perhaps, the most telling part of the study was the services that the companies are considering to add.
The services that the greatest number of respondents said they were considering adding to their clinic offerings were health screenings (71%), immunizations (61%), urgent care for nonoccupational injuries (56%) and chronic disease management (50%).
Though this is a US study, it's interesting to see that the trend towards more onsite facilities is taking hold. Many of these findings at the US-level could be applied to Indian companies. After all, it was not that long ago that large manufacturing companies in the US and other parts of the developed world provided such services to their employees before the onset of managed care in the 1970s.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
New Hazardous Materials Site Makes WSJ List of Top Health Sites
According to the Journal's article, "The site recently added 180 new chemical profiles, and now covers more than 2,000 chemical agents and 225 occupational diseases. Consumers can search by symptoms or diseases". Other health sites that received mention include: Consumermedsafety.org, Why Not the Best, Everyday Health, and HealthCentral. Among them, only HazMap seems to focus on occupational health issues. The most helpful aspect of the site to me is this form tool that helps to identify occupational diseases by job and symptoms.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Perfecting Economics at the Village Level
In one study, Ms. Duflo and her colleagues showed that mothers in the Indian state of Rajasthan are three times as more likely to have their children vaccinated if they are rewarded with a kilogram of daal (lentils) at the immunisation camp. The result is useful to aid workers, but puzzling to economists: why should such a modest incentive (worth less than 50 cents) make such a big difference? Immunisation can save a child's life; a bag of lentils should not sway the mother's decision either way.While many economists are skeptical of Duflo's methods, saying that there is no way to show why the project yielded such results, only that it on fact happened. This results-focused approached to economics would, however, be extremely helpful to our future projects in Rajasthan. Here is a listing of several of Ms. Duflo's most recent papers.