Posts Tagged ‘occupational health’
Paid Sick Leave : Healthy Families Act (Federal)
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
On June 11 in the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor, a hearing will be held for House version of the paid sick leave bill called the Healthy Families Act [In the House, it is HR 2460 (Rep. Rosa DeLauro, CT) and in the Senate it is S 1152 (Sen. Edward Kennedy (MA)]. The modest bill would guarantee 7 paid sick days per year for workers at businesses with 15 or more employees, to be used to recover from routine illness, care for a sick family member, or seek services to recover from domestic violence.
The folks at MomsRising.org want you to sign their petition alerting your U.S. Rep and Senators to support the respective bills. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will certainly fight this pro-employee health bill. They will claim it interferes with employers’ ability to “compete.”
Read the related report exposing America’s dismal denial of paid sick leave.
Stay tuned.
Tags: Chamber of Commerce, DeLauro, Healthy Families Act, HR2460, Kennedy, MomsRising, occupational health, S1152, sick leave
Posted in Health Care, Legislative Campaign, Social Justice | 2 Comments »
Shiftwork Destroys Employee Health
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
A marvelous article by Andrew Watterson in the summer 2009 UK Hazards Magazine reviews some of the newest occupational health research regarding the impact of working night and graveyard shifts (and rotating with dayturn) on employee health. There are increased risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, accidents, pregnancy problems, clinical depression and divorce. The article describes some of the biology involved.
This British article criticizes their government agency HSE. Know that the U.S. OSHA is even less protective of workers.
How realistic are limits when employers want to offer 24/7 operating hours? Nurses are especially vulnerable because patient care requires 24/7 coverage.
No summary can do justice to this detailed article. Read it in its entirety @ Hazards Magazine..
Tags: Add new tag, Hazards Magazine, NIOSH, occupational health, UK
Posted in Health Care, Science | 2 Comments »
Loading ...
Follow us on...