Occupational Safety Issues Affecting Human Health in Newark,New Jersey

Occupational Safety Issues Affecting Human Health in Newark, New Jersey
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Occupational Safety Issues in Newark, New Jersey
The construction and flavoring manufacturing industries are two of the most common industries with occupational safety issues affecting employees’ health. The former is typically secondary to scaffolding hazards, while the latter is due to exposure to toxic chemicals.
Health Issues
OSHA (2011) revealed that in 2011, the United States Department of Labor discovered that some employees are subjected to safety issues that may result in permanent disability, severely affecting their health, or worse, mortality. Specifically, eleven violations were identified during the inspections. These include the lack of appropriate equipment that protects the employee from falling debris. As a result, the construction companies were fined a total of 64,020 USD.
The second hazard is related to exposure to toxic chemicals, such as diacetyl. This happened in Natural Flavors Inc., where the workers were exposed to this compound, resulting in permanent lung damage (OSHA, 2013). According to CDC (2017), occupational exposure to these chemicals results in irreversible lung disease, obliterative bronchiolitis, which results in severe respiratory problems. Its pathophysiology is based on the destruction of the bronchioles, resulting in scarring and decreased luminal size. Therefore, the air passage is difficult.
The Harvard School of Public Health (2019) also adds that this chemical is typically found in ninety percent of electronic cigarettes, baked goods, popcorn, and candy. Moreover, it was linked to alterations in gene expression, modifying the production and function of the respiratory cilia (Kreiss, 2017).
Intra- and Interindividual Susceptibility and Vulnerability
Among the factors mentioned, including the falling debris in construction sites and the toxic chemical exposure, the intraindividual susceptibility and vulnerability increase with age and decrease with work experience. One study explained that an individual’s susceptibility to suffering from injuries from falling debris increases with age. The study has shown that the ratio of falls in individuals ages 20 to 24 is 10.7, while those above 65 years old are 34.6. Work experience is a proximal factor that reduces personal injuries. Additionally, lifestyle is another contributing but a distal factor, especially in toxic chemical exposure cases. Examples of these are smoking and alcohol consumption, which magnify the effects of hazardous chemicals (Camino López et al., 2018; Lay et al., 2016; Amissah et al., 2019).
Conversely, interindividual susceptibility and vulnerability are affected by the management insights and practices, task-specific exposures, and organizational practices (Lay et al., 2016). Specific examples include production target, task location, overtime measures and the number of working hours, and type of work structure (Amissah et al., 2019).
Laws and Standards
Generally, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development of the State of New Jersey (2021) provides a platform for public employees to file their concerns personally or through a re...