The Increase in the Emergent Occupational Heath Challenges - Essay Example

Occupational health refers to the status of the health of an individual, which is based on the kind of work that such an individual does. Thus, as opposed to an individual’s physical, emotional or psychological health, an individual’s occupational health is influenced by his/her working environment, depending on whether it is safe and conducive, or it is hazardous and highly exposed to risks (Guzik, 2013 p7). Thus, focusing on the primary prevention of hazards should be the responsibility of every individual, organization or industry, if occupational health status is to be maintained safe and less hazardous for the workers. The continuous changes that occur in the working environment, poses different threats to occupational health, requiring a continuous attention and improvement of the working conditions for any business, organization or industry. Nevertheless, it is the changes in a country’s demographic, industrial structure and labor market that continuously introduces new challenges to occupational health, calling upon the development of appropriate strategies that can be applied to deal with the emergent occupational health challenges (Guzik, 2013 p7). Therefore, this discussion seeks to review the demographic, industrial structure and labor market changes that have occurred in USA, with a view to assessing how such changes impacts on the occupational health of the country’s workers. An appraisal and discussion of the most appropriate strategies, which can be applied to address such emergent occupational health challenges, also form the subject of this discussion. Demographic changes and their impact to occupational health in the USA The USA demographic changes cannot be completely evaluated, without a focus on the birth rates, especially for the period 1909 to 2009 (Goldstone, Kauffman & Toft, 2012 p29). This is a period that has presented interesting demographic changes in terms of the birth rates, with the birth rate consistently decreasing from 1909 to a period around 1940s. After 1940, which represents the period towards the end of the world war, the baby boom season was experienced. The baby boom persisted from the period after world war II to around 1964, where the birth rates started decreasing consistently, hitting the lowest in 1974 and then rising again starting 1975 only to decline at a higher rate, and reach the lowest level of child birth in 2009 (Scisly, 2010 p58). The demographic change; in terms of the birth rate is a significant aspect that influences the occupational health of the USA population, considering that the rate of replacement of the older generation of workers is lower, since most of the baby boomer workers are headed for retirement, yet there lacks an active replacement with sufficient experience in the jobs they hold. This has seen the persistence of the baby boomer workers beyond the retirement age, which means increasing the vulnerability of the workers to occupational health challenges (Kim, 1994 p17). The old and less active workers are more prone to occupational health issues as compared to the younger and active generation of workers, since the younger generation is able to be proactive in applying the preventive measures against the occupational health risks, compared to the older ones. Old age workers are highly prone to issues of occupational health such as hearing problems caused by exposure to noise, and vision problems or even blindness (Farley, 2005 p49). Therefore, their continued presence in the working environment; where such causative factors are high, increases their risks of being affected, as opposed to the younger generation of workers, who are less prone to such health-risks causative factors. Therefore, it is apparent that the changing demographic trend of low birth rates, which has been experienced n the USA, has highly contributed to occupational health challenges (Bergad & Klein, 2010 p83). The other demographic change that has increased the challenges of occupational health is the increasing percentage of the people with disability, who are joining the workforce (Luck & Race, 2011 p122). The demography of the USA work force has increasingly registered the presence of people with disabilities, especially starting from 1990 (Siegel, 2002 p208). There are two factors that have contributed to the rise in the number of people with disabilities joining the workforce. First, there has been a tremendous advancement in technology, which has made it possible for people with disabilities to join businesses, organizations and industries, and work for them, since the technology has been facilitating their operations (Goldstone, Kauffman & Toft, 2012 p30). It is no longer a surprise to find people with disability working at a construction site, or even in the industries as engineer, coordinators or supervisors, while others are also involved in the manual aspect of such jobs, through technological aid. The second factor that has contributed to the increasing number of people with disabilities, who are joining the workforce, is the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. This opened avenues for greater participation of the people with disabilities in the workforce, due to the advocacy of equal treatment of the disable people at the work place (Pol & Thomas, 2013 p65). After the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the number of people with disability getting involved in different industries has significantly risen. The increase has been experienced in the most unlikely areas such as manufacturing and construction industries, which barely registered the presence of people with disabilities traditionally. While the increment of the people with disability joining the workforce is a commendable social development, that seeks to enhance the equal treatment of all people regardless of their status, it has contributed to increased occupational health challenges (Scisly, 2010 p55). This is because, people with disability are high vulnerable to thehealth- risk causative factors that exist in the work place. People with disability are highly vulnerable to risks such as Repetitive motion disorders, injuries and accidents, due to their inability to move effectively. Some of them are also highly vulnerable to risks such as hearing loss and blindness, especially for those with disabilities that are traceable to such risk factors (Bergad & Klein, 2010 p80). It therefore follows that; the increased participation of people with disabilities in the workforce, which is a current demographic change that is being experienced in the US, has contributed to the increased challenges of occupational health, calling for strategies to address such challenges. The increased fertility rate of the American population is yet another demographic concept that has contributed to the rise in the occupational health risks. The fertility of the American population has been on the rise, hitting a high of 2.1 for expected number of children that American women are projected to have in their lifetime, by the fall of 2006 (Goldstone, Kauffman & Toft, 2012 p35). The increased fertility saw a high registered number of newborns, who hit the 4.3 million mark during the same year. Increased fertility rate is a demographic concept that points to a possible high population in the future, which will in turn demand that people earn a living through working. However, considering that the rate of global competitiveness has consistently increased, while employment has consistently been decreasing, there are higher chances that a high future population will be registered. This will result to high unemployment rates, which will in turn compel the population to seek for any job that can sustain their living, including venturing into the most risky jobs (Kim, 1994 p20). The involvement of a high population in the high risk industries would mean that a high population is exposed to the challenges of occupational health, which in turn means that the number of victims of injuries, accidents and repetitive motion disorders will be on the rise. Thus, while increased fertility rate points to a positive trend in social development of the USA, it poses great challenges to occupational health safety status in the future, since the higher the population, the higher the involvement in risky occupations, and the consequent increase in occupational health-risk victims (Ryan & Anderson, 2012 p30). Immigration, reduced death rates and increased life expectancy are the other demographic changes in the USA that increase the challenges of occupational health. The rate of immigration into the USA has been on the rise, to the extent that it has now become an issue of concern (Luck & Race, 2011 p127). High rates f immigration into the USA means that the USA population increases, while the employment rates decreases. Additionally, a high rate of immigration into the USA means a high population growth rate, since the immigrants are known to give birth at a higher rate than the indigenous USA residents (Pol & Thomas, 2013 p60). A rise in population growth rate points o the straining of the resources of the country, which in turn leads to high unemployment, resulting to a high involvement into risky industries by large populations, which in turn increases the occupational health challenges. The reduction in death rate and consequent increased life expectancy rate has meant the presence of a high percentage of the older generation, compared to the generation Y (Scisly, 2010 p52). This means that the rate of involvement of the older generation in the work place is high, which increase the risks associated with occupational health to older working individuals, since they are highly vulnerable to occupational health risk factors, such as loss of hearing, blindness and repetitive motion disorders (Ryan & Anderson, 2012 p32). Therefore, despite the fact that the increased life expectancy levels and the reduction in death rate are positive social demographic trends, they impacts negatively on occupational health, through increased challenges, and exposure to the causative risk factors in occupational health. Industrial structure changes and their impact to occupational health in the USA The USA industrial structure has experienced significant structural changes. While the traditional sectors that contributed highly to the economy of the USA were manufacturing and construction, there has occurred a drastic change in the level of industrial contributions to the economy, with the recent development in technologies affording the technology sector a significant role in economic front (Gereffi, 1988 p22). The USA technology industry has significantly grown, changing the American industrial landscape and the consequent workforce. This new development has significantly changed the tasks and roles that were involved in other industries, such manufacturing, services and distribution, while creating an entirely new framework of such operations (Lin, 2003 p54). The rise of the technological industry to the current point of relevance is crucial, since it has seen the American society advance significantly, both economically and socially. However, the rise of the technology industry, which has changed the USA industrial structure, has contributed to increased occupational health challenges. This is because; there are various risk causative factors of occupational health, which are very eminent in the technology industry. The technology industry has contributed to ergonomics and repetitive motion disorders, since the workforce in the technology industry are involved in operation of machineries such as computers, which poses great ergonomic issues. Additionally, the technology industry increase other risk factors, such as the vision impairment risks, since the users of the technological devises have to continuously face the vision effects caused by the devices (Thompson, 1979 p33). Therefore, the change of the USA industrial structure towards technology orientation has had the effect of increasing the occupational health challenges. The other aspect of the USA industrial structure change that has impacted on occupational health is the recent rise of the hospitality industry as one of the major industries in the USA economy. The hospitality industry comprises of restaurants, guest houses, bars and accommodation facilities. The American hospitality industry has experienced significant growth of late, accounting for the high creation of employment during a time when the unemployment rates of the USA had skyrocketed (Lin, 2003 p61). In the year 2012, the hospitality industry significantly grew and helped address the unemployment problem in the USA, through the creation of 33,000 jobs. It is this growth, which has seen the hospitality industry manage to contribute a high percentage to the USA GDP for the year 2012 (Drucker, 2013 p63). However, while the rise in significance of the hospitality industry is a positive move for the economy, it has some negative impacts on the occupational health of workers. The hospitality industry is one of the industries that are prone to high risk causative factors of occupational health, since it entails activities that are much riskier (Lin, 2003 p49). It entails working at night and even serving for relatively longer hours by the workers in this industry, which increases their chances of suffering from occupational illness caused by breathing, touching or ingesting various substances, as well as the risks of cuts or amputations, caused by use of cutlery and other kitchen equipment. The rise of the hos[itality industry also contributes to the health issues of strains, which are caused by standing for long hours while serving the customers (Gereffi, 1988 p21). All these risk factors, serve to increase the occupational health issues and challenges for the workers. The construction and manufacturing industries are the other notable industries that have been on the rise, thus triggering the change of the USA industrial structure. The construction industry accounted for the creation of 51,000 jobs in 2012, when the unemployment rate of the USA was soaring higher (Drucker, 2013 p81). This indicates that in that year, the significance of the construction industry in the USA economy greatly increased. The manufacturing industry is yet another industry that has been on the rise in the USA economy, managing to create a total of 50,000 jobs during the year 2012 (Drucker, 2013 p72). The rise of this industry has had to overcome various odds, owing to the stiff competition that the industry faces from the foreign manufacturing firms, which has been exporting largely to the USA economy. The rise of the construction and manufacturing industry to high levels of significance in the USA economy did not occur without some increased challenges to the occupational health of workers. Both the construction and the manufacturing industries are well known for exhibiting the highest risks to the occupational health of the workers, since they are characterized by health issues such as hearing problems, caused by exposure to noise, accidents and injuries as well as cuts, amputations and strains (Thompson, 1979 p35). All these risk factors serve to make the construction and the manufacturing industries the most hazardous industries of the economy. Thus, despite the important roles that the increase in the significance of the industries has on the USA economy, their rise has contributed to a change in the USA industrial structure, which has in turn contributed to the increased challenges of occupational health workers. Labor market changes and their impact to occupational health in the USA The US labor market has been experiencing changes over time, especially in regard to the number of workers. While the unemployment levels have been soaring in the USA, the rate of job expansion has been on the rise, with a recent expansion of the labor force by 220,000 new workers, to hit a total of 155.5 million in the USA labor force, by December 2012 (Buchholz & Blossfeld, 2012 p23). This employee group constitutes of individuals ranging from the age of 16 years and above, constituting of 47% of women and 53% of men. The expansion in the labor force is a good indication of the improving economic performance and the decrease in unemployment, since more of the people who were previously unemployed have got some employment. However, the case is different when it comes to the issues of occupational health. This is because, the more the individuals joining the labor force, the higher the number of potential victims of the occupational health-risks factors (Van, 2003 p319). This is especially the case because; the highest contributors to the expansion of the labor force are the manufacturing, the construction and the hospitality industries, which are the industries highly prone to the occupational health risk factors. The monthly growth in employment has averaged 153,000 per month, with the minimum that was registered being an expansion in 70, 000 jobs, for the April-June period. Considering that most of the new jobs created are non-farm payroll jobs, then, the issues associated with occupational health must increase as the new jobs expand, since the newly employed individuals are joining areas of operations where the risks of occupational health such as injuries, accidents, ergonomic issues and strains are eminent (Blau & Kahn, 2002 p14). Age factor is yet another aspect that has contributed to the increased challenges to the occupational health of workers. There is a tendency of the USA labor market to comprise of a large percentage of older workers compared to the percentage of the young workers. In the year 2011, the percentage of the workers who were above the age of 55 years was only 20.6% (Buchholz & Blossfeld, 2012 p18). However, this has now increased to hit a high of 21.5% of all workers. This trend has been observed to be occurring gradually since 2006, when the percentage of the workers who were above the age of 55 years stood at 17.5 % (Buchholz & Blossfeld, 2012 p21). Therefore, it can be observed that the percentage of the older workers is consistently increasing, an aspect that poses even more challenges to the occupational health of such workers. The older generation of workers is highly vulnerable to the occupational health-risk causative factors, compared to the younger generation. The older generation of workers is prone to workplace risk factors such as strains, repetitive motion disorders, hearing problems caused by exposure to noise and vision problems, which may lead to blindness (Clogg, 2001 p44). This indicates that the increase in the percentage of the older workers in the workforce, serves to increase the risks for such workers to be affected by the occupational health issues, while at the same time increasing the potential victims of these health risks. With this growing trend, it is observed that the percentage of the workers above the age of 55 years will have hit 25% by the close of the decade, which poses an eminent increase in the challenges of occupational health (Kulcsár & Curtis, 2012). Wage inequality is yet another change in the USA labor market that threatens to increase the challenges of occupational health. Since the year 2008, there has been a rise in wage inequality between the lower class of workers and the higher classes. Beginning the year 2008, there has been recorded wage stagnation especially for the bottom group of workers. This had occurred owing to the prevailing economic conditions, which had resulted to the stagnation of economic growth starting 2007, causing economic depression for some major economies (DeFreitas, 2008 p40). The stagnation in the wages for this group has caused an attempt for the employees to shift their jobs and engage in higher risk areas, which are relatively well paid. The higher involvement of the workers in the higher risky areas, serves to increase the risks of such individuals falling victim to the occupational health-risk causative factors (Abraham & McKersie, 1990 p92). This is because; the higher involvement of people in the areas that are prone to occupational health risks such as mining, construction and manufacturing increase the number of potential victims. Therefore, it can be observed that wage stagnation, a factor of changing USA labor market that creates wage inequality, serves to increase the challenges of occupational health for the workers. Strategies for dealing with those emergent occupational health challenges The increase in the emergent occupational heath challenges calls for counteractive strategies which can address the challenges. Therefore, preventive strategies are applied to eliminate or reduce the occurrence of hazardous agents and other causative factors in the workplace, either from the point of generation or transmission, to the workers. The first strategy applicable to address the emergent occupational health challenges, is the modification of equipment and processes (Healey & Walker, 2009 p25). The increased use of modern technology has brought about many new devices, processes and applications that pose as health hazards to the workers. Through the modification of such equipment and processes, the risks of generating the hazards or transmitting them to the workers are eliminated or at least minimized (Erickson, 1996 p36). When the equipments and the processes are modified to suit their application by the workers, in a way that does not pose greater challenges, then, the hazard associated with their applications are minimized, thus addressing the possible occupational health challenges. Correct operation and maintenance of processes and equipment is yet another strategy that is applied to eliminate or reduce the challenges posed by the emergent occupational health issues (Leka & Houdmont, 2010 p3). Through the proper maintenance and also application of the equipment by the operations, the risks associated with them are highly reduced. This is because, well maintained and operated equipment have lesser chances of breaking down, which in turn reduces their chances of causing accidents or injuring the workers during their operation. It is also very important to train the operators of such equipment efficiently, so that their use and application of the equipment does not contribute to injuries. The other strategy relevant for addressing the emergent occupational health challenges is the use of protective equipment, as well as observing good work practices and codes of conduct (Sands, 1988 p71). This strategy serves to ensure that that workers who operate the equipment are protected at all times, from the hazards that are likely to occur in the workplace. The applications of good work practices, as well as the observation of the relevant codes of conduct, serve to ensure that the workers follow the right procedures while operating the equipment and the machineries. This in turn helps to minimize the mistakes that can occur in the application process, such as the misapplication or the misuse of the equipment (Healey & Walker, 2009 p43). With the observation of the appropriate codes of conduct and working practices, coupled with the use of protective equipment when operating machineries and equipments, the possible hazards are eliminated or at least minimized, thus addressing the occupational health challenges. Finally, the education and training of workers is a counteractive strategy to the emergent occupational health challenges. When the workers are well educated and trained on the application, use, maintenance and operation of machineries and equipment, they are better placed to interact with the equipments productively, while minimizing the chances of occurrence of occupational health hazards (Sands, 1988 p68). This effectively addresses the emergent occupational health challenges. References Abraham, K. G., & McKersie, R. B. (1990). 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