Workplace exposure

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Health care workers who are exposed to needles – for example, those administering a COVID-19 vaccine – are at risk of sharps injuries and exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

When a COVID-19 case occurs in the workplace, the local health department may ask an employer for help. Health departments are responsible for leading case investigations, contact tracing and outbreak investigations.

Overexposure to welding fumes and gases can cause both short-term and chronic health effects, resulting in dizziness, unconsciousness, illness and even death.

People who work in hot, humid conditions may not like the idea of wearing a facial covering to decrease their risk of exposure to COVID-19. But it’s necessary.

Wearing a facemask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 can present obstacles to communication, “an important and complex transaction that depends on visual and, often, auditory cues,” says Debara L. Tucci, director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Employers in the automotive service industry can reduce workers’ risk of exposure to COVID-19. Ensuring workers disinfect keys, key fobs, steering wheels, vehicle controls and all other commonly touched surfaces are among the recommendations listed in guidelines from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (also known as Cal/OSHA) as well as in a poster recently published by federal OSHA.

Whenever muscle damage occurs – whether it’s the result of a work-related incident, heat exposure, overuse or other cause – rhabdomyolysis can follow. Also called “rhabdo,” the condition develops when damaged or dead muscles break down and release cell contents into the blood, according to NIOSH.

Do you work with wet cement, paints or plaster? Maybe adhesives? These are just some of the materials that can irritate your skin because they can contain harsh substances such as hexavalent chromium, calcium hydroxide, toluene, xylene, epoxy resins and lime.

A best practice to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections is routinely cleaning and disinfecting/sanitizing surfaces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Ticks can carry potentially life-threatening infectious diseases. Most active during warmer months (April-September), they reside mostly in grassy, brushy or wooded areas – putting virtually all outdoor workers in the United States at risk of exposure.