ABSTRACT
Eula Bingham, a toxicologist who invigorated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as its director and set stringent standards to protect workers from hazardous materials, died on 13 June 2020 in Cincinnati. Throughout Dr. Bingham's long career, she insisted tirelessly that workers had the absolute right to be safe on the job. Her thoughtful and generous wisdom shaped the entire field of occupational safety and health. Her bold and courageous actions prevented countless illnesses and injuries in workers around the world. This article presents the edited transcript from a Virtual Memorial Remembrance of Eula Bingham.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Funeral Rites , United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration/organization & administration , Humans , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2 , United States , United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration/standardsABSTRACT
Thailand lacks occupational injury and illness (OII) surveillance for its agricultural sector, a sector that comprises 34% of the total Thai workforce but is not covered by the workers compensation system. This study used data from Thailand's Universal Health Care System to estimate the medical costs of OIIs from agricultural work in Thailand. In 2017, OII medical costs totaled $47 million (USD), about ~ 0.2% of the gross domestic product produced by the Thai agricultural sector. We recommend that some of the national funds currently used for medical treatment of OIIs be used instead to develop and implement prevention programs in agriculture. This would improve not only worker health and safety, but also productivity. Availability of data on working conditions, injuries and illnesses, and especially lost time, lost income and productivity, and OII-related costs for the workers and their dependents might enable better public health policy formulation.
Subject(s)
Occupational Diseases , Occupational Injuries , Accidents, Occupational , Agriculture , Humans , Occupational Injuries/epidemiology , Thailand/epidemiology , Workers' CompensationABSTRACT
On 13 February 2020, the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability held the Michigan Environmental Justice Summit 2020: Commemorating the Thirtieth Anniversary of Michigan's 1990 Conference on Race and the Environment and Looking Toward the Future. The Summit hosted a dynamic panel of community environmental justice leaders throughout the region who have "boots on the ground" in the progress and pursuit of environmental justice. The panelists included Donele Wilkins, the President/CEO of the Green Door Initiative in Detroit, MI; Andrea Pierce, Chair and Founder of the Anishinaabek Caucus, Idle No More Michigan, MI; and Theresa Landrum, co-founder of the 48217 Community and Environmental Health Organization, Detroit, MI. This article includes an edited transcript of the panel discussion. The panelists detail multiple grassroots efforts to remedy environmental injustice in Michigan.
Subject(s)
Environmental Health , Social Justice , Humans , MichiganABSTRACT
On 13 February 2020, the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability held the Michigan Environmental Justice Summit 2020: Commemorating the Thirtieth Anniversary of Michigan's 1990 Conference on Race and the Environment and Looking Toward the Future. The Summit hosted a dynamic panel of national leaders, individuals who became game changers in the Environmental Justice movement. The panel featured Dr. Robert Bullard, known as the "Father of Environmental Justice"; Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Policy Director of New Consensus; Charles Lee, Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Regina Strong, Environmental Justice Public Advocate for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy; and Dr. Beverly Wright, Founder and Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. This article includes an edited transcript of the panel discussion. The panelists detail the history of the U.S. environmental justice movement and directions for its future.
