Primary and Secondary Prevention of Illness in the Workplace
Illnesses and injuries in the workplace have a considerable impact that go beyond the ill-health and suffering of the affected individual. The broader socioeconomic impact of workplace illnesses and injuries include reduced workplace productivity, creatin
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Brian R. Theodore
Overview Illnesses and injuries in the workplace have a considerable impact that go beyond the ill-health and suffering of the affected individual. The broader socioeconomic impact of workplace illnesses and injuries include reduced workplace productivity, creating a dangerous work environment, increasing healthcare costs, and potentially increased liability assessments through workers’ compensation premiums. This chapter discusses primary and secondary prevention strategies suitable for implementation at the workplace. An overview of the principles of preventive medicine is presented, with a description and broad goals for primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary prevention strategies. Following this, a review of the theoretical framework that was developed to address prevention strategies and health promotion behaviors is discussed, with a focus on the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior, the Precaution Adoption Process Model, and the Transtheoretical Model. Finally, overviews of primary and secondary prevention strategies are discussed for common diseases and illness prevalent in the workplace, including prevention of occupational injuries and disability, smoking, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental health disorders. At the outset, it should again be noted that illnesses and injuries in the workplace have a considerable impact that go beyond the affected individual. There are broader socioeconomic impacts of such workplace illnesses and injuries as have been discussed in other chapters of this handbook. For example, in the United States, the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) compiles annual reports of workplace illnesses and injuries across all public and private organizations nationwide. The most recent statistics from the BLS indicate that approximately 3.8 cases of nonfatal workplace injuries and illness per 100 full-time workers were recorded for the 2010 fiscal year, including 1.8 cases (per 100 workers) that involved days away from work, job transfers, or job restrictions (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). Among the total reported cases, 95% of these cases
B.R. Theodore, Ph.D. (*) Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Box 356540, Seattle, WA 98195, USA e-mail: [email protected] R.J. Gatchel and I.Z. Schultz (eds.), Handbook of Occupational Health and Wellness, Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-4839-6_19, © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
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involved workplace injuries, while the remaining 5% were due to occupational-related illness (the majority being skin diseases/disorders, respiratory conditions, poisonings, and hearing loss). Over the last decade, statistics have also identified mental health disorders as another significant contributor to workplace disability, and also potentially as a risk factor for injuries and illnesses (The World Health Organization, 2004). In the United States, the population prevalence
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