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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Ruth A. Ruttenberg (panel moderator), PhD, Labor Safety and Health, National Labor College, 10000 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MA 20903, 301-571-4226, rruttenberg@nationallaborcollege.edu

Five recent alumni of the National Labor College, with majors in occupational safety and health, present their senior thesis research. These students have unique access to the attitudes and activities of rank-and-file trade unionists, as they are members of trade unions themselves. Papers are both activist-oriented and scholarly – a unique blend of advocacy and original research meant to improve safety and health for themselves and their union brothers and sisters. Proposed for the 2006 meetings is a panel of five students, moderated by a college professor.

Robert Garuccio, Steelworkers, discusses locomotive engineers' hearing loss at the steel plant where he works.

Don Harris, Ironworkers, documents the toll, taken on members and their families, as a result of falls, and also reports on a survey in his local on use of adequate fall protection.

Michael Kassman, Bricklayers, discusses the hazards of silica exposure and a survey of the poor training of most of his members and the lack of fit tests.

James Lee, Electrical, discusses gaps in hazard awareness necessary for electrical construction safety. He identifies a particularly poor understanding of a serious lock-out/tag-out procedure.

James Young, Plumbers and Pipefitters, discusses his documentation of both acute and chronic illnesses among his members, associated with welding fume exposure.

Ruth Ruttenberg, the panel moderator, is a professor at the National Labor College responsible for advising students during the research and writing of their theses. She has worked and written in the field of occupational safety and health for over 30 years.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the range of occupational safety and health issues, including human rights, that labor must study, in order to improve working conditions.
• Analyze and evaluate primary research being done by students at the National Labor College.
• Recognize the unique contribution of academic research done by rank-and-file union workers.

Keywords: Labor, Occupational Safety

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No