263583 Green Collar Workers: Surveillance strategies for the New Workforce Frontier

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM

Ian McKeown, MS , Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami, Miami
Alberto Caban-Martinez, PhD, DO, MPH, CPH , Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Sharon L. Christ, PhD , College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Manuel Cifuentes, MD, ScD , School of Health and Environment - Department of Work Environment, University of Massachusetts - Lowell, Lowell, MA
William G. LeBlanc, PhD , Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine - NIOSH Research Group, Miami, FL
Lora E. Fleming, MD, PhD , Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine - OHH Center and NIOSH Research Group, Miami, FL
Tainya C. Clarke, MPH, MS , Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Manuel A. Ocasio, BA , Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Diana Kachan, BS , Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
David J. Lee, PhD , Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
     
Background: The emerging green-collar workforce, comprising the growing environmental segment of the economy focused on sustainability through green jobs, represents a new US workforce frontier. Population-based occupational health surveillance systems specifically for US green-collar workers have yet to be developed. We describe a methodological approach to using existing national databases to examine issues of morbidity and mortality among green-collar workers.

Methods: Data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) was linked with the US Occupational Information Network (O*NET) System using key occupational identifiers collected in O*NET (e.g., Standard Occupational Classification [SOC] code, occupational title, physical work demands, job characteristics). Using descriptive and innovative advanced statistical methods (such as Structural Equation Modeling [SEM]), we characterized the current US green-collar worker health status as well as study linkages between occupational exposures, health status, functional limitations with musculoskeletal disorders and injury risk.

Results: Descriptive statistics were developed for the total group of green-collar workers, then stratified by gender and race/ethnicity when sample size permitted. NORA sector-specific strata for the green-collar workers, as well as measures of injury, poisoning episodes and musculoskeletal disorders are included. Using a SEM framework, the relationships between occupation and functional limitations along with associations mediated by health behaviors (e.g. leisure-time physical activity) are described.

Conclusions: The present linkage represents the first attempt at developing a national occupational surveillance system using existing federal level data (e.g. NHIS and O*NET). Additional surveillance systems are needed to identify occupational health and safety priorities, trends, and emerging issues within this new green-collar workforce.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe methodological approaches in examining health issues among green-collar workers using nationally-representative databases. 2. Identify disparities in the health status of the US green-collar workforce. 3. Understand associations between occupational and functional limitations mediated by health behaviors.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract author because I currently volunteer with the Occupational Research Group in the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health and work as a sustainability coordinator at the University of Miami.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3158.0: Topics in Occupational Health Surveillance