Foreword

Fifty years ago the Occupational Safety and Health Act went into effect promising every worker the right to a safe job. Workplace hazards result in 5, 333 traumatic injuries and 95,000 occupational diseases (2019, U.S.) from chemical exposures, major fires, construction collapses, infectious disease outbreaks, workplace assaults, mine and stonework dust exposure, agricultural or forestry accidents, among others. There is no comprehensive surveillance system for occupational illnesses. The cost of injuries and illnesses is estimated at $250-330 billion per year. Latino and Black workers face an increased risk of injuries and illnesses compared to their white co-workers; “foreign-born” were two-thirds of the Latino workers killed on the job in 2019. In 2019, nearly 3.5 million workers across all industries had work-related injuries and illnesses that were reported by employers. Health care workers and meat-packing workers had hazardous exposure to the novel coronavirus as essential workers. Occupational diseases are preventable. It is imperative that we need to have new knowledge on occupational diseases and safety to control and prevent work-related diseases and fatality. For the working environment of our industrialized countries and worker’ health and safety, a detailed and well referenced textbook is essential, and this book provides such information.

Dr. Ki Moon Bang has studied the epidemiology of occupational diseases for his 30-year career. He began at the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Utah with an analysis of the pulmonary function of miners exposed to trona dust. He was involved in numerous studies of workers exposed to gases, asbestos, silica, coal mine dust, and toxic chemicals. He had the special experience of studying coal miners and other occupations at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Morgantown, West Virginia. As professor of epidemiology and occupational health, he has taught epidemiology and occupational health to graduate and medical students at Howard University College of Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine, and Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. He has recruited the leading occupational medicine academicians to cover all of the salient topics: silicosis, obstructive lung disease, mesothelioma, asthma, musculoskeletal disorders, coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, arsenic, and new work-related disorders emerging in the 21st century for this textbook.

This textbook will serve as very useful reference for occupational healthcare professionals including occupational medicine specialists, epidemiologists, industrial hygienists, and graduate students in public health. Of interest to a wide audience, this book also will enhance education of trainees in occupational disease and will serve as an up-to-date resource for practicing occupational medicine and other health professionals. This textbook will shed light on the current state of our understanding of occupational disease; it will look toward the future when reduced exposures and enforcement of rigorous policies will eliminate the burden of occupational diseases in the workplace. Lastly, occupational and environmental health professionals are on the front lines of communication of the importance to decarbonize the global economy to lessen the effects of global warming on workers and their families.