Occupational Health

Editor's note: In fall 2022, the Clean Safety & Health in Food Trucks (Clean SHiFT) team received a 2022 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

For many farmworkers across Washington state, the risks of working on the front lines during the pandemic have been compounded by an “infodemic.”

In a year like no other, DEOHS faculty, students and staff quickly pivoted to tackle new threats posed by the pandemic. We contributed to Washington state's COVID-19 response, showed the effectiveness of self-sampling for the virus and assessed impacts on essential workers—not to mention our furry friends.

DEOHS Teaching Professor Martin Cohen How do you lead 20 students on a field trip during a pandemic?

Elizabeth Torres with El Proyecto Bienestar. Even before COVID-19 showed up on Pacific Northwest farms last spring, some farmers and farmworker advocates were rushing to get ready for it.

The UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) has completed a major move into the new Hans Rosling Center for Population Health on the University of Washington campus.

Read the full story, including interactive graphics on the research findings. Learn more

As wildfires burn across the western United States—intensified by warmer, drier conditions caused by climate change—the forest workers who help prevent such fires are more critical than ever.

This summer, I interned at the Department of Occupational Safety & Health in the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. I learned about ensuring the health and safety of employees exposed to different hazards, especially the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now, some 140,000 agricultural workers are picking apples, peaches and other crops at the peak of Washington’s harvest season, just as Gov. Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency in response to wildfires burning across the state.

Editor's note: Natalie Peterson is a UW senior completing her BS in Environmental Health. Her JRCOSTEP internship was recently featured by the Indian Health Service on its website.  

Lianne Sheppard fought recent efforts by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suppress the role of academic scientists advising the agency on environmental policy. The University of Washington professor also battled back against attacks on her research into the link between cancer and glyphosate, a widely used herbicide.

Madeline Benoit MPH, One Health Hometown Portland, OR Future plans Getting a job that serves and helps other people. In the meantime, you can find her at the barn!

“How can we make our operating room safer during the pandemic?” When Dr. James Hecker, an anesthesiologist at UW Medical Center, heard this question from a fellow physician, he thought about the problem not just as a doctor but also as an engineer.

Can you reuse nonsurgical N95 respirators and KN95 and KF94 masks? Yes! Tips from DEOHS Assistant Professor Marissa Baker:  

 

Early in his career, Noah Seixas spent six months working on the assembly line of a rifle manufacturer in Massachusetts “to see what life was like on the line in a dirty, crappy factory.”

Alexa Yadama BS, Environmental Health Hometown Pullman, WA Future plans A career in environmental or public health, and eventually a master’s in public health. “ I really appreciate mixing public health with my science background and helping people with the knowledge I have.”

  Read the green cleaning fact sheet En Español

Business owners who have weathered pandemic closures face a new challenge as they prepare to reopen—protecting their workers in a landscape altered by the novel coronavirus. Now researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) are teaming up to help them.

Each spring, seasonal farmworkers arrive in the Pacific Northwest for the planting season. This year, they’ve been met with a public health emergency.

Read the news release Workers who pick our fruits and vegetables already face harsh conditions in fields during summer harvest months. Those conditions will worsen significantly over the coming decades.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us all to adapt—whether that means throwing together dinner from pantry staples or tackling an urgent public health concern with some ingenuity and left-over materials in your lab.

Women who experience high employment precarity prior to or during pregnancy have a 48% higher risk of delivering low-birth-weight infants than women with low employment precarity, according to a study from researchers at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Read the news release about Baker's study

Are you a business owner or worker grappling with the impact of COVID-19 on your workplace? See our COVID-19 resource guide for businesses and employees