Policy

DEOHS MS student, Lilian Liu was awarded the UW Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies' 2021-22 Washington State Labor Research Grant for the study, "Assessing Stakeholder Engagement in Labor Policy: T

Washington counties where DEOHS works DEOHS provides health and safety services and leads environmental and occupational research projects in 34 of 39 Washington counties. Data from 2020

Background: Within six weeks of the first case of COVID-19 in early Dec 2019 in Wuhan, China, the pandemic had already a foothold half-way around the world in Washington State, where the the first case of COVID-19 in the United States was confirmed on 20 Jan 2020 in a traveler returning from the index city.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of disaster events globally, resulting in heightened risks to human life, economic security, ecosystem health, and overall well-being. Hazard Mitigation Planning, overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is one tool used to reduce disaster risk by identifying potential hazards and taking action to reduce their impact.

The school environment is one of the primary locations where children spend time and is known to present numerous health hazards. Poor air quality is a known public health risk, especially for children, impacting health, attendance, and learning outcomes, but schools face many challenges in improving the school environment.

In October of 2020, Seattle City Council raised a Council Budget Action (CBA), proposing the allocation of $100,000 General Fund dollars to Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) to develop and implement a publicly accessible sink program.

Background: The United States is experiencing increasing temperatures and heatwaves due to anthropogenic climate change. Days of extreme heat lead to higher rates of morbidity and mortality and place greater demand on healthcare systems.

Objective: Firefighters are exposed to occupational hazards including carcinogens working in states like Washington with laws that provide line-of-duty benefits for certain cancers; however, research on exposure-disease relationships is inconsistent for covered cancers like malignant melanoma (MM).

Background: Power plants are primary emitters of greenhouse gases and criteria air pollutants, which are associated with harmful health impacts including increased risk of premature mortality.

Approximately 26% of the total global population is of reproductive age and experiences a menstrual cycle, which equates to about half of the global population who are women (House et al. 2012; Kim 2021). During menstruation, menstrual products are used to collect blood and other vaginal discharge from the vaginal opening.

Social, economic, political and technological trends over the past several decades have caused a number of adaptive changes in the labor market, including the fundamental transformation of the nature and organization of employment.

Objectives: Suicide and unintentional deaths related to firearms are a problem in the United States. Findings cited by the National Center for Health Statistics show a 33% increase in the U.S. suicide rate over the past two decades.

In this paper, we describe the way in which socioeconomic factors (i.e. language, socioeconomic status, and education), climate change, and the migration patterns of US farmworker populations affect health care utilization across the nation, specifically in Washington State.

The goal for environmental justice is for everyone to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, work, play and worship. Community-academic partnerships have been effective in addressing environmental health disparities in various settings.

Introduction

Purpose of the Study: Older adults are more susceptible to adverse health outcomes during and after a disaster compared with their younger counterparts.

Ultraviolet disinfection (UVD) units provide advanced onsite wastewater treatment, which is essential in regions where soils are unsuitable for conventional onsite sewage systems (OSSs). Although UVD treatment systems provide high-quality effluent under testing conditions, field effectiveness of UVD units is poorly understood.