The most pressing issue facing EHS professionals in the new year, according to ISHN’s 2015 EHS State of the Nation subscriber survey, is an age-old challenge that has been reported in ISHN State of the Nation surveys since the 1980s – dealing with the safety and health attitudes and behaviors of line employees. Consider:
Research published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine in November, 2014, which examined the chronic effects of shift work on cognition, showed that shift work is associated with impaired cognitive function.
A special report in the latest issue of HesaMag, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) periodical on health and safety at work, looks at the main factors that are undermining occupational health services in Europe. First among such factors is a shortage of specialists. The average age of occupational doctors is high, and little new blood is entering the profession.
There’s certainly no lack of challenges facing the EHS profession now and in the coming years, according to ISHN’s 2015 EHS State of the Nation subscriber survey. Almost four in ten (39%) of ISHN subscribers say contending with an expanding workload is one of the biggest challenges they face on the job.
One factor behind the favorable job satisfaction found in the EHS ranks, according to ISHN’s 2015 EHS State of the Nation subscriber survey, could come down to the bottom line – salaries. Fifty-five percent of respondents expect “slightly higher” incomes in 2015, and 6% expect “much higher” salaries.
Long-term changes seen at relatively low exposure levels
January 9, 2015
People exposed to asbestos from mining in Libby, Mont., show long-term changes in lung imaging and function tests, even with relatively low asbestos exposure, reports a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
According to ISHN’s 2015 EHS State of the Nation subscriber survey, EHS department staffing should remain stable in most organizations in the coming year. Expectations for overall EHS department headcounts in ’15: only 5% see headcounts shrinking “slightly” and a scant 1% plan on “significant decreases.”
According to ISHN’s 2015 EHS State of the Nation subscriber survey, job satisfaction and job security both receive high marks from about two-thirds of respondents – 63% express satisfaction with their current work and 65% feel secure in their jobs.
About four in ten (42%) of the ISHN subscribers surveyed in the 2015 EHS State of the Nation poll say their safety and health resource allocation will increase in 2015; 53% say resource allocation will hold steady with 2014 funding levels; and only 5% say resources will be cut.
Greensboro, NC city employees and contractors may have been exposed to asbestos while working toward the demolition of War Memorial Auditorium, according to a recent report in the region’s newspaper, The News & Record.
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