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Cumulative Risks from Stressor Exposures and Personal Risk Factors in the Workplace: Examples from a Scoping Review

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  • Mary A. Fox

    (Department of Health Policy and Management, Risk Sciences and Public Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA)

  • Richard Todd Niemeier

    (Office of the Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA)

  • Naomi Hudson

    (Division of Science Integration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA)

  • Miriam R. Siegel

    (Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA)

  • Gary Scott Dotson

    (Former CDC/NIOSH, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
    Current affiliation: Cardno ChemRisk, Cincinnati, OH 45242, USA.)

Abstract

Protecting worker and public health involves an understanding of multiple determinants, including exposures to biological, chemical, or physical agents or stressors in combination with other determinants including type of employment, health status, and individual behaviors. This has been illustrated during the COVID-19 pandemic by increased exposure and health risks for essential workers and those with pre-existing conditions, and mask-wearing behavior. Health risk assessment practices for environmental and occupational health typically do not incorporate multiple stressors in combination with personal risk factors. While conceptual developments in cumulative risk assessment to inform a more holistic approach to these real-life conditions have progressed, gaps remain, and practical methods and applications are rare. This scoping review characterizes existing evidence of combined stressor exposures and personal factors and risk to foster methods for occupational cumulative risk assessment. The review found examples from many workplaces, such as manufacturing, offices, and health care; exposures to chemical, physical, and psychosocial stressors combined with modifiable and unmodifiable determinants of health; and outcomes including respiratory function and disease, cancers, cardio-metabolic diseases, and hearing loss, as well as increased fertility, menstrual dysfunction and worsened mental health. To protect workers, workplace exposures and modifiable and unmodifiable characteristics should be considered in risk assessment and management. Data on combination exposures can improve assessments and risk estimates and inform protective exposure limits and management strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary A. Fox & Richard Todd Niemeier & Naomi Hudson & Miriam R. Siegel & Gary Scott Dotson, 2021. "Cumulative Risks from Stressor Exposures and Personal Risk Factors in the Workplace: Examples from a Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5850-:d:565181
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Schulte, P.A. & Pandalai, S. & Wulsin, V. & Chun, H.K., 2012. "Interaction of occupational and personal risk factors in workforce health and safety," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(3), pages 434-448.
    2. Richard Todd Niemeier & Pamela R.D. Williams & Alan Rossner & Jane E. Clougherty & Glenn E. Rice, 2020. "A Cumulative Risk Perspective for Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Mary A. Fox & L. Elizabeth Brewer & Lawrence Martin, 2017. "An Overview of Literature Topics Related to Current Concepts, Methods, Tools, and Applications for Cumulative Risk Assessment (2007–2016)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-28, April.
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