Protecting Workers
“In the United States, approximately 400,000 adults with developmental disabilities are employed”, according to Steve Lenhart, an industrial hygienist with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Lenhart, an industrial hygienist with NIOSH, recently published a health evaluation of the sheltered workshop environments which are the key employers for about 300,000 of these DD workers.
Developmental disability functionally describes a condition of someone who has had one or more mental or physical impairments from an early age. Another segment of the DD definition is that these impairments are likely to continue indefinitely.
In light of this, a NIOSH research team undertook an effort to define and present recommendations for improving protections for the workers with DD. “The teams findings”, according to Lenhart, “are that sheltered workshop employees would benefit from increased management awareness and a more proactive approach to worker health and safety”.
An article about the NIOSH study “Protecting Workers with Developmental Disabilities” is available from the web site of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The article’s web address is www.cdc.gov/niosh/wdd-index.html. You may reach Steve Lenhart at: NIOSH, 4676 Columbia Parkway, R-11, Cincinnati, OH, 45226-1998; phone: 513-841-4374.
(Protecting Workers with Developmental Disabilities; Steven W. Lenhart; Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, Volume 15(2), 2000)
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- July/August 2000
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