PS Asks

摘要

PS: You were recently named executive director of the new Integrated Health & Safety Institute, which is a joint effort between UL and American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). Explain your role and provide some background on the institute. Todd: I am in an advocacy and outreach role for the institute as part of our mission to promote a safe working environment for people. Integration of health and safety is not a new concept, but we feel that there is an opportunity to accelerate that movement and adoption of it. The institute itself is designed to promote this process and drive more research around how organizations can do it, to showcase those who are doing it, and to provide resources and tools to help organizations do it. We also know that healthcare costs are becoming insurmountable. People spend one-third of their adult lives in workplaces. When they retire they become consumers of Medicare and Medicaid, neither of which is sustainable in its current state. If workers can retire healthier, then we can have an impact. It is also known that 20% of the retired population is consuming 80% of the benefits, a lot of which is related to chronic health conditions. No worker leaves his/her health conditions at home when going to work nor does s/he leave occupational disease exposure at work when going home. The institute will work to get the government and authorities with jurisdiction and other stakeholders to support more research in this area. Through the institute, we hope to create standards, or at least have the opportunity to do so. We are also looking at research in the health and safety arena that is different from what has been done in the past.