You do not have to restart your browser or your computer after you enable JavaScript. Simply click the 'Reload' button. In many respects, the risks are higher than those for male workers. The editorial provides an overview of occupational health and safety hazards for working women. One of the articles addresses work stress and women.
Women currently make up almost half of the general U.S. work force.
In the growing health care industry, where a complex range of hazards exists, including latex allergy, back injuries, and needlestick injuries, about 80 percent of the work force is female. Increasingly, women are moving into occupations once held exclusively by men, such as the construction trades. In such instances, physiological differences between women and men can translate into occupational hazards, as when women operate equipment designed for male workers of larger stature. Women workers are at disproportionately high risk for musculoskeletal injuries on the job, suffering 63 percent of all work-related repetitive motion injuries. Hazards such as radiation, glycol ethers, lead, and strenuous physical labor can affect a woman's reproductive health, including pregnancy outcomes.