Richard Neitzel | University of Michigan School of Public Health (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Richard Neitzel

Research paper thumbnail of Effort–Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Background: Solid waste workers are exposed to a plethora of occupational hazards and may also ex... more Background: Solid waste workers are exposed to a plethora of occupational hazards and may also experience work-related stress. Our study had three specific hypotheses: (1) waste workers experience effort–reward imbalance (ERI) with high self-reported effort but low reward, (2) unionized workers experience greater ERI, and (3) workers with higher income have lower ERI. Methods: Waste workers from three solid waste sites in Michigan participated in this cross-sectional study. We characterized perceived work stress using the short-version ERI questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and linear tests for trend were assessed for each scale. Linear regression models were constructed to examine the relationship between structural factors of work stress and ERI. Gradient-boosted regression trees evaluated which factors of effort or reward best characterize workers’ stress. Results: Among 68 participants, 37% of workers reported high effort and low reward from work (ERI > 1). Constant pressu...

Research paper thumbnail of Injury Risk and Noise Exposure in Firefighter Training Operations

Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Safety and health hazard observations in Hmong farming operations

Journal of agromedicine, 2014

Agricultural workers have a high risk of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Howeve... more Agricultural workers have a high risk of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. However, there are very few standardized tools available to assess safety and health in agricultural operations. Additionally, there are a number of groups of agricultural workers, including Hmong refugees and immigrants, for which virtually no information on safety and health conditions is available. This study developed an observation-based methodology for systematically evaluating occupational health and safety hazards in agriculture, and pilot-tested this on several small-scale Hmong farming operations. Each observation assessed of range of safety and health hazards (e.g., musculoskeletal hazards, dust and pollen, noise, and mechanical hazards), as well as on factors such as type of work area, presence of personal protective equipment, and weather conditions. Thirty-six observations were collected on nine farms. The most common hazards observed were bending at the back and lifting <50 p...

Research paper thumbnail of Pesticide exposure and adverse health effects associated with farmwork in Northern Thailand

Journal of Occupational Health

Research paper thumbnail of Work Task Association with Lead Urine and Blood Concentrations in Informal Electronic Waste Recyclers in Thailand and Chile

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

The informal recycling of electronic waste (“e-waste”) is a lucrative business for workers in low... more The informal recycling of electronic waste (“e-waste”) is a lucrative business for workers in low- and middle-income countries across the globe. Workers dismantle e-waste to recover valuable materials that can be sold for income. However, workers expose themselves and the surrounding environment to hazardous agents during the process, including toxic metals like lead (Pb). To assess which tools, tasks, and job characteristics result in higher concentrations of urine and blood lead levels among workers, ten random samples of 2 min video clips were analyzed per participant from video recordings of workers at e-waste recycling sites in Thailand and Chile to enumerate potential predictors of lead burden. Blood and urine samples were collected from participants to measure lead concentration. Boosted regression trees (BRTs) were run to determine the relative importance of video-derived work variables and demographics, and their relationship with the urine and blood concentrations. Of 45 v...

Research paper thumbnail of Respirable silica and noise exposures among stone processing workers in northern Thailand

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

Research paper thumbnail of Spatial evaluation of environmental noise with the use of participatory sensing system in Singapore

Noise Mapping

Existing studies in Singapore on environmental noise are scarce and limited in scale due to the n... more Existing studies in Singapore on environmental noise are scarce and limited in scale due to the need for expensive equipment and sophisticated modelling expertise. This study presents the approach of using participatory sensing and mobile phones to monitor environmental sound levels around Singapore. iPhones running the AmbiCiti application was adopted to sample equivalent continuous 30-second average outdoor sound levels (LAeq ,30 sec). The aggregated mean of each region was evaluated and the spatial distribution of environmental noise was analysed using noise maps generated from the measurement data. A total of 18,768 LAeq ,30 sec measurements were collected over ten weeks. About 93.6% of the daytime measurements (07:00 – 19:00) exceeded the WHO recommended level of 55 dBA to minimise negative non-auditory health effects due to noise. The results of this study suggest that the population of Singapore is potentially at risk of adverse non-auditory health effects and, to a lesser ex...

Research paper thumbnail of Metal Exposures, Noise Exposures, and Audiometry from E-Waste Workers in Agbogbloshie, Ghana

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Metals, such as lead, may be ototoxic, but this property is not well understood, especially in co... more Metals, such as lead, may be ototoxic, but this property is not well understood, especially in conjunction with noise. This cross-sectional study investigated hearing, noise, and metal biomarkers in informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling workers in Accra, Ghana. Workers (N = 58) participated in audiometric testing, a survey, blood collection, and personal noise dosimetry. Sixty percent of participants displayed audiometric notches indicative of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Most workers (86%) reported high noise while working. Daily average noise levels were in the range 74.4–90.0 dBA. Linear regression models indicated participants who lived at Agbogbloshie Market for longer periods were significantly associated with worse hearing thresholds at 4 and 6 kHz. The models did not identify blood levels of lead, mercury, or cadmium as significant predictors of worse hearing thresholds or larger noise notches, but increased levels of selenium were significantly associated with...

Research paper thumbnail of Product representations in conjoint analysis in an LMIC setting: Comparing attribute valuation when three-dimensional physical prototypes are shown versus two-dimensional renderings

Research paper thumbnail of The Stakeholder Agreement Metric: Quantifying Preference Agreement Between Product Stakeholders

Journal of Mechanical Design

Go/no-go decisions require engineering design teams to evaluate whether a concept is worth furthe... more Go/no-go decisions require engineering design teams to evaluate whether a concept is worth further investment of resources. These decisions can be difficult when product success depends on multiple stakeholders in addition to the end-user. This study proposes the Stakeholder Agreement Metric (SAM) framework to estimate the level of agreement between stakeholder preferences via the distance between optimal designs calculated from a preference model derived from conjoint analysis. The framework was tested in an empirical case study describing the design and piloting of a hand tool for informal electronic waste workers in Thailand. Data from a follow-up assessment indicate the SAM estimate aligned with future metrics of stakeholder satisfaction. The case study also qualitatively compared SAM to the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Data collection issues with AHP illustrated some of the practical limitations of the framework. This study suggests that the SAM framework is a promising ...

Research paper thumbnail of Noise exposures in different community settings measured by traditional dosimeter and smartphone app

Research paper thumbnail of Risk of noise-induced hearing loss due to recreational sound: Review and recommendations

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Research paper thumbnail of Occupational exposure to soft paper dust and mortality

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

ObjectivesOccupational exposure to soft paper dust is associated with impaired lung function. Whe... more ObjectivesOccupational exposure to soft paper dust is associated with impaired lung function. Whether there is an increased risk for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is unclear.MethodsWe studied 7870 workers from three Swedish soft paper mills, and defined high-exposed workers, as having been exposed to soft paper dust exceeding 5 mg/m3 for at least 5 years. The remaining workers were classified as ‘low exposed’. Person-years at risk were calculated and stratified according to gender, age and calendar-year. The follow-up time was from 1960 to 2013. The expected numbers of deaths were calculated using the Swedish population as reference and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) with 95% CIs were assessed.ResultsThere was an increased mortality due to obstructive lung disease (asthma and COPD), among high-exposed workers, SMR 1.89, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.83, based on 23 observed cases. High-exposed workers had an increased mortality from asthma, SMR 4.13, 95% CI 1.78 to...

Research paper thumbnail of A semi‐quantitative job exposure matrix for dust exposures in Swedish soft tissue paper mills

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

Research paper thumbnail of Progress in assessing and limiting occupational noise exposures in the United States

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Research paper thumbnail of Self-Reported Health and Metal Body Burden in an Electronic Waste Recycling Community in Northeastern Thailand

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Research paper thumbnail of Lung function and paper dust exposure among workers in a soft tissue paper mill

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

Research paper thumbnail of Stress, health, noise exposures, and injuries among electronic waste recycling workers in Ghana

Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology

Research paper thumbnail of A Review of Biomarkers Used for Assessing Human Exposure to Metals from E-Waste

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Electronic waste recycling presents workers and communities with a potential for exposures to dan... more Electronic waste recycling presents workers and communities with a potential for exposures to dangerous chemicals, including metals. This review examines studies that report on blood, hair, and urine biomarkers of communities and workers exposed to metals from e-waste. Our results from the evaluation of 19 publications found that there are consistently elevated levels of lead found in occupationally and non-occupationally exposed populations, in both the formal and the informal e-waste recycling sectors. Various other metals were found to be elevated in different exposure groups assessed using various types of biomarkers, but with less consistency than found in lead. Antimony and cadmium generally showed higher concentrations in exposed groups compared to reference group(s). Mercury and arsenic did not show a trend among exposure groups due to the dietary and environmental considerations. Observed variations in trends amongst exposure groups within studies using multiple biomarkers ...

Research paper thumbnail of Applying a novel environmental health framework theory (I-ACT) to noise pollution policies in the United States, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

Research paper thumbnail of Effort–Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Background: Solid waste workers are exposed to a plethora of occupational hazards and may also ex... more Background: Solid waste workers are exposed to a plethora of occupational hazards and may also experience work-related stress. Our study had three specific hypotheses: (1) waste workers experience effort–reward imbalance (ERI) with high self-reported effort but low reward, (2) unionized workers experience greater ERI, and (3) workers with higher income have lower ERI. Methods: Waste workers from three solid waste sites in Michigan participated in this cross-sectional study. We characterized perceived work stress using the short-version ERI questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and linear tests for trend were assessed for each scale. Linear regression models were constructed to examine the relationship between structural factors of work stress and ERI. Gradient-boosted regression trees evaluated which factors of effort or reward best characterize workers’ stress. Results: Among 68 participants, 37% of workers reported high effort and low reward from work (ERI > 1). Constant pressu...

Research paper thumbnail of Injury Risk and Noise Exposure in Firefighter Training Operations

Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Safety and health hazard observations in Hmong farming operations

Journal of agromedicine, 2014

Agricultural workers have a high risk of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Howeve... more Agricultural workers have a high risk of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. However, there are very few standardized tools available to assess safety and health in agricultural operations. Additionally, there are a number of groups of agricultural workers, including Hmong refugees and immigrants, for which virtually no information on safety and health conditions is available. This study developed an observation-based methodology for systematically evaluating occupational health and safety hazards in agriculture, and pilot-tested this on several small-scale Hmong farming operations. Each observation assessed of range of safety and health hazards (e.g., musculoskeletal hazards, dust and pollen, noise, and mechanical hazards), as well as on factors such as type of work area, presence of personal protective equipment, and weather conditions. Thirty-six observations were collected on nine farms. The most common hazards observed were bending at the back and lifting <50 p...

Research paper thumbnail of Pesticide exposure and adverse health effects associated with farmwork in Northern Thailand

Journal of Occupational Health

Research paper thumbnail of Work Task Association with Lead Urine and Blood Concentrations in Informal Electronic Waste Recyclers in Thailand and Chile

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

The informal recycling of electronic waste (“e-waste”) is a lucrative business for workers in low... more The informal recycling of electronic waste (“e-waste”) is a lucrative business for workers in low- and middle-income countries across the globe. Workers dismantle e-waste to recover valuable materials that can be sold for income. However, workers expose themselves and the surrounding environment to hazardous agents during the process, including toxic metals like lead (Pb). To assess which tools, tasks, and job characteristics result in higher concentrations of urine and blood lead levels among workers, ten random samples of 2 min video clips were analyzed per participant from video recordings of workers at e-waste recycling sites in Thailand and Chile to enumerate potential predictors of lead burden. Blood and urine samples were collected from participants to measure lead concentration. Boosted regression trees (BRTs) were run to determine the relative importance of video-derived work variables and demographics, and their relationship with the urine and blood concentrations. Of 45 v...

Research paper thumbnail of Respirable silica and noise exposures among stone processing workers in northern Thailand

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

Research paper thumbnail of Spatial evaluation of environmental noise with the use of participatory sensing system in Singapore

Noise Mapping

Existing studies in Singapore on environmental noise are scarce and limited in scale due to the n... more Existing studies in Singapore on environmental noise are scarce and limited in scale due to the need for expensive equipment and sophisticated modelling expertise. This study presents the approach of using participatory sensing and mobile phones to monitor environmental sound levels around Singapore. iPhones running the AmbiCiti application was adopted to sample equivalent continuous 30-second average outdoor sound levels (LAeq ,30 sec). The aggregated mean of each region was evaluated and the spatial distribution of environmental noise was analysed using noise maps generated from the measurement data. A total of 18,768 LAeq ,30 sec measurements were collected over ten weeks. About 93.6% of the daytime measurements (07:00 – 19:00) exceeded the WHO recommended level of 55 dBA to minimise negative non-auditory health effects due to noise. The results of this study suggest that the population of Singapore is potentially at risk of adverse non-auditory health effects and, to a lesser ex...

Research paper thumbnail of Metal Exposures, Noise Exposures, and Audiometry from E-Waste Workers in Agbogbloshie, Ghana

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Metals, such as lead, may be ototoxic, but this property is not well understood, especially in co... more Metals, such as lead, may be ototoxic, but this property is not well understood, especially in conjunction with noise. This cross-sectional study investigated hearing, noise, and metal biomarkers in informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling workers in Accra, Ghana. Workers (N = 58) participated in audiometric testing, a survey, blood collection, and personal noise dosimetry. Sixty percent of participants displayed audiometric notches indicative of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Most workers (86%) reported high noise while working. Daily average noise levels were in the range 74.4–90.0 dBA. Linear regression models indicated participants who lived at Agbogbloshie Market for longer periods were significantly associated with worse hearing thresholds at 4 and 6 kHz. The models did not identify blood levels of lead, mercury, or cadmium as significant predictors of worse hearing thresholds or larger noise notches, but increased levels of selenium were significantly associated with...

Research paper thumbnail of Product representations in conjoint analysis in an LMIC setting: Comparing attribute valuation when three-dimensional physical prototypes are shown versus two-dimensional renderings

Research paper thumbnail of The Stakeholder Agreement Metric: Quantifying Preference Agreement Between Product Stakeholders

Journal of Mechanical Design

Go/no-go decisions require engineering design teams to evaluate whether a concept is worth furthe... more Go/no-go decisions require engineering design teams to evaluate whether a concept is worth further investment of resources. These decisions can be difficult when product success depends on multiple stakeholders in addition to the end-user. This study proposes the Stakeholder Agreement Metric (SAM) framework to estimate the level of agreement between stakeholder preferences via the distance between optimal designs calculated from a preference model derived from conjoint analysis. The framework was tested in an empirical case study describing the design and piloting of a hand tool for informal electronic waste workers in Thailand. Data from a follow-up assessment indicate the SAM estimate aligned with future metrics of stakeholder satisfaction. The case study also qualitatively compared SAM to the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Data collection issues with AHP illustrated some of the practical limitations of the framework. This study suggests that the SAM framework is a promising ...

Research paper thumbnail of Noise exposures in different community settings measured by traditional dosimeter and smartphone app

Research paper thumbnail of Risk of noise-induced hearing loss due to recreational sound: Review and recommendations

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Research paper thumbnail of Occupational exposure to soft paper dust and mortality

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

ObjectivesOccupational exposure to soft paper dust is associated with impaired lung function. Whe... more ObjectivesOccupational exposure to soft paper dust is associated with impaired lung function. Whether there is an increased risk for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is unclear.MethodsWe studied 7870 workers from three Swedish soft paper mills, and defined high-exposed workers, as having been exposed to soft paper dust exceeding 5 mg/m3 for at least 5 years. The remaining workers were classified as ‘low exposed’. Person-years at risk were calculated and stratified according to gender, age and calendar-year. The follow-up time was from 1960 to 2013. The expected numbers of deaths were calculated using the Swedish population as reference and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) with 95% CIs were assessed.ResultsThere was an increased mortality due to obstructive lung disease (asthma and COPD), among high-exposed workers, SMR 1.89, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.83, based on 23 observed cases. High-exposed workers had an increased mortality from asthma, SMR 4.13, 95% CI 1.78 to...

Research paper thumbnail of A semi‐quantitative job exposure matrix for dust exposures in Swedish soft tissue paper mills

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

Research paper thumbnail of Progress in assessing and limiting occupational noise exposures in the United States

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Research paper thumbnail of Self-Reported Health and Metal Body Burden in an Electronic Waste Recycling Community in Northeastern Thailand

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Research paper thumbnail of Lung function and paper dust exposure among workers in a soft tissue paper mill

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

Research paper thumbnail of Stress, health, noise exposures, and injuries among electronic waste recycling workers in Ghana

Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology

Research paper thumbnail of A Review of Biomarkers Used for Assessing Human Exposure to Metals from E-Waste

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Electronic waste recycling presents workers and communities with a potential for exposures to dan... more Electronic waste recycling presents workers and communities with a potential for exposures to dangerous chemicals, including metals. This review examines studies that report on blood, hair, and urine biomarkers of communities and workers exposed to metals from e-waste. Our results from the evaluation of 19 publications found that there are consistently elevated levels of lead found in occupationally and non-occupationally exposed populations, in both the formal and the informal e-waste recycling sectors. Various other metals were found to be elevated in different exposure groups assessed using various types of biomarkers, but with less consistency than found in lead. Antimony and cadmium generally showed higher concentrations in exposed groups compared to reference group(s). Mercury and arsenic did not show a trend among exposure groups due to the dietary and environmental considerations. Observed variations in trends amongst exposure groups within studies using multiple biomarkers ...

Research paper thumbnail of Applying a novel environmental health framework theory (I-ACT) to noise pollution policies in the United States, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management