{"title":"Protecting the Health and Safety of Workers Who Respond to Disasters: Achieving Equity Through Education and Training.","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/10482911251337444","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Workers who respond to disasters are disproportionately at risk of injury, illness, and death, resulting in devastating effects on communities. This policy statement aims to address the health and safety concerns workers face in disaster response and clean-up scenarios and underscores the need for equity, resilience, and capacity building through education and training. Opportunities to strengthen local, state, and federal responses to disasters are needed to ensure the equitable protection of workers across all occupations and backgrounds. Public health professionals must advocate for (1) the establishment of protocols for the proper enforcement of policies and programs related to the health and safety of disaster workers; (2) the provision of high-quality and effective health and safety training to disaster workers, including mental health curricula; and (3) the adoption of a systematic approach to training that includes resources to prepare workers for risks in all stages of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The inclusion of all people affected in the impacted communities will ultimately benefit the broader public health.</p>","PeriodicalId":45586,"journal":{"name":"New Solutions-A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy","volume":" ","pages":"255-264"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"New Solutions-A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10482911251337444","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/6/3 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Workers who respond to disasters are disproportionately at risk of injury, illness, and death, resulting in devastating effects on communities. This policy statement aims to address the health and safety concerns workers face in disaster response and clean-up scenarios and underscores the need for equity, resilience, and capacity building through education and training. Opportunities to strengthen local, state, and federal responses to disasters are needed to ensure the equitable protection of workers across all occupations and backgrounds. Public health professionals must advocate for (1) the establishment of protocols for the proper enforcement of policies and programs related to the health and safety of disaster workers; (2) the provision of high-quality and effective health and safety training to disaster workers, including mental health curricula; and (3) the adoption of a systematic approach to training that includes resources to prepare workers for risks in all stages of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The inclusion of all people affected in the impacted communities will ultimately benefit the broader public health.
期刊介绍:
New Solutions delivers authoritative responses to perplexing problems, with a worker’s voice, an activist’s commitment, a scientist’s approach, and a policy-maker’s experience. New Solutions explores the growing, changing common ground at the intersection of health, work, and the environment. The Journal makes plain how the issues in each area are interrelated and sets forth progressive, thoughtfully crafted public policy choices. It seeks a conversation on the issues between the grassroots labor and environmental activists and the professionals and researchers involved in charting society’s way forward with the understanding that lack of scientific knowledge is no excuse for doing nothing and that inaction is itself a choice.