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AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Jul 31, 2007
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September 2007, Vol 97, No. 9 | American Journal of Public Health 1607-1613
© 2007 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2006.108795

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Protecting Contract Workers: Case Study of the US Department of Energy’s Nuclear and Chemical Waste Management

Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD and Sandra Mohr, MD, MPH

Michael Gochfeld is with the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Piscataway, NJ. Sandra Mohr is with the School of Public Health, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 170 Frelinghuysen Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (or by e-mail to heather{at}eohsi.rutgers.edu).

ABSTRACT

Increased reliance on subcontractors in all economic sectors is a serious occupational health and safety challenge. Short-term cost savings are offset by long-term liability. Hiring subcontractors brings specialized knowledge but also young, inexperienced, inadequately trained workers onto industrial and hazardous waste sites, which leads to increased rates of accidents and injuries.

Reliable data on subcontractor occupational health and safety programs and performance are sparse. The US Department of Energy has an excellent safety culture on paper, but procurement practices and contract language deliver a mixed message—including some safety disincentives.

Its biphasic safety outcome data are consistent with underreporting by some subcontractors and underachievement by others. These observations are relevant to the private and public sectors. Occupational health and safety should be viewed as an asset, not merely a cost.






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