Page 13 - BusinessWest January 22, 2024

sachusetts is relatively new, and the impact on the health and safety of workers demands our careful attention,” Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robert Goldstein noted in a statement.
“As this workforce continues to expand, it will require all of
us working together — state and federal agencies, regulators, healthcare providers, and the cannabis industry — to improve working conditions for these employees. At DPH, we will con- tinue to identify and follow up on these cases using our long- standing public-health surveillance system for work-related respiratory disease and continue to work with our partners on documenting cases, building evidence around workplace haz- ards, and on intervention and policy.”
According to DPH, work-related asthma is underrecognized in part because symptoms and industry and occupation data are not routinely collected. Yet, about 17% of new-onset adult asthma cases are related to workplace exposures. In Massachu- setts, an estimated 200,000 adults have work-related asthma, according to data from DPH’s Occupational Health Surveil- lance Program.
In its bulletin, DPH urged healthcare providers to:
• Ask patients with new or worsening respiratory or allergic symptoms what they do for work and how it affects their health;
• Perform diagnostic testing, such as allergy testing, pulmo- nary imaging, and/or spirometry;
• Recommend workplace changes to avoid further exposure;
and• Report cases of work-related asthma and other work-relat- ed respiratory diseases to DPH, as required by law.
To improve worker safety, the investigative report recom- mended that employers:
• Assess and control hazardous materials in the workplace, including asthmagens;
• Ensure that all workers are properly trained about hazard- ous materials in the workplace;
• Develop and implement a comprehensive safety and health program that addresses hazard recognition, avoidance of unsafe conditions, and proper use of equipment; and
• Implement a medical surveillance program to monitor the health of their workers.
The report also noted that equipment manufacturers should adopt and implement the concept of ‘prevention through design’ to identify potential hazards associated with equipment and then eliminate these hazards through design changes; and that industry licensing agencies in Massachusetts should consider how they can further support the health and safety of cannabis- industry workers.
“Levels of exposure to cannabis dust at work are much higher than what is present during recreational use,” said Emily Sparer-Fine, director of DPH’s Occupational Health Surveil- lance Program. “Work processes that include grinding and concentrating an allergen need to be better controlled. It is criti- cal for employers to assess and control exposure to hazardous materials, including the respiratory hazards found in the canna- bis-processing facilities, such as cannabis dust.”
The Effort Continues
All this is gratifying to Dailey, who thanked Stair for ensur- ing that the NIOSH Study was completed, advocating for the safety cannabis-industry employees, and helping prevent future injuries or deaths. Dailey claimed that larger cannabis compa- nies are prioritizing profits and growth over workplace safety, so it is important that advocates and smaller companies step up to take the lead in setting industry standards to ensure work- place safety.
“We are proud to be one of the first companies to prioritize worker safety over profits. Boston Bud Factory has said from the start that we didn’t want to be one of the big guys, and
we still stand by that wholeheartedly,” he added. “We hope that the NIOSH safety evaluation will help determine indus- try standards that could help to ensure worker safety in this emerging and rapidly growing industry. Worker safety should always take precedence over profits, no matter how large the company is.” BW
“The legalized cannabis industry in Massachusetts is relatively new, and the impact on the health and safety of workers demands our careful attention.”
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