Occupational Health News and Research

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Rapid testing technology identifies trace drug contamination in public spaces

The study, published in the Journal of Mass Spectrometry, tested the method in a working UK pub and found traces of cocaine and ketamine on surfaces across bathrooms, tables and bar areas.

27 Oct 2026

Chronic Hand Eczema (CHE) is affecting NHS healthcare professionals and can impact patient care, report finds

LEO Pharma and the British Skin Foundation (BSF) today launched a new report exploring the impact of Chronic Hand Eczema (CHE) on NHS healthcare professionals (HCPs) and the wider healthcare workforce.

20 Oct 2026

Scientists expand global climate scenarios to include public health

About a decade ago, a group of climate scientists described five scenarios for the future. Called the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), these scenarios suggest how socioeconomic development could evolve in worlds with differing challenges to climate adaptation and mitigation.

15 Oct 2026

Engineered stone countertops linked to severe silicosis

The article describes a 47-year-old man who visited an emergency department for a minor injury to his lung and was found to have lung nodules after a computed tomography (CT) scan.

21 Sep 2026

Machine learning predicts psychosocial resilience among healthcare workers

A team of researchers trained three machine learning models-Logistic Regression, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine (SVM)-to classify healthcare workers according to their level of psychosocial resilience, using information collected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

18 Sep 2026

Study explores pregnancy risks from heat and wildfire smoke

Wildfire smoke and extreme heat – increasingly the new norm – each have their own harmful effects on pregnant people and babies, including preterm birth and low birthweight.

15 Sep 2026

Fluctuating work hours increase health risks for workers

Workers who juggle volatile work hours that change from week to week may experience adverse health effects that impact their ability to work, although the limitations vary by gender, say researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who conducted a recent study.

18 Aug 2026

Good sleep in midlife may extend working life expectancy

Healthy sleep patterns in mid life are linked to longer working life expectancy, suggest the findings of a large study of working age men and women, published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

18 Aug 2026

Leicester-led research reveals long COVID’s lasting impact on healthcare workers

Major research has found that long COVID continues to affect a substantial proportion of healthcare workers, with serious consequences for their health, work and home lives, and NHS workforce overall.

18 Aug 2026

Prediction model can estimate heart disease risk in women earlier in life

McGill University researchers have developed a new tool to identify heart disease risk in women earlier in life.

3 Aug 2026

Corn-based foods linked to higher mycotoxin exposure in pregnancy

Consuming common foods such as corn chips and popcorn may put pregnant women at risk of being exposed to mycotoxins – harmful substances produced by mold – according to Rutgers researchers.

22 Jul 2026

Japanese study links breastfeeding to mixed risks for childhood allergies

Breastfeeding is widely recognized for its important role in supporting a child's early growth and immune system development.

16 Jul 2026

New York pedestrian fatalities often involve alcohol and drugs

In New York State, 44% of pedestrian deaths involved alcohol or drug use by the pedestrian, suggests a retrospective analysis published online in the journal Injury Prevention.

13 Jul 2026

Children and adults who eat more live microbe-rich foods have healthier diets

French children and adults widely consumed foods likely to contain live microbes, mainly yogurt, unpasteurised cheese, fruits, and vegetables. Higher intake was associated with more nutrient-rich diets and better diet quality scores, but the cross-sectional study cannot prove health benefits.

29 Jun 2026

Scientists identify genes linking air pollution to severe asthma

For many people with asthma, air-quality advisories are harbingers of worsening symptoms. But for reasons science has struggled to explain, the extent to which pollution exacerbates asthma varies widely from person to person.

24 Jun 2026

Secondhand smoke exposure linked to higher blood cadmium levels

A new study finds that adults who simply breathe in secondhand cigarette smoke have about 1.5 times more of the toxin cadmium in their blood than people in smoke-free environments.

15 Jun 2026

NHS pathology staff face unsafe formaldehyde exposure levels

Routine exposure to harmful levels of the human tissue preservative formaldehyde are risking the health of thousands of NHS staff working in pathology departments across the UK, due to poor monitoring and control, finds an analysis of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, published online in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

9 Jun 2026