Asthma and Allergies: How Companies Can Breathe Easier

From dust mites, mold spores, cockroaches and animal dander, to cotton fibers, acid anhydrides, formaldehyde and latex, the modern workplace is a veritable minefield of substances that trigger asthma, allergies and associated workers’ compensation claims. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), more than 200 substances found in the workplace can cause asthma. An estimated 11 million workers are exposed to these gases, vapors and organic and inorganic dusts every year, causing 15 million lost work days, according to a 2002 study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Millions more workers are exposed to substances that can cause allergic reactions and other respiratory problems. But using proper diagnoses and management, the vast majority of these expensive problems can be avoided or eliminated.

 

 

In 2006, the AAFA estimated that asthma cost business $18 billion annually. According to the CDC study, asthma triggered:

• 12.7 million doctor visits,

• 1.2 million hospital outpatient visits,

• 1.9 million emergency department visits,

• 484,000 hospitalizations, and

• 4,261 deaths.

 

Asthma was identified as the fourth-leading cause of work absenteeism or presenteeism and caused some $3 billion in lost productivity. Prescription drugs were the largest single direct medical expenditure at over $5 billion. Medical costs reached an average of almost $5,000 per patient and represented 2.5 times as much as for workers without a history of asthma. For asthmatic employees with disability claims, the figures were much worse. They cost employers three times as much as other disability claimants —$14,827 vs. $5,280, according to a 2002 article in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

 

Asthma and allergies can hit any business, and any occupation within that business. But according to the CDC, some of the worst cases occur in general merchandise stores, food stores, the furniture and lumber industries, banking, schools, trucking, warehousing and metal industries. Some of these sectors have no obvious exposures to dangerous substances — asthma can easily be caused by something as innocuous as poor indoor environmental quality. That helps explain why computer operators and financial record processors had the highest prevalence of asthma in the CDC study. 

 

 

There’s no single strategy to prevent asthma. But a good place to start is in getting the proper diagnosis. Consult a medical professional who specializes in asthma to determine whether the asthma symptoms are an irritant reaction or the much more serious allergic reaction. Armed with that information, an industrial hygienist can help you identify the source of the irritant. An industrial hygienist can also help redesign your workspace or manufacturing processes to eliminate some of the irritants. 

 

Often the simplest prevention steps yield the greatest results: 

• Get workers to keep their work areas uncluttered and, if appropriate, have them dust and use HEPA-type tabletop air purifiers. Alternatively, if dust is a pervasive problem, hire a cleaning crew to regularly maintain your premises. Ensure they use nontoxic, non-irritating cleaners.

• Give workers dust masks or even better, fully-enclosed respirators. 

• Check that the air exchange system in your building is functioning properly. 

• If the source of the asthmatic reaction has been identified move affected workers to different parts of the building, especially in severe cases where staying in contact with the substance can be life-threatening.

 

In some cases it may pay to use asthma disease management vendors who define, evaluate and measure health care quality, and who will educate workers on dealing with asthma. In work-related asthma cases, your workers’ compensation carrier might recommend one. But if your company contracts directly, make sure the vendor is accredited with an agency such as the NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance), URAC (Utilization Review Accreditation Commission) or the JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations).  

 

For more information or help, contact the insurance professionals of EPIC’s CRA ProRental™ Insurance Program. Call us at: 800-234-6363.