This paper addresses a significant gap in the literature by describing a study that tests the feasibility and efficacy of an organizational intervention to improve working conditions, safety, and wellbeing for low-wage food service workers. The Workplace Organizational Health Study tests the hypothesis that an intervention targeting the work organization and environment will result in improvements in workers’ musculoskeletal disorders and wellbeing. This ongoing study is being conducted in collaboration with a large food service company. Formative evaluation was used to prioritize outcomes, assess working conditions, and define essential intervention elements. The theory-driven intervention is being evaluated in a proof-of-concept trial, conducted to demonstrate feasibility and potential efficacy using a cluster randomized design. Ten worksites were randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. The 13-month intervention uses a comprehensive systems approach to improve workplace policies and practices. Using principles of participatory engagement, the intervention targets safety and ergonomics; work intensity; and job enrichment. The evaluation will provide a preliminary assessment of estimates of the intervention effect on targeted outcomes and inform understanding of the intervention implementation across worksites. This study is expected to provide insights on methods to improve working conditions in support of the safety and wellbeing of low-wage workers.

Work is a major contributor to our health and well-being. Workers’ thriving is directly influenced by their job design, work environment and organization. The purpose of this report is to describe the qualitative methods used to develop the candidate items for a novel measure of Thriving from Work through a multi-step iterative process including: a literature review, workshop, interviews with experts, and cognitive testing of the candidate items. Through this process, we defined Thriving from Work as the state of positive mental, physical, and social functioning in which workers’ experiences of their work and working conditions enable them to thrive in their overall lives, contributing to their ability to achieve their full potential in their work, home, and community. Thriving from Work was conceptualized into 37 attributes across seven dimensions: psychological, emotional, social, work–life integration, basic needs, experience of work, and health. We ultimately identified, developed and/or modified 87 candidate questionnaire items mapped to these attributes that performed well in cognitive testing in demographically and occupationally diverse workers. The Thriving from Work Questionnaire will be subjected to psychometric testing and item reduction in future studies. Individual items demonstrated face validity and good cognitive response properties and may be used independently from the questionnaire.

Von Willebrand A Domain-Containing Protein 8 (VWA8) is a poorly-characterized, mitochondrial matrix-targeted protein with a AAA ATPase domain and ATPase activity that rises in abundance in livers of high fat fed mice. This study was undertaken to use CRISPR/Cas9 to delete VWA8 in cultured mouse hepatocytes and gain insight into its function. Unbiased omics techniques and bioinformatics were used to guide subsequent assays, including assessment of oxidative stress and determination of bioenergetic capacity. Metabolomics analysis showed VWA8 null cells had higher oxidative stress and protein degradation; assays of hydrogen peroxide production revealed higher production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Proteomics and transcriptomics analyses showed VWA8 null cells had higher expression of mitochondrial proteins (electron transport chain Complex I, ATP synthase), peroxisomal proteins, and lipid transport proteins. The pattern of higher protein abundance in the VWA8 null cells could be explained by higher hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4a) expression. Bioenergetic assays showed higher rates of carbohydrate oxidation and mitochondrial and non-mitochondrial lipid oxidation in intact and permeabilized cells. Inhibitor assays localized sites of ROS production to peroxisomes and NOX1/4. Rescue of VWA8 protein restored the wildtype phenotype and treatment with antioxidants lowered HNF4a expression. Thus, loss of VWA8 produces a mitochondrial defect that may be sensed by NOX4, leading to a rise in ROS that results in higher HNF4a. The compensatory HNF4a response results in higher oxidative capacity and even higher ROS production. We hypothesize that VWA8 is a AAA ATPase protein that plays a role in mitochondrial protein quality.

Millions of US workers are seriously injured on the job annually. These injuries have a significant and deleterious impact on injured workers, their families, and their communities. The limitations of the historical work injury surveillance systems have constrained research into the distribution and determinants of work injuries and efforts to improve allocation of limited injury prevention resources. Most work injury data sets suffer from significant limitations and fail to include a sizable proportion of work injuries. In recent years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has begun to collect and make available to the public more detailed data on work injuries at thousands of high hazard establishments. These data sets provide the opportunity to greatly improve our work injury surveillance system. Researchers are now using these data to investigate and compare injury risk in industries and high-hazard firms where workers are at increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders. However, these rich data sets are underused. Maintaining and facilitating access to accurate, current data can contribute to improved prevention of work-related injuries and deaths. ( Am J Public Health. 2025;115(4):588–595. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307934 )

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the extent to which work-related injuries contribute to medical expenditures paid for by group health insurance. Methods: Administrative data on OSHA recordable injuries spanning 2010 to 2013 were obtained for female patient care workers (n = 2495). Expenditures were aggregated group health insurance claims for 3 and 6-month periods before/after injury. Group health insurance plan type, age group, and job category were control variables. Results: Being injured is associated with the odds of having expenditures at both 3 months, odds ratio (OR) 2.17 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.61 to 2.92], and 6 months, 2.95 (95% CI 1.96 to 4.45). Injury was associated with $275 of additional expenditures (95% CI $38 to $549) over 3 months and $587 of additional expenditures (95% CI $167 to $1140) over 6 months. Conclusions: Injury was associated with increased odds of positive expenditures and increased expenditures paid for by group health insurance.

Background: To assess the association between markers of systemic inflammation and pulmonary function in a population of structural firefighters.Methods: We studied male career members of a large Midwestern fire department with questionnaires, spirometry, and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hsCRP) as a biomarker of systemic inflammation. We examined percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁%‐predicted) and forced vital capacity (FVC%‐predicted).Results: Complete data were available for 401 firefighters. Higher hsCRP levels were associated with lower lung function values, after adjusting for confounding variables. Specifically, for every twofold increase in log10‐hsCRP, FEV₁%‐predicted decreased by a mean 1.5% (95% CI: 0.4, 2.6%) and FVC%‐predicted decreased by a mean 1.4% (95% CI: 0.4, 2.3%).Conclusion: hsCRP as a biomarker of systemic inflammation may indicate reduced lung function in structural firefighters. Am. J. Ind. Med. 57:31–37, 2014.