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Workers who become ill or injured on the job while undertaking extraordinary risks on behalf of the public are, at times, granted facilitated access to workers' compensation (WC) benefits through the application of presumptions in the compensation process. Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, a broad range of occupational groups faced an elevated risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) exposure at work to perform vital services to maintain our food supply, sustain needed transportation, provide health care, assure energy supply and others. Some states or jurisdictions in the United States recognized both the risk and the service of these workers by enacting COVID‐19 presumption laws to streamline selected essential workers' eligibility for WC benefits. Other states did not. Results of these contrasting public approaches permit an examination of the impact of presumptions in compensation by examining the frequency and outcomes of COVID‐19 claims in "COVID‐19 presumption" and "nonpresumption" states. Despite state‐level variations in economic response to the pandemic, industry mix, and presumption eligibility criteria, the use of COVID‐19 presumptions appears to have substantially increased claim filing rates and improved access to benefits. Lastly, the additional costs of COVID‐19 claims to employers and insurers were lower than initially predicted. In response to future airborne infectious disease outbreaks, workers' compensation presumption laws should be universally implemented to permit a broad range of high‐risk workers to work on the public's behalf without fear of losing wages and incurring medical expenses associated with a work‐related viral exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic waste (e-waste) disposal and recycling activities such as burning and smelting can emit particulate matter (PM), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other pollutants that expose workers and nearby communities. At informal e-waste recycling facilities, both emission controls and protective measures for workers are absent. This study characterizes personal exposures (breathing zone) of PM and PAHs of e-waste workers at the large Agbogbloshie e-waste site in Accra, Ghana. We collected gravimetric and optical measurements of PM 2.5 and PM 10 using shift samples for workers and for an age- and gender-matched reference population. PM 2.5 filters were analyzed for 26 PAHs using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy. Among e-waste workers, PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations were 99 ± 56 and 218 ± 158 µg/m 3 (median ± interquartile range, optical measurements), respectively; these levels were 78 and 57% higher, respectively, than levels measured at a fixed site that was centrally located at the waste site. In the reference community, breathing zone PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels were lower, 49 ± 20 and 131 ± 108 µg/m 3 , respectively, and the fraction of coarse PM was larger. We detected all 26 target PAHs, of which naphthalene and phenanthrene were the most abundant. PAH concentrations were weakly correlated to PM levels, but PAH abundances, representing the fraction of PAH mass to the total PM 2.5 mass collected, were strongly and inversely correlated to PM levels, suggesting multiple and different sources of PAHs and PM that affected exposures. Both PM and PAH levels were elevated for workers performing burning and dismantling, and both exceeded standards or risk-based guidelines, e.g., lifetime excess cancer risks for several PAHs were in the 10 -4 to 10 -6 range, indicating the need to reduce emissions as well as provide respiratory protection. The study emphasizes the importance of using personal and shift samples to accurately characterize worker exposure., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)