TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors associated with food workers working while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea
AU - Sumner, Steven
AU - Brown, Laura Green
AU - Frick, Roberta
AU - Stone, Carmily
AU - Carpenter, Rand
AU - Bushnell, Lisa
AU - Nicholas, Dave
AU - Mack, James
AU - Blade, Henry
AU - Tobin-D'Angelo, Melissa
AU - Everstinexs, Karen
PY - 2011/2/1
Y1 - 2011/2/1
N2 - This study sought to determine the frequency with which food workers said they had worked while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea, and to identify restaurant and worker characteristics associated with this behavior. We conducted interviews with food workers (n= 491) and their managers (n = 387) in the nine states that participate in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Environmental Health Specialists Network. Restaurant and worker characteristics associated with repeatedly working while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea were analyzed via multivariable regression. Fifty-eight (11.9%) workers said they had worked while suffering vomiting or diarrhea on two or more shifts in the previous year. Factors associated with workers having worked while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea were (i) high volume of meals served, (ii) lack of policies requiring workers to report illness to managers, (iii) lack of on-call workers, (iv) lack of manager experience, and(v) workers of the male gender. Our findings suggest that policies that encourage workers to tell managers when they are ill and that help mitigate pressures to work while ill could reduce the number of food workers who work while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea.
AB - This study sought to determine the frequency with which food workers said they had worked while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea, and to identify restaurant and worker characteristics associated with this behavior. We conducted interviews with food workers (n= 491) and their managers (n = 387) in the nine states that participate in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Environmental Health Specialists Network. Restaurant and worker characteristics associated with repeatedly working while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea were analyzed via multivariable regression. Fifty-eight (11.9%) workers said they had worked while suffering vomiting or diarrhea on two or more shifts in the previous year. Factors associated with workers having worked while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea were (i) high volume of meals served, (ii) lack of policies requiring workers to report illness to managers, (iii) lack of on-call workers, (iv) lack of manager experience, and(v) workers of the male gender. Our findings suggest that policies that encourage workers to tell managers when they are ill and that help mitigate pressures to work while ill could reduce the number of food workers who work while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea.
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U2 - 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-10-108
DO - 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-10-108
M3 - Article
C2 - 21333140
AN - SCOPUS:79951614200
VL - 74
SP - 215
EP - 220
JO - Journal of Food Protection
JF - Journal of Food Protection
SN - 0362-028X
IS - 2
ER -