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A useful tool for SH&E professionals
Abstract:
Haz-Map, a decision-support relational database, was designed to help physicians and other safety and health professionals retrieve information about hazardous chemicals and occupational diseases. The database features a collection of key facts from industrial hygiene, epidemiology and other health sciences for the prevention of diseases in the workplace. Users can find information by browsing categories or querying the database. The free, open-access database is published on the National Library of Medicine website.
IMAGINE TRYING TO FIND a food item, a can of tennis balls, a bookcase, a bathing suit, or a needle and thread in a big-box store that has no marked sections or categories. This is similar to the challenge faced by those looking for information about the health effects after an occupational exposure. The information is scattered among various books, journals, databases and websites-and generally it has not been summarized nor indexed for easy access.
Haz-Map is a decision-support computer application for occupational safety and health professionals. Its aim is to help them recognize and prevent dis eases caused by chemical and biological agents in the workplace. Since its publication on the National Library of Medicine (NLM) website (http://haz map.nlm.nih.gov) in 2002 as a free, open-access database, Haz-Map has also served the general public and is being used by the Department of Labor in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP) (DOL, 2007).
The information in the database was comprehensively collected and indexed. It was designed to help users quickly drill down to the needed information. Users can find information about diseases or chemicals by text searching, browsing categories or querying the database. Queries make use of pick lists and drop-down lists to find chemicals (by adverse effect or process) and diseases (by symptom or job).
Origin & Purpose of Haz-Map
Haz-Map began in 1991 with about 700 chemicals from the NIOSH Pocket Guide (NIOSH, 2007a). The next addition was all agents-both chemical and biological-known to cause adverse effects (e.g., work-related asthma, contact dermatitis, toxic hepatitis). Throughout its development, the primary objective has been to accurately represent (or map) the current state of scientific knowledge about hazardous agents in the workplace.
The concept or an intelligent database" was important in visualizing what this tool...