title: Factors associated with food workers working while experiencing vomiting or diarrhea.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Duke University Hospital, Medical Research, Room 8254DN, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sumner
authors.forename: Laura Green
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frick
authors.forename: Carmily
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: L Rand
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bushnell
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nicholas
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mack
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Blade
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tobin-D'Angelo
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Everstine
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005522:Food Services / Q000592:standards*; D017575:Gloves, Protective; D006235:Hand Disinfection; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012147:Restaurants; D012307:Risk Factors; D014839:Vomiting / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult