SAFETY IN THE WORKPLACE: OSHA INTERVENTIONS COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE
原著作者：Priscilla Alexander
定義
性工作是提供性服務之工作，並創造經濟產出與社會價值，其面向有性工作者、尋芳客及提供服務場所與協助人員
主要安全衛生問題：OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS:
1.情緒壓力Emotional stress. Sex work can be stressful due to such factors as the risk of and actual violence, exploitative working conditions, and the impact of stigma and/or isolation. A few studies have found a significant prevalence of depression, especially among street prostitutes, who face the greatest risk of both violence and arrest.
2. 職業傷害Occupational injuries. Examples include repetitive stress injuries, foot, knee, and back problems, bladder and kidney infections, injuries due to violence. Latex allergies are currently a serious problem in the health care industry, and may be a problem in the sex industry as well.
3.傳染病Infectious diseases. Most familiar, of course, are sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia, these infections include a number of viral diseases, such as HIV, Hepatitis (HBV and HCV), Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), and Herpes (HSV). However, although some epidemiologists like to claim that prostitutes are a “reservoir of contagion” or a “core group of high frequency transmitters,” in the United States, less than 5% of STDs are associated with prostitution. Moreover, sex workers are vulnerable to other infectious diseases because of their close contact with the public, especially respiratory infections, and because of the conditions in which they work in some countries, such serious illnesses as malaria and dysentery.
4.物質依賴Chemical dependence. While there is an association between some kinds of sex work and the use of drugs, primarily on the street, several studies have reported that a majority of sex workers who use drugs did so before becoming involved in prostitution, and began prostitution to earn enough to pay for the drugs. Others begin using drugs after beginning the work to enable them to stay awake and alert, for example, cope with anxiety and the risks they take, and/or sleep. Most off-street establishments discourage drug use by their employees, which is one reason why most drug dependent workers tend to work from the street.
其他協同貢獻因素.Contributing factors include:
工作上之周遭環境Physical plant hazards. In an underground economy, there are no controls on the way a sex work establishment is run. As with other sweatshop industries, there have been reports of women dying in a fire when the exit doors were chained shut. Other hazards include a lack of running water in the sex worker’s work space; no electricity so that they have to work in the dark or with low light, increasing the risk of violence or disease; failure of the management to provide clean linen or laundry facilities; little or no access to condoms, lubricants, and other materials to reduce their risk of infections; and failure to provide on-site security to reduce the risk of violence.
工作內涵Context of work. Economic exploitation (e.g., exorbitant fees to management and/or debt bondage), long hours, restricted freedom of movement (e.g., in captive brothel situations, sometimes as a result of legal regulations that confine sex workers to brothels), all can have a significant effect on the health of the workers.
