IHPS Health Policy Grand Rounds

When Only Half the Science Counts: Line Speed Regulation in Meat Processing Plants

Carisa Harris, PhD, CPE is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.  She is the Director of the Northern California Center of Occupational and Environmental Health in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley, Associate Director of research for the California Labor Lab (a NIOSH Total Worker Health Center), and the Director of the UCSF/UCB Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Program.  She received her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, and teaches a variety of classes, including Occupational Biomechanics and Industrial Engineering Human Factors Design.  Dr. Harris and her team perform research in a variety of areas focused on understanding and preventing work-related injuries and improving human performance, productivity, and health.  Her epidemiological research assesses and adjusts for healthy worker survivor bias in the assessment of physical, personal, and work psychosocial factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders and subsequent work disability. Additionally, her team is developing a variety of exposure assessment devices (wearables) for primary and secondary prevention purposes and performs various intervention studies on occupational tasks with a high risk of musculoskeletal injuries. The implementation of passive exoskeletons in the Construction Industry is an additional focus.  The lab performs various types of research in the construction, computer, medical, hotel, janitorial, and manufacturing sectors.  From a global occupational health perspective, Dr. Harris has collaborated on research assessing the impact of heavy load carrying among women in developing countries (Nepal, Tanzania, Ethiopia) on associated morbidity.