Toil and toxics: Workplace struggles and political strategies for occupational health
Robinson's scholarly and thoughtful book begins with a retelling of a seminal case in the annals of occupational health: the sterility induced in California workers exposed to dichlorobromopropane (DBCP) in the late 1970s. He uses this story to set the stage for his careful examination of the politics and science of controlling occupational hazards. Robinson's work is striking in its careful and measured tone, its well-written prose, and in its objective examination of the strategies that various worker groups have used in the past 25 years to effect change in the management of occupational hazards. His analysis emphasizes the complexity of the risk management decisions to be made and the complications induced by competing value systems and agendas. The study begins with the development of today's occupational health culture from the early worker/union choices of fighting institutions which put break on the table or fleeing in the face of those institutions' economic intimidation. He then examines the dynamics which brought change to corporate culture and fostered the worker-right-to-know philosophy which currently governs occupational health regulations. This book is remarkable in its paucity of figures, statistics, and complex equations and its reliance instead in a careful analysis of workplace statistics and politics. Risk managers interested in the changing face of occupational health regulations will find this book an informative read.
- OSTI ID:
- 6438339
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: From review by Robin K. White, Oak Ridge National Lab., TN, in Risk Analysis, Vol. 13, No. 2 (April 1993)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
RISK ASSESSMENT
POLITICAL ASPECTS
TOXIC MATERIALS
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
DECISION MAKING
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
SAFETY
290300* - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety
290200 - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology