In 1930, on the eve of The Great Depression, the International Labour Organization published the first edition of its Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety.
In an era of widespread illiteracy, indentured servitude, apartheid, combined with limited communication and medical care, the authors were keenly aware of their limited ability to meet the entire scope of occupational health needs of their time. But they remained undaunted in their goal to provide a quality educational tool to organize basic human rights by providing access to knowledge of worker safety.
In so doing they invented, as we call it today, the “Right to Know,” a fundamental bedrock of many national occupational safety and health laws.
This provision of occupational safety and health knowledge and information, achieved through dissemination of the First Edition, saved untold pain and millions of lives Why? Because sound occupational heath
programs that implement best strategies are
the grease for the machinery of powerful
economic engines.
Without the information provided
through occupational heath programs, no
employer can survive because accidents and
disease are not simply expensive but wasteful.
We cannot afford waste in this economy.
The fat to be trimmed, however, is not
the same as the grease for the wheels and
machinery that makes smooth commerce.
So it is logical to ask whether the encyclopedia’s
history applies to today’s new
economy, with its lightning speed fiber optics,
web-based industries and multi-media
communications?
The answer is yes! We have more information
and better quality data and the means
to create discrete information packages for
capacity building.
Access to reliable high quality data can
mean life or death for employers, especially
marginal employers or small enterprises.
These days, even a major auto manufacturer
may be a “marginal” employer. Regardless
of fame or size, employers cannot afford the disruption, bad publicity or liability costs
from avoidable accidents or diseases and injuries
that are reasonably foreseeable. To
prevent such incidents, one merely needs to
take the time to read the established technical
scientific and medical literature, selfaudit
with candid and reliable inspection,
and then provide workers with accurate
training and follow-up.
Most people spend more than one-third
of their adult life at work. But, their work
does much more than merely sustains them.
Work contributes to sustaining all society.
Ultimately, civilizations that cannot perform
their work and maintain their health while
working become extinct. Work is therefore
essential to sustaining civilized society:
When life at work is threatened, the opportunities
for productive employment and socio-
economic development are undermined,
ultimately hurting everyone.
According to the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights, “Everyone has
the right to life, to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favorable conditions
of work and to protection against
unemployment.”
The International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, says, “Recognize…
in particular, the improvement of all
aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;
the prevention, treatment and control
of epidemic, endemic, occupational and
other diseases...”
The fifth edition of ILO’s Encyclopaedia
reflects the best thinking and collective
knowledge of today’s experts. For nearly 80
years, the ILO Encyclopaedia has been a
source of workplace safety and occupational
health information spanning the disciplines
of occupational health, occupational medicine
and industrial hygiene, reaching into
law, policy and hard science.
Globalization disproportionately impacts,
in a negative sense, the lives of many categories
of workers, even as the same process
brings prosperity to millions of others. But
was this always true?
The first edition was created in a time
when communication across continents was
difficult, when penicillin, antibiotics and sophisticated
understanding of disease process
had not yet been discovered. Though commonplace
today, few laws protected health.
Nonetheless, a small cluster of scientists and
physicians had the vision that their knowledge
could be useful to millions of workers
if it was compiled into one collection of
information.
Providing more data than anyone can use
is not access to knowledge, it cannot operationalize
the Right to Know. Instead, we
endeavour to serve as a filter: an objective
lens through which one can read linked information
in books, journals, hyperlinks and
videos, reviewed and evaluated for the end
user’s own needs. Today, we have the legal
tools, and a heritage we can combine with
technology to provide unlimited access to
this data free of charge.
We have an extensive body of occupational
heath laws, whereas our starry eyed
ancestors had only their own moral compass
as their guide. Preventing harms that also
prevents liability can save the life of our
workers and, perhaps, that of their marginal
employer.
Ilise L. Feitshans, JD, ScM, is Coordinatrice
of the Fifth Edition of the ILO’s Encyclopaedia
of Occupational Health and
Safety. It’s an agency of the UN, located in Geneva, Switzerland. For more, go to
www.ilo.org.
CSB: T2 Did Not Recognize Hazards of Process
The massive explosion and fire at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, FL in December
2007 was caused by a runaway chemical reaction that likely resulted from
an inadequate reactor cooling system, according to the final draft report released
by investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
Concluding that T2 did not recognize all of the potential hazards of the process
for making a gasoline additive, the report calls for improving the education of
chemical engineering students on reactive chemical hazards.
The explosion and fire on Dec. 19, 2007, killed four T2 employees and injured
four others. In addition, 28 people working at nearby businesses were injured
when building walls and windows blew in. The blast sent debris up to a mile away
and damaged buildings within a quarter-mile of the facility.
“This is one of the largest reactive chemical accidents the CSB has investigated,”
said Chairman John Bresland. “We hope our findings once again call attention to
the need for companies to be aware of how to control reactive chemical hazards.”
In 2002 the CSB completed a study of reactive chemical hazards, which identified
167 accidents over a two-decade period and made recommendations to
improve reactive chemical safety.
The CSB found that although the two owners of the company had undergraduate
degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering, they were nonetheless likely
unaware of the potential or the consequences of a runaway chemical reaction. The
CSB noted that most baccalaureate chemical engineering curricula in the U.S. do
not specifically address reactive hazard recognition or management.
Bresland said, “It’s important that chemical engineers recognize and are
aware of the proper management of reactive hazards.”
AIHA Lauds Howard
Reappointment to NIOSH
The American Industrial Hygiene Association
has offered its congratulations to Dr.
John Howard on his reappointment to lead
the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health for another six-year
term.
“Since the creation of NIOSH back in
1970, the agency has been well-served by
directors with an understanding, dedication,
and knowledge of occupational health and
safety. However, I believe I am safe in saying
that never in the history of the Institute
has a director been as successful and respected
by partners and stakeholders as Dr.
John Howard,” said AIHA President
Cathy L. Cole, CIH, CSP. “This applies
to one and all—professional associations,
labor, industry, employers, and workers.
He has been more than a Director of
NIOSH; he has been a partner and friend
to AIHA and many others.”
AIHA also cited some of the many accomplishments
of Dr. Howard during his
previous time at NIOSH and is hopeful Dr.
Howard will continue pushing this agenda.
Some of these accomplishments were:
• Establishment of a “Research to Practice
(r2p)” office to foster transfer and diffusion
of NIOSH-generated knowledge to
partners and stakeholders.
• Access to NIOSH research and results
through the use of the internet and electronic
communications means resulting in
increased stakeholder contact with and input
provided to NIOSH scientists.
• Positioning of NIOSH as one of the key
partners in the National Nanotechnology
Initiative by recognizing the early potential
importance of nanotechnology.
• Assurance that policy decisions of the Institute
were grounded in and based on
sound science.
“It goes without saying that occupational
health and safety research is in good
hands,” Cole said. “We offer our thanks to
Dr. Christine Branche, who served admirably
this past year, and we wish Dr.
Howard well as he returns to lead NIOSH
once again.” FSM
