The workplace is where 156 million working adults in the United States spend many waking hours, and it has a profound influence on health and well-being. Although some occupations and work-related activities are more hazardous than others and face higher rates of injuries, illness, disease, and fatalities, workers in all occupations face some form of work-related safety and health concerns. Understanding those risks to prevent injury, illness, or even fatal incidents is an important function of society. Occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance provides the data and analyses needed to understand the relationships between work and injuries and illnesses in order to improve worker safety and health and prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. Information about the circumstances in which workers are injured or made ill on the job and how these patterns change over time is essential to develop effective prevention programs and target future research. The nation needs a robust OSH surveillance system to provide this critical information for informing policy development, guiding educational and regulatory activities, developing safer technologies, and enabling research and prevention strategies that serves and protects all workers. A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of OSH surveillance. This report is intended to be useful to federal and state agencies that have an interest in occupational safety and health, but may also be of interest broadly to employers, labor unions and other worker advocacy organizations, the workers' compensation insurance industry, as well as state epidemiologists, academic researchers, and the broader public health community. The recommendations address the strengths and weaknesses of the envisioned system relative to the status quo and both short- and long-term actions and strategies needed to bring about a progressive evolution of the current system.

Despite many advances, 20 American workers die each day as a result of occupational injuries. And occupational safety and health (OSH) is becoming even more complex as workers move away from the long-term, fixed-site, employer relationship. This book looks at worker safety in the changing workplace and the challenge of ensuring a supply of top-notch OSH professionals. Recommendations are addressed to federal and state agencies, OSH organizations, educational institutions, employers, unions, and other stakeholders. The committee reviews trends in workforce demographics, the nature of work in the information age, globalization of work, and the revolution in health care deliveryâ€"exploring the implications for OSH education and training in the decade ahead. The core professions of OSH (occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and occupational medicine and nursing) and key related roles (employee assistance professional, ergonomist, and occupational health psychologist) are profiled-how many people are in the field, where they work, and what they do. The book reviews in detail the education, training, and education grants available to OSH professionals from public and private sources.

The fourth edition of this popular handbook provides a thorough and up-to-date overview of the occupational safety and health field and the issues safety professionals face today. An excellent introductory reference for both students and professionals, this comprehensive book provides practical information regarding technology, management, and regulatory compliance issues, covering crucial topics like organizing, staffing, directing, and evaluating the system. This book also covers the required written programs for general industry, identifying when they are needed and which major points must be addressed for each. All major topics are addressed in this comprehensive volume, from safety-related laws and regulations to hazardous materials and workplace violence. Fundamentals of Occupational Safety and Health includes a chapter covering the issues and concerns raised by the threat of terrorism. This Fourth Edition also examines OSHA's recordkeeping standard so readers will know which industries are covered and what they must do to comply. It also covers the required written programs for general industry, identifying when they are needed and which major points must be addressed for each. A handy directory of resources including safety and health associations, First Responder organizations, as well as state and federal agencies, puts a wealth of information at the readers' fingertips.

In 1977, a grain elevator explosion in Westwego, Louisiana, took the lives of thirty-five workers. The next year, fifty-one men who were working on cooling tower for a West Viginia power plant died when their support scaffolding collapsed. And more recently, a Senate subcommittee hearing revealed that the incidence of lung cancer among uranium miners is nearly four times the national average rate for men of the same age. Clearly, as Lawrence Bacow writes in this book, occupational safety and health is a big problem that may be getting bigger. What can be done about it? This book argues that OSHA is not up to the task. Most accidents are caused by hazards that are unique to individual firms. A single regulatory authority like OSHA cannot be everywhere at once; it lacks the resources needed to ferret out firm-specific hazards and to ensure day-to-day compliance with health and safety regulations. If government is to make the workplace safe, it must enlist the help of the parties that have the greatest influence over safety and health on the job--labor and management. Bargaining for Job Safety and Health examines how labor and management work together and against each other to abate occupational hazards. It describes OSHA's influence, both positive and negative, over collective bargaining on health and safety issues. Through a series of case studies in develops a theory to explain why some unions are more aggressive than others in pursuing health and safety objectives. The book also outlines strategies that OSHA might take to encourage labor and management to assume a larger role in curbing job hazards through collective bargaining. Although it focuses on job safety and health, this book draws a number of very interesting parallels between OSHA and other types of regulatory programs. It should interest a wide audience, including labor and management officials, health and safety professionals, policymakers, labor relations scholars, and others interested in regulatory reform and program design.