During the past two decades, historians have been brought into legal cases in unprecedented numbers. As the courts have tried to adjudicate responsibility for environmental and occupational diseases, history and historians have played an increasingly central role in shaping decisions in the cases themselves as well as in related social policy. In…

Rhetorical scholarship criticizes melodrama for its tendency to simplify and reify public controversies and valorizes the comic frame as an ethically superior mode of rhetoric. These judgments are rooted in the discipline's reliance on Burkean categories, a reductionist conception of melodrama, and an implicit assumption that social unification…

Occupational noise-induced hearing loss is the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury in the United States. Among coal miners, more than 90% of the population reports a hearing deficit by age 55. In this formative evaluation, focus groups were conducted with coal miners in Appalachia to ascertain whether miners perceive hearing…

This document presents a case study of silicosis in sandblasters that has been adapted for instructional use in U.S. high schools. The primary objective of the case study is to teach students about epidemiology by studying an occupational hazard, disease associated with the hazard, and methods for preventing the disease. The introduction offers…

This module, which may be used as the basis for a workshop or as a special topic unit in an adult basic education or English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) course, focuses on support systems for injured workers. The following items are included: module overview; list of basic, thinking, interpersonal, information utilization, and other skills…

Indoor air quality is a growing problem in aging school buildings. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers an Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools kit which is being used at schools nationwide to improve school maintenance. Profiles an aging school in Connecticut in which teachers were becoming ill to illustrate the use of the kit to…

This book explains how the use of video display terminals (VDTs) has been detrimental to women in the work force and has led to widespread health and safety problems. Chapter 1 discusses the development and scope of occupational illnesses associated with VDT work. Chapter 2 analyzes the power relationship between labor and capital in the office…

Outlines several steps that can be taken to protect pregnant workers from work hazards. (IRT)

Describes the history of nuclear development in New Mexico, notes the cumulative detrimental effect on the Navajo Nation, and emphasizes federal inaction regarding health and safety standards and regulation in the nuclear power industry. Journal availability: see RC 503 522. (SB)

Industry faults the logic and the methodology of a recent government study which attempts to estimate future cancer deaths from present and past worksite exposures. (Author/BB)

Discusses the legal problems presented by job health hazards which have a different effect on men and women. Where methods of eliminating or minimizing exposure, as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, affect only one sex, the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act may be violated. (MF)

The imposition of legal proof requirements to detect occupational disease and the burden that this places on compensation claimants and the medical profession are examined, along with various court decisions, present legislation, and revision proposals to improve disease diagnosis and the legal treatment of occupationally disabled workers. (MF)

A comprehensive training program is described that prepares students to identify and prevent occupational disease, emphasizing public health. Content areas include epidemiology and biostatistics, toxicology, industrial hygiene, safety and ergonomics, policy issues, administration, and clinical aspects. (Author/LBH)