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This chapter focuses on industrial pollution and chemical safety. Topics discussed include the extent of industrial pollution, public exposure from industrial sources, hazards by industry, major chemical contaminants of concern in the general environment and the workplace, the social context of occupational health and safety, dimensions and types of occupational health problems, industrial environmental accidents, and approaches to prevention.

Human health is closely linked to the natural environment, behavioural patterns, and policy context. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines environment, as it relates to health, as all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related behaviours. Environmental health is the branch of public health that focuses on the interrelationships between people and their environment, as well as how to foster healthy and safe communities. It addresses the societal and environmental factors that increase the likelihood of exposure and disease. Poor environmental quality has its greatest impact on people whose health status is already at risk. Environmental threats to health frequently require rapid and urgent action to protect the environment for both present and future generations. This chapter describes key concepts in environmental health and related risks.

This chapter focuses on conducting worksite investigations, including walkthrough surveys, and provides occupational health and safety personnel, employees, and employers the opportunity to identify and assess current workplace conditions and employee health concerns and make recommendations on how to reduce or eliminate any identified workplace hazards. The methods described cover ways to implement corrective actions necessary for preventing future adverse incidents and to identify shortcomings in safety and health management programs. Various specific examples are provided. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Evaluation Program, which has experience with all types of workplace hazards, is described. Preparing for and conducting workplace investigations is described in detail.

This chapter focuses on whether personality characteristics, in terms of sense of coherence (Antonovsky et al, 1990; Sagy et al, 1990), may buffer against the adverse effects of work stress exposures. It notes that Antonovsky puts forward a salutogenic explanation as to why some people remain healthy while experiencing adverse circumstances. It explains that people may be better equipped to resist daily stressors and to stay in good health if they have a strong sense of coherence. It combines these two strands of research in the analyses and considers whether sense of coherence acts as a buffer against health hazards at the workplace.

This chapter considers the growing body of evidence confirming the health hazards of carbon disulfide in the viscose rayon industry. In her report Industrial Poisons Used in the Rubber Industry, Alice Hamilton, a leading U.S. expert on the toxicity of carbon disulfide, provides a technical primer on the rubber manufacturing process, including the carbon disulfide–based cold curing method for vulcanization. Hamilton's report also details the toxic materials used in the rubber industry, with particular emphasis on the toxic effects of carbon disulfide. In a June 1940 meeting of the American Medical Association, Friedrich Lewy presented an overview of nervous system damage from carbon disulfide, based on experimental animal research along with the limited human pathological data that were available. Lewy covered carbon disulfide's past uses in rubber vulcanizing but pushed the viscose rayon industry to the forefront.

Lead is the chemical with the best documentation of health hazards. However, lead poisoning was first thought of as a potentially life-threatening disease, which, in survivors, left no trace at all. Supported by industrial interests, many doctors and researchers ignored signs of brain damage and helped minimizing the perception of lead toxicity. The use of lead-containing gasoline additives (tetraethyllead) was at first greeted as the “gift from God” that prevented the knocking of automobile engines. It took several decades to recognize the health and safety risks. By now, we have documented lead toxicity even at exposures that were long thought to be safe. The chemical brain drain is therefore continuous and becomes more serious at higher exposures. Seemingly low levels of exposure may therefore not be safe.

Chapter Two explains why the United States decided to test 23 nuclear weapons at Bikini Atoll between 1946 and 1958. It also discusses the effects and implications of the US testing program on Bikini. More specifically, it examines the consequences of the US decision to remove the Bikinians to other atolls (Kwajalein, Rongerik, and Kili) and the health and environmental conditions experienced by the community as a result of their prolonged displacement. As well, this chapter discusses the Bikinians’ role as research subjects during their ill-fated return to Bikini in 1969, and their second exodus from the contaminated atoll in 1978. In addition, it emphasizes the Bikinians’ protest against the United States — in the form of petitions, council meetings, letters, telegrams, and lawsuits — and their ongoing attempts to gain adequate compensation from Washington.

Chapter Three focusses on the human and ecological consequences of American Cold War policies on the Rongelap and Utirik Atolls. In particular, it concentrates on the effects of the 1954 Bravo explosion, the largest thermonuclear test ever carried out by the United States. It explains how the exposed Rongelapese and Utirikese communities became the subjects of human radiation experiments conducted by scientists and doctors working for the Brookhaven National Laboratory between 1954 and the 1980s. The chapter also emphasizes the islanders’ efforts to acquire adequate compensation from the US for their nonconsensual role in these experiments and for the extensive damages that resulted from Bravo and other nuclear tests. Finally, the chapter describes the Rongelapese’ decision to move to Mejatto in 1985 due to ongoing concerns about the environmental and health hazards associated with living on their contaminated homeland.