Medical screening and biomedical monitoring violate individual rights. Such conflicts of right with right are acted upon synergistically by uncertainty which, in some important respects, increases rather than decreases as a result of research. Issues of rightness and wrongness, ethical issues, arise because the human beings who are subjects of medical screening and biological monitoring often have little or no option whether to be subjected to them.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm Ind Hyg Assoc J
September 1985
Time-weighted average (TWA) is widely used in research and practice, in occupational health, as an index of exposure and dose. Its key element, CT, where C is concentration of contaminant and T is duration of contamination, is recognizable as Haber's rule. Neither TWA nor similar measurements have been scientifically validated, and it does not seem appropriately named.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Ind Med
October 1985
Systematic studies in occupational deafness were first carried out in the late 19th century, in America, Germany, Russia, and Scotland. The studies by Gottstein and Kayser, in 1881 in Germany, and by Barr, in 1886 in Scotland, are identified as the two principal landmarks. The physicians who carried them out should be seen as occupying a place in the mainstream of development of industrial medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper examines the conflict between the medical monitoring of workers and human rights. A lead regulation in force in Ontario, despite its absolute conflict with an important guideline established by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, is presented as an example of the erosion of human rights by certain legislated activities in occupational medicine. The question of whether the benefits of occupational medical activities outweigh the disadvantages attendant upon the erosion of human rights is raised.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCan Fam Physician
March 1982
Investigation, assessment, and management of carcinogenic risks are not only scientific but also political responsibilities. In Canada, this becomes cumbersome, since local, provincial and federal policies are involved. The process also involves workers and management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBritain's Health and Safety at Work Act introduced in 1974 marked a change in approach to occupational health and safety which is having important long-term effects on the organization of occupational health and safety in Britain. The purpose of this paper is to outline the broad principles of approach to health and safety at work contained within the 1974 Act; highlight the implications of the new Act for employers, managers, employees, and representative organizations, and discuss the developments in the organization of occupational health and safety as a result of the 1974 Act.
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