The Point of Production

How do science and politics interact in the definition of work-related injury and disease? How is worker safety affected by the overall power relations within society? The world today faces bewildering new choices about technology use, the organization of work, and methods of production. Far from taking place in a vacuum, these choices have life-and-death implications for working people and communities. This book integrates theory, data, and case examples to analyze workplace health and safety battles and the roles of such key players as labour, public health professionals, management, regulatory bodies, and the state. It examines the point of production where raw materials are fashioned into products situating issues of occupational and environmental health within their political, economic and social context. Providing an alternative to classical economic explanations, the authors also take a fresh look at the point of production: what is the rationale that guides industrial decision-making, and how can we ameliorate its human costs?