The field
of occupational safety and health has undergone significant change over the
past two decades. There are many reasons for this. Some of the more prominent
include the following: technological changes that have introduced new hazards
in the workplace; proliferation of health and safety legislation and corresponding
regulations; increased pressure from regulatory agencies; realization by executives
that a safe and healthy workplace is typically a more productive workplace;
health care and workers' compensation costs; increased pressure from environmental
groups and the public; a growing interest in ethics and corporate responsibility;
professionalization of health and safety occupations; increased
pressure from labor organizations and employees in general; rapidly mounting
costs associated with product safety and other types of litigation; and increasing
incidents of workplace violence. All of
these factors, when taken together, have made the job of the modern safety and
health professional more challenging and more important than it has ever been.
These factors have also created a need for an up-to-date book in workplace safety
and health that contains the latest information needed by people who will practice
this profession in the age of global competition.
