Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health

Workplace safety and health is serious business. In work environments where the safety and health of employees is a significant issue, a major leadership challenge is to instill shared, companywide values that establish the safety, health, and well-being of each individual as a paramount concern of the business. Now in its second edition, the Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health, originally edited by Lawrence Slote, remains an essential first source for quick, practical answers on this pivotal workplace issue.

Concise chapters detail specific issues of biological, chemical, and physical hazards to workplace safety and health, and also address a broad spectrum of management concerns including training, workers' compensation, liability coverage, and regulatory matters. While adhering to the requirements set by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1971, the authors of this volume advocate a progressive approach that exceeds basic compliance with established regulations. Chapters emphasize not only worker protection through safe equipment and management supervision, but also the safety training of workers. Throughout, contributors stress the need to align safety and health concerns fully with a company's business objectives, offering insight into how these dual interests can be integrated.

With many chapters structured in an accessible "how-to" format, even those professionals inexperienced in occupational safety issues can rapidly gain a practical knowledge of the particular concerns of their industry. For launching or updating a comprehensive workplace safety program, or for assistance with confronting specific problems when they occur, the Handbook is an ideal starting point for assessing risks and initiating proactive measures to prevent accidents in any industry.

A new edition of the one-stop source for practical information on occupational safety and health.

Now expanded by more than 50 percent, this Second Edition of the Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health, originally edited by Lawrence Slote, demonstrates how to control hazards to safety and health in many types of work environments-and how to deal with injuries when they do occur. It features 30 concise chapters that enable even those not formally trained in occupational safety to get up to speed quickly, plus more than 150 helpful illustrations that complement the text.

With up-to-date contributions from occupational physicians, public health professionals, legal experts, and specialists in areas ranging from chemicals and radiation to noise exposure, this comprehensive Handbook presents a complete program of effective responses to a vast range of occupational safety and health problems. It includes:
* An overview of the field and its recent advances, with a clear explanation of managerial roles and responsibilities for safety and health
* Five sections on a variety of issues-safety evaluations, health assessment, control practices, physical hazards, and legal affairs-that make it simple to pinpoint information quickly
* How-to advice-step-by-step guidance on how to conduct an accident investigation, maintain a quality medical surveillance program, and much more
* Chapters on the prevention of specific hazards such as dermatoses, heat stress, radiation, respiratory illness,and infection
* Includes updated material based on chapters from Patty's Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology, Fourth Edition

LOUIS J. DiBERARDINIS, MS, CIH, CSP, is the Associate Director of the Environmental Medical Service at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a visiting lecturer on occupational health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He currently serves as chair of the ANSI Z.9.5 Subcommittee on Laboratory Ventilation and is a former president of the American Academy of Industrial Hygiene. He is the lead author of Guidelines for Laboratory Design (Wiley).