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The Occupational Health Needs of Workers: The Need for a New International Approach

Occupational health has long been the flagship of environmental medicine, because the endeavors of the early trade unions brought the problems of workplace hazards to the fore. However, trade unions and occupational health were essentially Western ideas, and many of the resultant approaches are barely relevant in poorer communities. Francoise Barten and Susan Fustukian provide an insightful but well-moderated critique of this circumstance, which carries a crucial message if our Western perspective of work-related environmental victimization is not to contribute further to the intellectual imperialism that has so often hampered the efforts of indigenous academics and policy-makers in less-wealthy countries.

business and environment, occupational health and safety, Third World

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 23, No. 4 (1996): 152-163