Book Review
The social dimensions of occupational health and safety
R Coulton, A McCulloch and R Noble
1990; Social Science Press, Wentworth Falls;
Grace Davey
This book presents an overview of some of the major occupational health and safety issues currently facing Australian society. It is one in a series of introductory books on health and welfare and claims to be 'user friendly', interactive, and designed to meet the needs of students as well as lecturers in occupational health, safety and welfare.
The book is divided into six chapters which discuss the interaction between work and health; why occupational health and safety has become a major focus; the social and personal aspects of occupational illness and injury; the organization of the labour market; the emerging areas such as compensation, rehabilitation and counselling; and finally suggests some ways by which occupational health and safety, and consequently societal health, might be improved. From the perspective of a lecturer in occupational health and safety the book was, as promised, well written and presented, eminently readable, and the activity segments prompted additional exploration of the issues. For students it would have been preferable to have an outline of the activities as they occurred throughout the text, rather than at the end of a chapter.
The contents of the book, although basic, would certainly be a valuable resource for those teaching introductory occupational health and safety, as it combines within one framework many of the basic principles of the interaction between work and health. There are a number of minor deficiencies with the book. The focus on the New South Wales legislation, workplace occupational health and safety structures and rehabilitation system, detract from the book's applicability throughout Australia. Additionally, statistics are not referenced and therefore further exploration of information which appears incorrect is not possible.
Finally, in the section on caring for the worker, although all the other occupational health and safety professionals are discussed, there is no mention of occupational health nurses, who in fact form the largest group of all health care professionals in the workplace. Overall the book is certainly a valuable addition to the lecturer's book shelf, principally because it combines information otherwise found in numerous textbooks.
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