Encyclopaedic guide to safe workplace

If you want a single authoritative source for information about health and safety in the workplace, there is no greater addition to any bookshelf than the recently published fourth edition of the International Labour Office's Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety.

Available in a four-volume print version and on CD-Rom, the encyclopaedia contains more than 4,000 pages of safety information gathered by 1,000 health and safety experts from more than 60 countries.

It is aimed at employers, union officials, lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, industrial hygienists, toxicologists, regulators, health and safety professionals and all who are concerned with health and safety in the workplace. Volume I is divided into The Body, Health Care, Management and Policy and Tools and Approaches. For instance, a chapter in the body section dealing with the respiratory system looks at issues like occupational asthma, diseases caused by organic dusts, coal workers' lung diseases, asbestos-related diseases, the health effects of man-made fibres, respiratory cancer and occupationally acquired infections of the lung. The healthcare section includes

health promotion in small organisations, worksite nutrition programmes, smoking control in the workplace, cancer prevention and control, pre-retirement programmes and employee assistance programmes.

Management and policies has a subsection dealing with workers' compensation systems. This includes items on employer misconduct, rehabilitation and care, obligations to continue the employment, finance, vicarious liability and claims against third parties. Another sub-section on labour relations and human resources management looks at rights of association and representation, collective bargaining and safety and health, forms of workers' participation, labour relations aspects of labour inspection and collective and individual disputes over health and safety issues.

Tools and Approaches examines: biological monitoring; epidemiology and statistics; and ergonomics (e.g., postures at work, general fatigue, mental workload, sleep deprivation and elderly workers). It also deals with occupational hygiene; personal protection (e.g., eye and face protectors, foot and leg protection and respiratory protection); record systems and surveillance; and toxicology.

Volume II looks at psychosocial and organisational factors (e.g., person-environment fit, workload, autonomy and control, work pacing and electronic work monitoring). This section also explores sexual harassment, workplace violence, job future ambiguity, managerial style, staffing issues, self-esteem and control strategies.

A major section on general hazards follows which explores issues like biological hazards, natural and technological disasters, electricity, fire, heat and cold, hours of work, indoor air quality, indoor environmental control, lighting, noise, radiation, vibration, violence and visual display units.

A section on the environment explores industrial pollution, air, land and water pollution, ozone depletion and environmental auditing. The last section of Volume II is subdivided into Accident Prevention, Audits, Inspections and Investigations, Safety Applications, Safety Policy and Leadership and Safety Programmes.

Volume III has a major section on chemicals. It treats the usage, storage and transport of chemicals; minerals and agricultural chemicals; and details of the chemicals themselves (from aluminium to zirconium). The volume proceeds through different industries and occupations, outlining the threats to health and safety posed by each.

It points out that "the most vulnerable group of media workers - freelance journalists and casual staff - are the ones least likely to receive training even where it is available. "Sometimes they are hired without any life or health insurance. If they get hurt, they are not entitled to compensation." The ILO calls for "health and life insurance for everyone reporting in the field, with established procedures to ensure that anyone who is likely to be at risk, including freelance staff or stringers, is covered." Volume IV comprises guides to occupations, guides to chemicals, indexes and a directory of experts.

There are more than 1,000 easy-to-read illustrations in the encyclopaedia which enhances what is generally - if not always - a highly readable text. The encyclopaedia is a superb achievement and an essential authoritative source. A complete listing of all the articles, authors and contributing institutions can be read on the Internet at www.ilo.org/publns.

The CD-Rom or 4,000-page, four-volume print version of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety (fourth edition) costs £297 (€377) and is available from Government Publications, 4-5 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: 01 661 3111. Fax: 01 475 2760.