Handbook of Occupational Health and Safety

Robert Paehlke was Professor, Environmental and Resource Studies, at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario.

This is a manual of those federal government rules and regulations regarding health and safety which apply to federal government employees. Those innocent of the scope of government might think the greatest risk to government employees is paper cuts. But such is not the case; federal employees run the full range of health and safety risks. Guidelines regarding pesticides, boilers, laboratory chemicals, radiation exposure, and numerous other matters are carefully set out.

The book, by its very nature, is not of interest to general readers. However, the protections set out might be of use to union members or employers seeking to improve procedures within workplaces. Generally the procedures are stringent, though the emphasis is clearly on safety matters, rather than longer-range health concerns. The clearest evidence of this is in the federal regulation on the right to refuse “dangerous” work (p. 4). The federal regulation allows refusal only in cases of “imminent danger” (e.g., a roof collapse) rather than a long, slow, statistical risk to the lungs. The regulations several provinces set for both the public and private sectors offer better protection than this.