Employmentweb_low

policies and interventions
to reduce risks associated with that work. in these situations of
exploitation and domination of labour, workers weigh the cost (e.g., an
injury) versus the benefit (money) of working in these jobs.
second, when scientists and experts do become involved, it is easy
to discredit or manipulate findings to support the firm's position. in the
end, those in control of capital are in a better position to provide
counter-opinions due to the structural imbalance of power, that is, of
wealth and influence. This firm-level analysis can also be extended to
the whole economy to explain the current economic crisis, which has
been fuelled by decades of deregulation. Workers' health is commonly
defined by the scientific community as a technical problem, and
conflicts over workplace hazards are typically referred to "experts"
who determine whether particular work processes or substances are
hazardous to health. for example, mainstream scientific knowledge
commonly denies the validity of alternative evidence found in shop
floors by unions or safety representatives. at the same time, definitions
of occupational health by many physicians often adapt to a firm's
needs, serving to reinforce the domination of labour by capital. in fact,
several studies have documented how experts employed by companies
have withheld information, lied, distorted findings, or used poor
methodologies to serve the interests of their employers (Berman,
1978; Berlinguer, falzi, & figa-Talamanca, 1996; Messing, 1999).
in both these ways, the conflict of interests between the
responsibility for profit-maximisation and the domination of the
workers often favours the employer's benefits over the safety of the
employee. Governments often wish to adopt a neutral role,
mediating conflicts between workers and companies and, along with
experts and employers, determining the nature of a safe workplace
environment. But even this safety does not imply the absence of
risk. it merely defines what is "acceptable" (Walters, 1985).
acknowledging this underlying political and ideological conflict over
workers' health is a necessary step to the process of understanding
occupational health policy (Muntaner et al., 1998; Benach,
Muntaner, Benavides, amable, & Jódar, 2002).
mobile occupational medicine unit. port of
Genoa (italy).
source: © ilo/M. crozet (2008)
9.2. Macro policies and healTh: an hisTorical
perspecTive
This book has charted in previous chapters the health impacts of six
specific employment dimensions: full-time permanent employment,
unemployment, precarious employment, informal work, child labour
and slavery (see section 7.3). To further understand their effects on
workplace health, each must be viewed in a historical context.
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