Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S.
Biomonitoring of workers and communities raises important legal and ethical concerns, but the two contexts are different. Monitoring workers is usually done by, or at the instigation of, the employer who in law is responsible for their health and safety. Whenever worker monitoring leads to the re...
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| Language: | en_US |
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2002
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1580 |
| _version_ | 1826190077832724480 |
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| author | Ashford, Nicholas A. |
| author_facet | Ashford, Nicholas A. |
| author_sort | Ashford, Nicholas A. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Biomonitoring of workers and communities raises important legal and ethical concerns,
but the two contexts are different. Monitoring workers is usually done by, or at the instigation
of, the employer who in law is responsible for their health and safety. Whenever worker
monitoring leads to the removal of workers, difficult issues emerge affecting labor-management
relations, labor law and discrimination law. Resulting legal and ethical questions are usually
framed within the context of the employment contract or labor relationship. In contrast, public
health or environmental officials may be the driving force behind biomonitoring of the
community. No employer-employee relationship exists, and the doctor-patient relationship may
be tenuous. The community may often initiate the request for biomonitoring, but the situation is
no less contentious. On the basis of an historical view of monitoring events within the U.S.
context, mechanisms are suggested that would promote positive interactions between employers
and workers, and between individuals and groups in the monitoring of chemically contaminated
communities. These suggestions should have relevance to experience in other countries |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:34:41Z |
| id | mit-1721.1/1580 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:34:41Z |
| publishDate | 2002 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/15802019-04-09T18:34:27Z Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S. Ashford, Nicholas A. Labor issues and workers' compensation biomonitoring Biomonitoring of workers and communities raises important legal and ethical concerns, but the two contexts are different. Monitoring workers is usually done by, or at the instigation of, the employer who in law is responsible for their health and safety. Whenever worker monitoring leads to the removal of workers, difficult issues emerge affecting labor-management relations, labor law and discrimination law. Resulting legal and ethical questions are usually framed within the context of the employment contract or labor relationship. In contrast, public health or environmental officials may be the driving force behind biomonitoring of the community. No employer-employee relationship exists, and the doctor-patient relationship may be tenuous. The community may often initiate the request for biomonitoring, but the situation is no less contentious. On the basis of an historical view of monitoring events within the U.S. context, mechanisms are suggested that would promote positive interactions between employers and workers, and between individuals and groups in the monitoring of chemically contaminated communities. These suggestions should have relevance to experience in other countries 2002-08-14T14:34:55Z 2002-08-14T14:34:55Z 1994 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1580 en_US 191428 bytes application/pdf application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Labor issues and workers' compensation biomonitoring Ashford, Nicholas A. Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S. |
| title | Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S. |
| title_full | Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S. |
| title_fullStr | Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S. |
| title_short | Monitoring the Worker and the Community for Chemical Exposure and Disease: Legal and Ethical Considerations in the U.S. |
| title_sort | monitoring the worker and the community for chemical exposure and disease legal and ethical considerations in the u s |
| topic | Labor issues and workers' compensation biomonitoring |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1580 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ashfordnicholasa monitoringtheworkerandthecommunityforchemicalexposureanddiseaselegalandethicalconsiderationsintheus |