Occupational Health and Public Health : Lessons from the Past - Challenges for the Future

• About a hundred years ago occupational and environmental health became an increasingly urgent topic in Western societies. Today's perceptions and organisation for the prevention and treatment of occupational health problems are to a great extent historical products of a specific regime of work during the classical industrial era. For several reasons occupational health and safety became a field of its own involving medical and technical expertise, politicians, public administrations, trade unions and employers associations. Its roots, however are also to be found in the general history of public health. In the context of the evolving welfare state the two fields of occupational and of public health have developed as overlapping, though separately organised social and scientific concerns. The affinity of the histories of the two fields was the main reason for organising the conference Occupational Health and Public Health. Lessons from the Past : Challenges for the Future in Norrköping in southern Sweden in September 2001 with a view of casting light on their relations and to promote collaboration between the two. This book is a summary of the conference. Part I,  The Role of Health in a Changing World : Perspectives on Medicine, Politics and Society  , includes the introductory and concluding lectures and addresses issues of history and its eventual relevance for politics and policy-making, while Part II,  The Growth and Definiton of Ideas of Health  , provides historiographic glimpses of varying depth into the growth of the field. Part III,  Health and Industry: Politics and Practice  , contains three chapters dealing with the growing awareness of industrial hazards and the power struggles between various groups of actors in the process of developing policy and making industry safe for the workers and the rest of society. The section concludes with a personal portrait of one of the Swedish pioneers of occupational health and an early international figure in the field. The final section is entitled  Global Perspectives on Health, Old and New   and is indicative of much work being done today that crosses international borders, looking at health from an international perspective. In this sense, the contributions to this volume provide a good overview of work in the field past and present and points toward the future.... merFör hundra år sedan var arbetsplatsernas hälsorisker brännande politiska frågor i Västvärlden. Nutida föreställningar, normer och institutioner på yrkesmedicinens, arbetshälsans och arbetsmiljöns område är i hög grad ett arv från denna storindustrins klassiska period. Av olika skäl utvecklades arbetarskydd och arbetshälsa till ett eget fält med egen medicinsk och teknisk expertis, med egna politiska institutioner typiskt byggda i direkt relation till arbetsgivarnas och arbetarnas organisationer

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occupational health

public health

health history

public policy

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