Health and Safety Books

This book contains both a framework for considering risk as well as a number of individual lessons on specific topics. The topics include: alar, animal testing, dioxin, agent orange, food irradiation, electronic and magnetic fields, VDTs and the use of gasohol. He has important chapters that should be read by everyone concerning epidemiology, risk taking, logical arguments, and one on the "besiegers" or the institutional providers of information with their specific motivations. It is a worthy read for anyone interested in risk, environmental affairs, or even the nature of modern discussions concerning any technical issues.

Michael Fumento is one of the best myth busters in the business. I find that you can usually judge how effective a writer is by how much virulent hate mail he receives. Fumento publishes his hate mail on his web site (www.fumento.com) and answers it with wit and dripping sarcasm.

For years, for instance, we've heard about how dioxin has allegedly killed {scores, hundreds, thousands, millions ... you pick a value} of people or caused unbelievable sickness and deformity. Vietnam Vets were supposed to be among the worst affected. Now I find out that Vets exposed to Agent Orange were no sicker than those who were not. To make matters worse, the leaders of a comprehensive CDC study that proved this were pilloried by politicians out to make a name for themselves! The press did little to help.

Why do people accept the anecdotal evidence provided by people who think substance X or Y made them sick, but ignore the well done epidemiological studies that show that it is not possible to blame X and Y for the disease? How is it that a private citizen with no training is to be believed over those who study such illnesses in detail? It makes a good story, that's why. It sells newspapers and generates great pictures.

If you can read Fumento's book and not get madder than Hell at all the ... "science" that's out there these days, you're brain dead or you're a tort lawyer who's watching his gravy train about to derail.

Absolutely outstanding! Mr. Fumento debunks popular urban legends regarding the "hazards" of Agent Orange, Dioxin, Alar, Electromagnetic Fields , and Video Display Terminals. At the same time, he adds a brilliant wit and sense of humor which makes this an exciting and engrossing read for anyone who is tired of being told that they are being killed off from modern technology. A Must Read!!!

This book represents an excellent starting point for women wanting to learn how to keep themselves safe. Covers all aspects of personal safety.

Lots of useful information! Women of all ages should read this handbook!

This is the best book I have read so far on how to protect yourself in all aspects of life for a woman especially. Some of Louise's tips were especially helpful as I am a woman runner on inner city streets. Its really helpful especially about the secondary crime scene . I strongly recommend this to women who travel, shop, workout work late and what ever the million things are we do alone. Pick this book up. It will really change your way of thinking. Its easy to read and very understandable. Thanks Louise for all your help and please please please keep writing.

This is a quick read and a useful primer to workplace violence. That being said, I thought the author was a bit unrealistic in more than a few areas. First, if your employer doesn't have a workplace violence policy that doesn't leave you with a lot of support. In fact, you could be viewed as an alarmist if you suggest one. Second, anyone who thinks their co-workers are going to be able to help (with specific training or prior experience) in a workplace violence incident are, I suggest, wishful thinkers. Bottom line - you have to look out for yourself in the workplace, just as you do on the street outside. However, I thought the biggest missing element was also the most obvious: if you have a real wacko at work that you are convinced is about to "go postal" - quit the job. I don't care what the excuse is, it's simply not worth risking your life over a job - especially where your employer won't keep you safe. Think about it. If your company is big enough that there are most likely wackos that you don't know about, then this book might help raise your awareness.

True story: one of my clients (I'm a consultant) terminated two long-time middle-level managers. My contact said that several of the co-workers thought one of the ex-employees was going to "lose it". My first comment - did they make a discreet check with that ex-employee's home town police department to see if they had a gun permit? (In this state you need a permit for any kind of firearm.) Of course, that fell on deaf ears. And guess what? The layout of the offices is such that the executive offices are in the back of the building in ambush territory. Fortunately, nothing happened (so far.) To this day I'm bit on edge when I go to see that client, and stay close to the exists during the meetings. As they say in the book, somewhere between Condition Yellow and Condition Orange.

This is a wonderful information-packed book that everyone who works should read. Full of valuable nuggets, Christensen briefly discusses the problem, then talks about what to do to prepare for such a horror, what it feels like when it happens, how to protect yourself when you're caught in it, how and where to hide and take cover, and even how you can fight back using "weapons" found in the workplace.

The author is a retired police officer and a high ranking martial artist. But he doesn't come across like Rambo but offers valuable suggestions that anyone can do to save himself or herself.

You never know when someone might go nutso and come to work with a plan to take everyone out. This book will give you a fighting chance.

Did you know that according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, workplace homicide is the leading cause of death among female workers in the United States and the second leading cause of death among men? 18,000 people a week are victimized by some sort of violence in the workplace in this country alone! Understanding how to protect yourself and your employees is indispensable knowledge.

I was privileged to receive an advanced copy of this important work to review before its official publication and found it well written, informative, and packed with essential information. Loren Christensen is one of my favorite authors. A retired police officer, Vietnam veteran, and 7th Dan black belt he really knows his stuff. For the record, I have a library of over 230 martial arts books. Many are in mint condition; stuff I've read only once, didn't finish, or never got around to. Christensen's are all dog-eared with sticky notes and scribbles in the margins, solid material I read over and over again. As always his advice is practical, useful, and easy to read.

In 'Surviving Workplace Violence' Christensen does a great job of making readers aware of the threat and presents solid strategies for keeping us safe. It is pretty short, a mere 105 pages, yet extremely valuable nevertheless. Its pithiness positions it as an excellent reference manual that just about anyone can read and understand in a few short hours. Clearly you cannot become an expert in such a short time yet the materials herein could literally save your life.

The vignettes in this book are startling and very informative. For example, it describes a situation where a 70-year-old salesman attacked and killed his former boss with a mason's hammer several months after she fired him for spitting on another employee. This clearly points out that just about anyone can be a potential hazard. Christensen describes warning signs (employee behaviors) that may indicate a higher likelihood of threat.

The author covers essential survival strategies for the employer (e.g., company policies/committees), as well as for the employee. The latter include awareness, stages of alertness (i.e., white, yellow, orange, red, black), hiding places, escape routes, incident response, combat breathing, mental imagery, and fighting back. He offers specific techniques that can be used against common weapons (e.g., knife, handgun, rifle) as well as descriptions of how to use common implements (e.g., stapler, pen, coffee cup) to help you fight back should you be forced to do so.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

I sent for this book as part of my MSc in Health & Safety. What a joy to read the views of someone better qualified than me who sang from the same hymn book as me! This book talks about risk taking behaviour in the context of risk homeostasis and risk displacement and linking it in with road safety measures worldwide. This book is highly relevant to H & S professionals from all industries and service sectors, as the concepts given can be applied anywhere. You can even apply them to your own driver behaviour - you'll be surprised at the result! This has to be one of the few academic books that have not had me snoring within 3 minutes of attempting to read it - fascinating throughout! Some readers from the more conventional schools of thought may be irritated by the "one sidedness" of the views expressed here, but they are founded on 30 years of data. This book really should reach a much wider audience, especially those in Government. May I also recommend the book Risk by John Adams?

This book of Gerald Wilde is a must read for anyone involved in traffic safety. It explains why some measures, like ABS systems or airbags, don't work the way you expect. People will drive faster and more dangerous, knowing about these safety measures, is the basic line. You may disagree with some of his views, but it will almost certainly change the way you think about traffic safety....

Wilde here expands on the ideas first presented in the 1994 first edition of TARGET RISK, namely, "risk homeostasis."

Risk homeostasis is the process by which human beings maintain a more-or-less constant level of (perceived) exposure to risk.

In a famous experiment in the 1950s, an English psychologist monitored galvanic skin response in drivers as they drove through a loop of London streets. He measured the risks drivers took (the "perceived level of danger" inherent in things like passing, speed, rapidity of lange changes, acceleration, braking etc) and found that drivers maintained a fairly steady "rate" of risk taking as measured as a function of time spend driving. In other words, during "safe" sections of road (wide, straight) drivers drove faster and took more maneuvering risks. In more dangerous sections (curvy, more traffic, etc) drivers drove more slowly. The key, however, was that drivers maintained a steady state of exposure to risk.

In another well known experiment, in 1977 the government of B.C., Canada instituted a crackdown on drunk driving. The crackdown lowered the rate of alcohol-caused accidents by about 25%, but during the six-month crackdown other types of accidents ROSE by 25%. Risk hoemeostasis would say that as people saw their (and others') driving risks due to alcohol reduced, they took more risks elsewhere.

Wilde's work investigated this idea and develops it into the theory of "risk homeostasis," which holds that people have a "risk target" of dangerous behaviours. When they reduce risky behaviour in one area (e.g. they start to wear seatbelts to increase the accident survival rate) they increase it in another (driving faster and more aggressively) to maintain a constant level of risk. Wilde suggests that this "target level" of risk is difficult to change, and presents a mass of evidence to suggest that impeoving safety of roads, cars etc does not, in fact, reduce the per-capita injury or death rate.

Wilde's theory accounts for a number of strange and well-documented phenomena. Smokers who quit smoking do not live longer (on average) than those who do not quit. Increases in traffic safety measures do not change the accident rate per capita-- the accident rate per mile driven drops, but the total number of miles driven increases. Insurance rate changes for those who have accidents do not change driver behaviour. Anti-smoking and anti-drinking etc campaigns do not work.

This is a clear and well-written book that presents a strange, counterintuitive and fascinating idea. The implications for teachers, politicians, health-care people and drivers are enormous. My only beef with the work is that Wilde gets his narrative (how he developed the theory) and his factual presnetations (what he found) mixed up at times. Overall, however, this is fine stuff.

Excellent look at human error. I read it from a healthcare perspective and found the concepts powerful. I will look at healthcare error in a new way after reading this book.

Dekker is a real master about the subject. There is not a single issue he leaves unattended. The depth of analysis is impressive.

Dekker reminds of Rasmussen -another giant about safety issues- in the kind of analysis.

If someone is looking for a récipé, Dekker could not be the adequate writer. However, if someone wants to know what problems is going to confront "following récipés", these are the right book and writer. If, after that, someone wants something more and very valuable too, try Rasmussen.

This book does pose 10 thought provoking questions, providing ample material to cast doubt on the solidity and trustworthiness of many of the accepted ideas and practices concerning accident investigation. An enduring theme throughout the book is that the answers you find depend on the questions you ask and they, in turn, depend on your beliefs about accidents. While there has been a growing chorus of discontent over the commonly used causal model accidents, there is limited consensus over what should replace it. The purpose of this book is not to propose an accident investigation model, but to question beliefs about human error, which is done so effectively that the reader is lead to doubt that there is such a thing and that all accidents could be subject to so much doubt that no conclusions about there causes and possible remedies could ever be found.
This book does a thorough job of examining human interaction with systems and, towards the end, provides some clues about how systems could be designed so that they are less error prone, safer and more resilient.

Americans are drinking more than twice the bottled water we did a decade ago. Bottled water now is everywhere. Evian water bottle was popular as a fashion accessory in the '80s fashion scene in Los Angeles. From the corporate boardrooms of New York City to the campgrounds of Yosemite National Park, Americans are drinking bottled was as never before. In fifteen years (1984 to 1999), consumption in the U. S. tripled. In 2001, Aquafina, purified tap water of Wichita, Kansas, was the top selling brand replacing that from Atlanta, GA, bottled by Coca Cola, Dasani. The back lash in 2007 of the tap water aspect led to Poland Spring of Maine to become the top seller.

In 1820 was the beginning of bottling for resale the spring water at Saratoga Springs, New York, and used as a cure for stomach ailments, called "Doctor Clark." Twenty years later, Poland Spring in Maine started the most advantageous and successful American bottling (the #1 today) of water as a cure for kidney ailments. Napoleon III decreed that Perrier water was to be bottled for the good of France in 1863. Italians drink the most at fifty galloons a year.

In 1912, the water fountain for use in public buildings was invented by Hal Taylor. All this bottling and packaging goes back to King Cyrus the Great of Persia whose brilliance led to boiling drinking water to be carted in silver flagons to war. Da Vinci, in 1509, declared San Pellegrino water miraculous. The brother of Andrew Wyeth invented plastic bottles in 1968. Perrier water was packaged in green glass.

In 1976, the average American drank 1-6 gallons a year; by 2006 we drank a shopping 28.3 galloons. Noncarbonated bottled water is the fastest grtowing segment of the U. S. beverage industry. Recent annual sales have reached 3.5 billion dollars. Water is the perfect drink, healthyu, refreshing and satisfying in a way Cokes, 7Ups, juices or alcohol aren't. In the U. S. many of the earliest brands were associated with resorts and spa complexes. The mystique of today's normal thing to do (no longer a status symbol) was started in 1928 . Mythology that mineral water improves one's overall health is questionable. I can't stomach tge taste if nminerak water; just because we think it's healthy doesn't make it so. TVA uses so many chem,icals in the dams up and dow \n the Tennessee River.

At first in 1976, water was delivered in large bottles to homes and offices and at grocery stores in galloon jugs. It's more economical to purchase the heavy jugs, the mainstream water businesss is a force of nature. Compare bottled to tap water: now, the secret is out and we know it is safe only so far. Any water source can be tampered with to make it unsafe, like any food or medicine at any grocery store. Thanks to Al Gore and his vigilance about global warming, drinking water is under environmental scrunity like never before. Water, pure, healthy, perfect...until now. Toxins can be added anywhere along the way. There's nothing in it which is not good for you except for the additives utility companies use fjor purity to get the dirt out.

Thirty years ago, bottled water barely existed as a business in the U. . I wuse it in the jugs for my coffee. Recent annual sales have reached over 2.6 billion dollars. I've even ventured far enough off the tract to use artesian water for coffee, but mainly I stick to Spring water. It is hard to choose "good" quality as each grocery stocks up on their own brand and don't give the buyer a chaoice. Taste and water undergone reverse osmosis treatment determine the cost. Is water pure? Depends on the source.

So many people can benefit from this book: nutritionists, nurses, physical therapists, sports medicine, environmental sciences, etc. I only wish the media would present such informatiion as clearly to the public as this book does.

The authors of this book have taken what is surely a very complex issue and made it both readable and informative. They cover all or most of the issues concerning both tap and bottled water and allow the reader to make up his or her mind about which course to follow. I particularly appreciated the history of drinking water going back to Biblical and Talmudic times. I think anyone who drinks water would benefit from this book.

This is an interesting and enlightening book on safety of air travel. The book is well written and simple to follow and understand. Stakeholders of the air transport business should find the book useful and helpful.

This is not the best book on the subject but nevertheless it has a wealth of information that makes it a useful reference for those with an interest on safety in air travel.

As an airline maintenance engineer, this book offers me a total review and renewal to what we are doing everyday.I found the meaning of our daily works from the author's amazing presentations and the examples he provided in the context.He also approached his goal from a pilot's view,from the maintenance actions,and the influence the nature environment has imposed to the aviation safety.Read this book as your school text book, makes your notes,and you can get so much from this book ...

Ms. Yaroshinskaya's telling of her struggle to publish the truth about the Chernobyl disaster ranks among the best of this type. Very good, very true story. Well translated. The forward by John Gofman is a self praising, out-of-place, anti-nuclear discussion on how to conduct a type of research. The book would have been improved by its omission.

Chernobyl: The Forbidden Truth is about the inadequate care of the victims of Chernobyl, the inadequate immediate response to the accident, the inadequate records-keeping of the investigaters, and the continuing cost in human and animal suffering caused by this tragedy. Dr. Gofman's foreward is an important addition that ties the book's litany of problems together with a description of what should be done instead regarding investigating the exact size of the calamity. Millions of Curies of various radioactive substances were released (some long-lived, some not so long-lived), but no one really knows where it all went and who is absorbing a dose right now. This is, however, a chronic problem with nuclear activities around the world, and not limited to Chernobyl.

In particular, Gofman's NINE ESSENTIAL RULES OF INQUIRY should be required reading for everyone involved in such research. It outlines important requirements for all such testing. Gofman is a Professor Eme! ritus of Medical Physics at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a co-discoverer of Uranium-233 and isolated the world's first "working quantities" of plutonium at Robert Oppenhiemer's personal request for the Manhattan Project during WWII. Since that service to America he has continued to research radiation and its effect on human health and is referred to as "brilliant" by even his adversaries.

His comments belong not only in the foreward of this important book, but they also belong pasted to the desks of every nuclear scientist who ever tried to answer the question of just how low a level of radiation is actually "safe".

Perhaps if/when they find an answer to that question Gofman's comments will no longer apply, but that day appears to be far off, when our best "research event" ever in the field of human radiation experiments (at least, the best "research event" since Hiroshima and Nagasaki) is as poorly han! dled as it was -- and is -- being handled, as is made clear! in Alla Yaroshinskaya's monumental book.

A colleague shared this book with me to help explain some meaty aspect of RCRA. I finally understand what is required so that I can talk intelligently with the regulators. I subsequently went out and purchased my own copy. This book is great as a reference. I highly recommend you obtain a copy if you are as mystified by the RCRA regs as most of us are.

A great reference book for those needing to decipher hazardous waste regulatory jargon. I've wasted my money on other so-called interpretive guides, which merely summarized the law. Ho hum. Wagner's book goes much further to explain and decipher the regulations, not just the law. Very helpful!

I bought this book exclusively to research some social and historical characteristics of County Roscommon Ireland in the early 19th Century. My ancestors lived there around the time period on which the book is focused. This gave me a lot of helpful information in understanding why my ancestors may have left Ireland in those days to come to America. But I am not a scholar. So I wasn't afraid to keep a dictionary nearby as I read this well-written soft cover book.

The book provides an exceptional overview of the state of life in Roscommon in the period just prior to, and during, the famine years.It is, as usual with Maynooth Studies, well researched and chock full of statistics. Particularly interesting to me was the evolution and data relative to "Whiteboy" and Molly McGuire activity in Roscommon and environs.