Workplace injuries in the USA cause hardships for both employers and employees, with both indirect and direct costs estimated to be about $155.5 billion per year. These hazards range from ergonomic issues to biological and environmental hazards to violence in the workplace. Ada P. Kahn's Encyclopedia of Work‐related Illnesses, Injuries, and Health Issues addresses a wide variety of these issues, from absenteeism to zoonoses, in the twenty‐first century workplace.
The work is written to provide an overview of workplace health and safety issues for employers, employees, human resource officers, and other generalists. In the introduction, Kahn discusses the changing workplace and the accompanying safety issues that exist when the economy shifts from manufacturing to service‐oriented. She discusses contemporary workplace issues such as shifting demographics, sexual harassment, violence in the workplace, privacy of employees’ medical information, and mental health and complementary medicine.
The Encyclopedia includes extensive cross‐references, contact information for appropriate organizations, and sources for further reading. Entries include: discussions of different industries that have specific hazards, such as furniture manufacturing, painters, and dancers; complementary medicine, such as meditation, Rolfing, and Alexander technique; specific injuries, such as rotator cuff injuries, dermatitis, and heart attack; and techniques used by employers to reduce worker stress and injury, such as employee assistance programs, health promotion, and day care. Other entries focus on individuals who have contributed significantly to the field of workplace health and safety, including complementary medicine pioneers Deepak Chopra and Jon Kabat‐Zinn. Discussion of health conditions (such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis, eating disorders, and bursitis), and environmental hazards (such as solvents, fungi, dust and debris), focus on specific workplace vulnerabilities. The Encyclopedia also provides an extensive bibliography and a number of appendices. The latter include statistics on absentee rates, mortality rates of conditions such as asthma and asbestosis, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's carcinogen list, and a very useful resource list of organizations involved with or affected by workplace safety issues. The references at the end of each entry combined with the bibliography point readers to more in‐depth information about the topics.
This work is an excellent overview of a timely topic. The rapid pace of workplace change as well as a shifting work force makes this book an invaluable resource to those trying to stay current with issues facing today's workers. The entries are interesting and concise, and the appendices add valuable information. While there are other works on specific medical and legal aspects of workplace safety, Kahn purposefully addresses issues generally in order to reach a wide audience. This is an excellent reference source for health sciences, academic, and public libraries that are looking to expand their resources on this topic.
