Real Significance of Occupational Health.

摘要

A review was presented of the various roles of the Department of Health and Welfare (HEW) in light of legislation concerned with occupational safety and health. In addition to support activities for the Department of Labor, HEW has a number of important responsibilities of its own such as health and safety research, industry wide studies, hazard evaluations of toxicity determinations, annual compilation of a list of toxic substances, and development of an adequate supply of manpower and woman power to carry out the purposes of the Act. NIOSH was noted to be one of the 17 programs in the Health Services and Mental Health Administration which is one of the seven operating agencies of HEW. The organizational charts for the HEW and NIOSH were presented and the responsibilities of the individual operating divisions and regional program directors were described. A new activity for NIOSH in the safety field has been the testing and certification of respirators, detector tubes and industrial hygiene instruments. A brief discussion was provided indicating that money spent on preventing disease and accidents is far less costly than monies spent on curative programs.