OSH & Development

No. 2, June 2000 Published in cooperation with the Swedish Association for Occupational and Environmental Health & Development (UFA), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Swedish National Institute for Working Life (NIWL) Editors: Kaj Elgstrand & Stefania Loria

Contents

SECOND ISSUE

Kaj Elgstrand

This is the second issue of "OSH & Development". We received many positive comments to the first issue. Charles Mbakaya in Nairobi, Kenya, liked the general layout of the journal and proposed the name "International Journal of Occupational Safety, Health & Development". He proposed the inclusion of special sections, like Editorial, Research articles, Short communications, Announcements, etcetera. He also wished that we would get the collaboration with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in order to create some limited funds to promote and support international cooperation projects initiated by former participants of the basic OSH courses financed by Sida. Hassan Boukacem in Algers, Algeria, made several suggestions for the design of the journal, and proposed thematic issues. Timo Partanen in Helsinki, Finland, proposed a number of dissertation abstracts to be included in the second issue (which has been done). Gustavo Molina in Santiago de Chile congratulated us on the journal and asked for more copies (which were sent). Izromaita in Palembang, Indonesia, proposed the inclusion of colour pictures, and a special page for information from former participants of the OSH courses organised by the Swedish National Institute for Working Life (NIWL) and financed by Sida.

You will find this issue to be very similar to the first one when it comes to general contents and design. You will enjoy Jukka Takala's article about ILO's global programme for safety. You will miss articles and short communications from yourself and your collegues. Sundbäck & Ulfvarson's report from the traffic situation in Hong Kong and Bangkok may make you reflect on the traffic situation and its impact in your own hometown. It may be noted that the editors have been industrious reading both fiction ('Assembly line') and more humdrum but still fascinating stuff like Pierre Bourdieu and the Human Development Report. You will find several abstracts from dissertations which may interest you. So, even in these days when more and more communication goes through purely electronic media, we insist on using words printed on paper made from wood. But we consider the possibility to develop also electronic communication. The Swedish Association for Occupational and Environmental Health & Development (UFA) is now, through its new webmaster Bo Dahlner, updating its website. Within a year we hope that it will be a busy channel for communication between NIWL, UFA and former and current participants in the international OSH courses financed by Sida. You can visit the website and see how its development is proceeding: welcome.to.ufa

How about the further development of this journal? Well, we have the following main ambitions:

• The journal should be published at least once per year. There was a depressingly long lapse between the first two issues: almost two years. This was due to great workload on the part of NIWL involved in international development cooperation, but also to the fact that one of the editors, Ms. Mary Reuterdahl, left her position at NIWL and went to another job in a private enterprise
• There should be much more contributions by former and current participants in the international training courses organised by NIWL. Such contributions can be made in the form of longer articles or shorter communications.
• The general structure and design of the journal will not change in any dramatic way. But proposals, like the ones mentioned above, will be considered.

Safe Work ILO'S OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMME IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Jukka Takkala

New ILO approach

At the dawn of the new millennium, under the leadership of the new Director-General, Mr. Juan Somavia, the ILO reviewed its programme and organisational structure. With a view to improving the effective the work, the new programme and structure were established surrounding the following four strategic objectives:

• Promote and realise standards, fundamental principles and rights at work
• Create greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income
• Enhance the coverage of effectiveness and social protection for all
• Strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.

Further in order to clarify the priority of the ILO work, eight international focus programmes (InFocus Programmes) have been launched. As obvious from the ILO commitment to safety and health during its 80 year history, promotion of occupational safety and health was included in these priority programmes with the title of InFocus Programme on SafeWork (SafeWork).

Safety and Health Problems

Around the world, millions of men and women work in poor and hazardous conditions. According to ILO information:

• Every year, more than 1.2 million people die of work-related accidents and diseases;
• More than 160 million workers fall ill each year due to workplace hazards.
• The poorest, least protected - often women, children and migrants - are also among the most affected.
• Micro- and small enterprises account for over 90 per cent of enterprises where conditions are often very poor and the workers in them are often excluded from all labour protection.

Human suffering has no measurable cost, unlike economic losses. Estimates from, for example, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway put the direct cost of accidents in billions of dollars. In many developing countries, death rates among workers are five to six times those in industrialised countries. Yet the phenomenon is still largely undocumented and there is insufficient political will to address the problem. Global competition, growing labour market fragmentation and rapid change in all aspects of work creates a mounting challenge for labour protection, especially in developing countries. Workers in rural areas and the urban informal sector are often ignored or difficult to reach.

Goals

Against this background, the SafeWork established following four major goals:

• preventive policies and programmes are developed to protect workers in hazardous occupations and sectors;
• effective protection is extended to vulnerable groups of workers falling outside the scope of traditional protective measures;
• governments and employers' and workers' organisations are better equipped to address problems of workers' well-being, occupational health care and the quality of working life;
• the social and economic impact of improving workers' protection is documented and recognised by policy- and decision-makers.

Strategy

SafeWork aims to create world wide awareness of the dimensions and consequences of work-related accidents, injuries and diseases; to place the health and safety of all workers on the international agenda; and to stimulate and support practical action at all levels. With this in mind, the programme will launch groundbreaking research, statistical work and media-related activities, and will support national action through a global programme of technical assistance. Human suffering and the cost to society, as well as the potential benefits of protection, such as enhanced productivity, quality and cost savings, will be better documented and publicised. SafeWork will promote, as a policy and operational tool, the primacy of prevention as an efficient and cost-effective way of providing safety and health protection to all workers.

SafeWork will do first things first. It will focus on hazardous work and give primary attention to workers in especially hazardous occupations in sectors where the risks to life and safety are manifestly high, such as agriculture, mining and construction, workers in the informal sector, and those occupationally exposed to abuse and exploitation, such as women, children and migrants.

SafeWork will adopt an integrated approach, including non-traditional aspects of workers' health and safety such as drugs and alcohol, stress and HIV-AIDS. The programme will also make extensive use of gender analysis and planning. There will be strong links within the social protection sector and links with other sectors, InFocus programmes and the field. A key component of SafeWork is its global technical cooperation programme. Partnerships with donors will be strengthened to mobilize additional external resources. Specific strategies are elaborated below for each of the four goals, and include advocacy, building of the knowledge base, capacity building for constituents and support for direct action programmes. Showing that protection pays.

Showing that protection pays
The prevention of accidents, improvement of working conditions and enforcement of standards are often seen as a cost to business. Little is known about the costs of not preventing accidents or poor working conditions, or of the benefits of improvements for productivity and competitiveness. Better information and analytical tools can help increase firms' and governments' willingness to invest in prevention. This strategy will have two main thrusts: extending the knowledge base through a major drive for comprehensive, reliable and sustainable data, and new research on the economics of labour protection. The programme will foster the development of a safety culture worldwide. It will thus demonstrate that prevention policies and programmes benefit all ILO constituents.

Protecting workers in hazardous conditions.
Priority must be given to workers in the most hazardous occupations and sectors, such as mining, construction or agriculture, or where working relationships or conditions create particular risks, such as very long working hours, exposure to hazardous chemicals, work in isolation and work by migrants, etc. The ILO will make use of its extensive experience in the development of standards, codes of practice and technical guides in exploiting the world's information resources, and in developing means of practical action. Member States will be encouraged to set objectives and targets for the protection of workers in hazardous conditions. Particular attention will be given to strengthening the advisory and enforcement capacity of labour inspectorates.

Extending protection.
The large majority of workers whose conditions are most in need of improvement are excluded from the scope of existing legislation and other protective measures. Existing policies and programmes need to be reviewed to extend their coverage. This will go hand in hand with action to strengthen labour inspectorates' capacity to develop broad prevention policies and programmes and to promote the protection of vulnerable workers, particularly women workers. Alliances and networks will be extended to include ministries of health, industry, local government, education, and social services, as well as local community groups. Emphasis will also be placed on achieving tangible results through practical action and exchanges of information on good practices.

Promoting workers' health and well-being.
The strategy to promote workers' health and well-being will involve the establishment of a data bank on policies, programmes and good enterprise-level practices so as to improve constituents' capacity to identify workers' protection issues and to provide guidance on new approaches. Governments' capacity for prevention, protection, and the application and enforcement of key labour protection instruments will be strengthened.

Major outputs

The major outputs of SafeWork in the coming years will be the following.

• Protecting workers in hazardous jobs:
  
  • a World Report on Life and Death at Work, presenting the world situation regarding risks, accidents and diseases, policies and experience, and guidance for future action;
    
  • a film on safety and health, focussing on manifestly hazardous conditions;
    
  • new standards on safety and health in agriculture established through tripartite agreement;
    
  • a review of standards on occupational safety and health to determine the action needed to update and possibly consolidate them, and to translate them into practical policy and programmatic tools such as codes of practice and guidelines;
    
  • tools and guidance for member States to facilitate the ratification and implementation of ILO standards;
    
  • harmonised chemical labelling systems, safety data sheets and hazard communication methods;
    
  • guidelines for radiation protection and the classification of radiographs of pneumoconiosis;
    
  • a rapid response capacity, especially on chemical safety and health issues, including readily accessible networks and timely information.
    

• Extending protection to all workers.
  
  • training programmes and tools for SME owners to promote labour protection and improve productivity:
    
  • strengthening the effectiveness, efficiency and coverage of labour inspection systems;
    
  • guidelines for the extension of labour protection to informal sector workers;
    
  • partnerships with community organisations and others to develop and implement approaches for reaching out to hard-to-reach groups of workers.
    

• Promoting workers' health and well-being:
  
  • a data bank on policies, programmes and good enterprise-level practices;
    
  • training methodologies and diagnostic tools; ý guidelines on occupational health care for all;
    
  • programmes to prevent and deal with the effects of workplace problems, including drugs, alcohol and stress.
    

• Showing that protection pays:
  
  • a statistical programme to develop new survey tools, carry out national surveys;
    
  • better national and global estimates of occupational fatalities and injuries;
    
  • report on the economics of accidents and preventive measures;
    
  • tools for inspection services to promote the benefits of prevention;
    
  • guides on occupational safety and health management systems and safety culture;
    
  • tools to reduce work-related environmental damage.
    

• Promoting national and industry-based action:
  
  • a global technical co-operation programme on safety, health and the environment;
    
  • national and industry-level programmes of action to tackle priority issues.

Partnerships

In the implementation of the SafeWork, ILO needs support and active participation of various national and international organisations. Most of the above listed outputs require inputs from member States and technical institutions in order to produce practical outputs. For the preparation of reports including World Report on Life and Death at Work and economics of accidents and preventive measures cannot be completed without data and information from different countries. Therefore, most of work items will be carried out in partnership with relevant organisations and institutions.

Constructive dialogue among government and employers¹ and workers¹ organisations is an essential basis for the successful formulation and implementation of national programmes on safety and health. These organisations are also important partners of the programme and SafeWork will promote tripartite dialogue through its technical co-operation projects and various meetings. The ILO¹s field structure particularly Specialists on Occupational Safety and Health in the Multidisciplinary Advisory Teams will be closely working with the ILO constituents to support the programmes at the national level.

Jukka Takala
InFocus Programme SafeWork
ILO
4 Route des Morillons
CH-1211 Geneva 22,
Switzerland
Tel. +41-22-799 67 15
Fax +41-22-799 68 78 / 799 85 16
E-mail: takala@ilo.org

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ASSEMBLY LINE

B. Traven

Mr. E.L. Winthrop of New York was on vacation in the Republic of Mexico. It wasn't long before he realized that this strange and really wild country had not yet been fully and satisfactorily explored by Rotarians and Lions, who are forever conscious of their glorious mission on earth. Therefore, he considered it his duty as a good American citizen to do his part in correcting this oversight. In search for opportunities to indulge in his new avocation, he left the beaten track and ventured into regions not especially mentioned, and hence not recommended, by travel agents to foreign tourists. So it happened that one day he found himself in a little, quaint Indian village some-where in the State of Oaxaca. Walking along the dusty main street of this pueblecito, which knew nothing of pavements, drainage, plumbing, or of any means of artificial light save candles or spine splinters, he met with an Indian squatting on the earthen-floor front porch of a palm hut, a so-called jacalito.

The Indian was busy making little baskets from bast and from all kinds of fibers gathered by him in the immense tropical bush which surrounded the village on all sides. The material used had not only been well-prepared for its purpose but was also richly colored with dyes that the basket-maker himself extracted from various native plants, barks, roots and from certain insects by a process known only to him and the members of his family. His principal business, however, was not producing baskets. He was a peasant who lived on what the small property he possessed - less than fifteen acres of not too fertile soil - would yield, after much sweat and labor and after constantly worrying over the most wanted and best suited distribution of rain, sunshine, and wind and the changing balance of birds and insects beneficial or harmful to his crops. Baskets he made when there was nothing else for him to do in the fields, because he was unable to dawdle. After all, the sale of his baskets, though to a rather limited degree only, added to the small income he received from his little farm. In spite of being by profession just a plain peasant, it was clearly seen from the small baskets he made that at heart he was an artist, a true and accomplished artist. Each basket looked as if covered all over with the most beautiful sometimes fantastic ornaments, flowers, butterflies, birds, squirrels, antelope, tigers, and a score of other animals of the wilds. Yet, the most amazing thing was that these decorations, all of them symphonies of color, were not painted on the baskets but were instead actually part of the baskets themselves. Bast and fibers dyed in dozens of different colors were so cleverly - one must actually say intrinsically - interwoven that those attractive designs appeared on the inner part of the basket as well as on the outside. Not by painting but by weaving were those highly artistic effects achieved. This performance he accomplished without ever looking at any sketch or pattern. While working on a basket these designs came to light as if by magic, and as long as a basket was not entirely finished one could not perceive what in this case or that the decoration would be like.

People in the market town who bought these baskets would use them for sewing baskets or to decorate tables with or window sills, or to hold little things to keep them from lying around. Women put their jewelry in them or flowers or little dolls. There were in fact a hundred and two ways they might serve certain purposes in a household or in a lady's own room. Whenever the Indian had finished about twenty of the baskets he took them to town on market day. Sometimes he would already be on his way shortly after midnight because he owned only a burro to ride on, and if the burro had gone astray the day before, as happened frequently, he would have to walk the whole way to town and back again. At the market he had to pay twenty centavos in taxes to sell his wares. Each basket cost him between twenty and thirty hours of constant work, not counting the time spent gathering bast and fiber, preparing them, making dyes and coloring the bast. All this meant extra time and work. The price he asked for each basket was fifty centavos, the equivalent of about four cents. It seldom happened, however, that a buyer paid outright the full fifty centavos asked - or four reales as the Indian called that money. The prospective buyer started bargaining, telling the Indian that he ought to be ashamed to ask such a sinful price. "Why, the whole dirty thing is nothing but ordinary petate straw which you find in heaps wherever you may look for it; the jungle is packed full of it," the buyer would argue. "Such a little basket, what's it good for any-how? If I paid you, you thief, ten centavitos for it you should be grateful and kiss my hand. Well, it's your lucky day, I'll be generous this time, I'll pay you twenty, yet not one green centavo more. Take it or run along." So he sold finally for twenty-five centavos, but then the buyer would say, "Now, what do you think of that? I've got only twenty centavos change on me. What can we do about that? If you can change me a twenty-peso bill, all right, you shall have your twenty-five fierro." Of course, the Indian could not change a twenty-peso bill and so the basket went for twenty centavos.

He had little if any knowledge of the outside world or he would have known that what happened to him was happening every hour of every day to every artist all over the world. That knowledge would perhaps have made him very proud, because he would have realized that he belonged to the little army which is the salt of the earth and which keeps culture, urbanity and beauty for their own sake from passing away. Often it was not possible for him to sell all the baskets he had brought to market, for people here as elsewhere in the world preferred things made by the millions and each so much like the other that you were unable, even with the help of a magnifying glass, to tell which was which and where was the difference between two of the same kind. Yet he, this craftsman, had in his life made several hundreds of those exquisite baskets, but so far no two of them had he ever turned out alike in design. Each was an individual piece of art and as different from the other as was a Murillo from a Velásquez. Naturally he did not want to take those baskets which he could not sell at the market place home with him again if he could help it. In such a case he went peddling his products from door to door where he was treated partly as a beggar and partly as a vagrant apparently looking for an opportunity to steal, and he frequently had to swallow all sorts of insults and nasty remarks. Then, after a long run, perhaps a woman would finally stop him, take one of the baskets and offer him ten centavos, which price through talks and talks would perhaps go up to fifteen or even to twenty. Nevertheless, in many instances he would actually get no more than just ten centavos, and the buyer, usually a woman, would grasp that little marvel and right before his eyes throw it carelessly upon the nearest table as if to say, "Well, I take that piece of nonsense only for charity's sake. I know my money is wasted. But then, after all, I'm a Christian and I can't see a poor Indian die of hunger since he has come such a long way from his village." This would remind her of something better and she would hold him and say, "Where are you at home anyway, Indito? What's your pueblo? So, from Huehuetonoc? Now, listen here, Indito, can't you bring me next Saturday two or three turkeys from Huehuetonoc? But they must be heavy and fat and very, very cheap or I won't even touch them. If I wish to pay the regular price I don't need you to bring them. Understand? Hop along, now, Indito."

The Indian squatted on the earthen floor in the portico of his hut, attended to his work and showed no special interest in the curiosity of Mr. Winthrop watching him. He acted almost as if he ignored the presence of the American altogether. "How much that little basket, friend?" Mr. Winthrop asked when he felt that he at least had to say something as not to appear idiotic. "Fifty centavitos, patroncito, my good little lordy, four reales," the Indian answered politely. "All right, sold," Mr. Winthrop blurted out in a tone and with a wide gesture as if he had bought a whole railroad. And examining his buy he added, "I know already who I'll give that pretty little thing to. She'll kiss me for it, sure. Wonder what she'll use it for?" He had expected to hear a price of three or even four pesos. The moment he realized that he had judged the value six times too high, he saw right away what great business possibilities this miserable Indian village might offer to a dynamic promoter like himself. Without further delay he started exploring those possibilities. "Suppose, my good friend, I buy ten of these little baskets of yours which, as I might as well admit right here and now, have practically no real use whatsoever. Well, as I was saying, if I buy ten, how much would you then charge me apiece?" The Indian hesitated for a few seconds as if making calculations. Finally he said, "If you buy ten I can let you have them for forty-five centavos each, señorito gentleman." "All right, amigo. And now, let's suppose I buy from you straight away one hundred of these absolutely useless baskets, how much will cost me each?" The Indian, never fully looking up to the American standing before him and hardly taking his eyes off his work, said politely and without the slightest trace of enthusiasm in his voice, "In such a case I might not be quite unwilling to sell each for forty centavitos." Mr. Winthrop bought sixteen baskets, which was all the Indian had in stock.

After three weeks' stay in the Republic, Mr. Winthrop was convinced that he knew this country perfectly, that he had seen everything and knew all about the inhabitants, their character and their way of life, and that there was nothing left for him to explore. So he returned to good old Nooyork and felt happy to be once more in a civilized country, as he expressed it to himself. One day going out for lunch he passed a confectioner's and, looking at the display in the window, he suddenly remembered the little baskets he had bought in that faraway Indian village. He hurried home and took all the baskets he still had left to one of the best-known candy-makers in the city. "I can offer you here," Mr. Winthrop said to the confectioner, "one of the most artistic and at the same time the most original of boxes, if you wish to call them that. These little baskets would be just right for the most expensive chocolates meant for elegant and high-priced gifts. Just have a good look at them, sir, and let me listen." The confectioner examined the baskets and found them extraordinarily well suited for a certain line in his business. Never before had there been anything like them for originality, prettiness and good taste. He, however, avoided most carefully showing any sign of enthusiasm, for which there would be time enough once he knew the price and whether he could get a whole load exclusively. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, I don't know. If you asked me I'd say it isn't quite what I'm after. However, we might give it a try. It depends, of course, on the price. In our business the package mustn't cost more than what's in it."
"Do I hear an offer?" Mr. Winthrop asked.
"Why don't you tell me in round figures how much you want for them? I'm not good in guessing." "Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Kemple: since I'm the smart guy who discovered these baskets and since I'm the only Jack who knows where to lay his hands on more, I'm selling to the highest bidder, on an exclusive basis, of course. I'm positive you can see it my way, Mr. Kemple." "Quite so, and may the best man win," the confectioner said. "I'll talk the matter over with my partners. See me tomorrow same time, please, and I'll let you know how far we might be willing to go."

Next day when both gentlemen met again Mr. Kemple said: "Now, to be frank with you, I know art on seeing it, no getting around that. And these baskets are little works of art, they surely are. However, we are not art dealers, you realize that of course. We've no other use for these pretty little things except as fancy packing for our French pralines made by us. We can't pay for them what we might pay considering them pieces of art. After all to us they're only wrappings. Fine wrappings, perhaps, but nevertheless wrappings. You'll see it our way I hope, Mr.--- oh yes, Mr. Winthrop. So, here is our offer, take it or leave it: a dollar and a quarter apiece and not one cent more." Mr. Winthrop made a gesture as if he had been struck over the head. The confectioner, misunderstanding this involuntary gesture of Mr. Winthrop, added quickly, "All right, no reason to get exited, no reason at all. Perhaps we can do a trifle better. Let's say one-fifty." "Make it one-seventy-five", Mr. Winthrop snapped, swallowing his breath while wiping his forehead. "Sold. One-seventy-five apiece free at port of New York. We pay the customs and you pay the shipping. Right?" "Sold," Mr. Winthrop said also and the deal was closed. "There is, of course, one condition", the confectioner explained just when Mr. Winthrop was to leave. "One or two hundred won't do for us. It would not pay the trouble and the advertising. I will not consider less than ten thousand, or one thousand dozens if that sounds better in your ears. And they must come in no less than twelve different patterns well assorted. How about that?" "I can make it sixty different patterns or designs." "So much the better. And you're sure you can deliver ten thousand let's say early October?" "Absolutely," Mr. Winthrop avowed and signed the contract.

Practically all the way back to Mexico, Mr. Winthrop had a notebook in his left hand and a pencil in his right and he was writing figures, long rows of them, to find out exactly how much richer he would be when this business had been put through. "Now, let's sum up the whole goddamn thing", he muttered to himself. "Damn it, where is that cursed pencil again? I had it right between my fingers. Ah, there it is. Ten thousand he ordered. Well, well, there we got a clean-cut profit of fifteen thousand four hundred and forty genuine dollars. Sweet smackers. Fifteen grand right into papa's pocket. Come to think of it, that Republic isn't so backward after all."

"Buenas tardes, mi amigo, how are you?" he greeted the Indian whom he found squatting in the porch of his jacalito as if he had never moved from his place since Mr. Winthrop had left for New York. The Indian rose, took off his hat, bowed politely and said in his soft voice, "Be welcome, patroncito. Thank you, I feel fine, thank you. Muy buenas tardes. This house and all I have is at your kind disposal." He bowed once more, moved his right hand in a gesture of greeting and sat down again. But he excused himself for doing so by saying. "Perdoneme, patroncito, I have to take advantage of the day-light, soon it will be night." "I've got big business for you, my friend", Mr. Winthrop began. "Good to hear that, señor." Mr. Winthrop said to himself, "Now, he'll jump up and go wild when he learns what I've got for him." And aloud he said: "Do you think you can make me one thousand of these little baskets?" "Why not, patroncito? If I can make sixteen, I can make one thousand also." "That's right, my good man. Can you also make five thousand?" "Of course, señor. I can make five thousand if I can make one thousand." "Good. Now, if I should ask you to make me ten thousand, what would you say? And what would be the price of each? You can make ten thousand, can't you?" "Of course, I can, señor. I can make as many as you wish. You see, I am an expert in this sort of work. No one else in the whole state can make them the way I do." "That's what I thought and that's exactly why I came to you." " Thank you for the honor, patroncito." "Suppose I order you to make me ten thousand of these baskets, how much time do you think you would need to deliver them?"

The Indian, without interrupting his work, cocked his head to one side and then to the other as if he were counting the days or weeks it would cost him to make all these baskets. After a few minutes he said in a slow voice, "It will take a good long time to make so many baskets, patroncito. You see, the bast and the fibers must be very dry before they can be used properly. Then all during the time they are slowly drying, they must be worked and handled in a very special way so that while drying they won't lose their softness and their flexibility and their natural brilliance. Even when dry they must look fresh. They must never lose their natural properties or they will look just as lifeless and dull as straw. Then while they are drying up I got to get the plants and roots and barks and insects from which I brew the dyes. That takes much time also, believe me. The plants must be gathered when the moon is just right or they won't give the right color. The insects I pick from the plants must also be gathered at the right time and under the right conditions or else they produce no rich colors and are just like dust. But, of course, jefecito, I can make as many of these canastitas as you wish, even as many as three dozens if you want them. Only give me time."
"Three dozens? Three dozens?" Mr. Winthrop yelled, and threw up both arms in desperation. "Three dozens!" he repeated as if he had to say it many times in his own voice so as to understand the real meaning of it, because for a while he thought that he was dreaming. He had expected the Indian to go crazy on hearing that he was to sell ten thousand of his baskets without having to peddle them from door to door and be treated like a dog with a skin disease.
So the American took up the question of price again, by which he hoped to activate the Indian's ambition. "You told me that if I take one hundred baskets you will let me have them for forty centavos apiece. Is that right, my friend?" "Quite right, jefecito." "Now" Mr. Winthrop took a deep breath "now, then, if I ask you to make me one thousand, that is, ten times one hundred baskets, how much will they cost me, each basket?"

That figure was too high for the Indian to grasp. He became slightly confused and for the first time since Mr. Winthrop had arrived he interrupted his work and tried to think it out. Several times he shook his head and looked vaguely around as if for help. Finally he said, "Excuse me, jefecito, little chief, that is by far too much for me to count. Tomorrow, if you will do me the honor, come and see me again and I think I shall have my answer ready for you, patroncito." When on the next morning Mr. Winthrop came to the hut he found the Indian as usual squatting on the floor under the overhanging palm roof working at his baskets. "Have you got the price for ten thousand?" he asked the Indian the very moment he saw him, without taking the trouble to say "Good Morning!" "Si, patroncito, I have the price ready. You may believe me when I say it has cost me much labor and worry to find out the exact price, because, you see, I do not wish to cheat you out of your honest money." "Skip that, amigo. Come out with the salad. What's the price?" Mr. Winthrop asked nervously. "The price is well calculated now without any mistake on my side. If I got to make one thousand canastitas each will be three pesos. If I must make five thousand, each will cost nine pesos. And if I have to make ten thousand, in such a case I can't make them for less than fifteen pesos each." Immediately he returned to his work as if he were afraid of losing too much time with such idle talk. Mr. Winthrop thought that perhaps it was his faulty knowledge of this foreign language that had played a trick on him. "Did I hear you say fifteen pesos each if I eventually would buy ten thousand?" "That's exactly and without any mistake what I've said, patroncito," the Indian answered in his soft courteous voice. "But now, see here, my good man, you can't do this to me. I'm your friend and I want to help you get on your feet." "Yes, patroncito, I know this and I don't doubt any of your words."

"Now, let's be patient and talk this over quietly as man to man. Didn't you tell me that if I would buy one hundred you would sell each for forty centavos?" "Si, jefecito, that's what I said. If you buy one hundred you can have them for forty centavos apiece, provided that I have one hundred, which I don't." "Yes, yes, I see that." Mr. Winthrop felt as if he would go insane any minute now. "Yes, so you said. Only what I can't comprehend is why you can not sell at the same price if you make me ten thousand. I certainly don't wish to chisel on the price. I am not that kind. Only, well, let's see now, if you can sell for forty centavos at all, be it for twenty or fifty or a hundred, I can not quite get the idea why the price has to jump that high if I buy more than a hundred."
"Bueno, patroncito, what is there so difficult to understand? It's all very simple. One thousand canastitas cost me a hundred times more work than a dozen. Ten thousand cost me so much time and labor that I could never finish them, not even in a hundred years. For a thousand canastitas I need more bast than for a hundred, and I need more little red beetles and more plants and roots and bark for the dyes. It isn't that you just can walk into the bush and pick all the things you need at your heart's desire. One root with the true violet blue may cost me four or five days until I can find one in the jungle. And have you thought how much time it costs and how much hard work to prepare the bast and fibers? What is more, if I must make so many baskets, who then will look after my corn and my beans and my goats and chase for me occasionally a rabbit for meat on Sunday? If I have no corn, then I have no tortillas to eat, and if I grow no beans, where do I get my frijoles from?" "But since you'll get so much money from me for your baskets you can buy all the corn and beans in the world and more than you need." "That's what you think, señorito, little lord. But you see, it is only the corn I grow myself that I am sure of. Of the corn which others may or may not grow, I can not be sure to feast upon." "Haven't you got some relatives here in this village who might help you to make baskets for me?" Mr. Winthrop asked hopefully. "Practically the whole village is related to me somehow or other. Fact is, I got lots of close relatives in this here place." "Why then can't they cultivate your fields and look after your goats while you make baskets for me? Not only this, they might gather for you the fibers and the colors in the bush and lend you a hand here and there in preparing the material you need for the baskets." "They might, patroncito, yes, they might. Possible. But then you see who would take care of their fields and cattle if they work for me? And if they help me with the baskets it turns out the same. No one would any longer work his fields properly. In such a case corn and beans would get up so high in price that none of us could buy any and we all would starve to death. Besides, as the price of everything would rise and rise still how could I make baskets at forty centavos apiece? A pinch of salt or one green chili would set me back more than I'd collect for one single basket. Now you'll understand, highly estimated caballero and jefecito, why I can't make the baskets any cheaper than fifteen pesos each if I got to make that many." Mr. Winthrop was hard-boiled, no wonder considering the city he came from. He refused to give up the more than fifteen thousand dollars which at that moment seemed to slip through his fingers like nothing. Being really desperate now, he talked and bargained with the Indian for almost two fully hours, trying to make him understand how rich he, the Indian, would become if he would take this greatest opportunity of his life. The Indian never ceased working on his baskets while he explained his points of view. "You know, my good man," Mr. Winthrop said, "such a wonderful chance might never again knock on your door, do you realize that? Let me explain to you in ice-cold figures what fortune you might miss if you leave me flat on this deal." He tore out leaf after leaf from his notebook, covered each with figures and still more figures, and while doing so told the peasant he would be the richest man in the whole district. The Indian without answering watched with a genuine expression of awe as Mr. Winthrop wrote down these long figures, executing complicated multiplications and divisions and substractions so rapidly that it seemed to him the greatest miracle he had ever seen.

The American, noting this growing interest in the Indian, misjudged the real significance of it. "There you are, my friend," he said. "That's exactly how rich you're going to be. You'll have a bankroll of exactly four thousand pesos. And to show you that I'm a real friend of yours, I'll throw in a bonus. I'll make it a round five thousand pesos, and all in silver." The Indian, however, had not for one moment thought of four thousand pesos. Such an amount of money had no meaning to him. He had been interested solely in Mr. Winthrop's ability to write figures so rapidly. "So, what do you say now? Is it a deal or is it? Say yes and you'll get your advance this very minute." "As I have explained before, patroncito, the price is fifteen pesos each." "But, my good man." Mr. Winthrop shouted at the poor Indian in utter despair, "where have you been all this time? On the moon or where? You are still at the same price as before." "Yes, I know that, jefecito, my little chief," the Indian answered, entirely unconcerned. "It must be the same price because I cannot make any other one. Besides, señor, there's still another thing which perhaps you don't know. You see, my good lordy and caballero, I've to make these canastitas my own way and with my song in them and with bits of my soul woven into them. If I were to make them in great numbers there would no longer be my soul in each, or my songs. Each would look like the other no difference whatever and such a thing would slowly eat up my heart. Each has to be another song which I hear in the morning when the sun rises and when the birds begin to chirp and the butterflies come and sit down on my baskets so that I may see a new beauty, because, you see, the butterflies like my baskets and the pretty colors on them, that's why they come and sit down, and I can make my canastitas after them. And now, señor jefecito, if you will kindly excuse me, I have wasted much time already, although it was a pleasure and a great honor to hear the talk of such a distinguished caballero like you. But I'm afraid I've to attend to my work now, for day after tomorrow is market day in town and I got to take my baskets there. Thank you, señor, for your visit. Adiós."

And in this way it happened that American garbage cans escaped the fate of being turned into receptables for empty, torn, and crumpled little multicolored canastitas into which an Indian of Mexico had woven dreams of his soul, throbs of his heart: his unsung poems.

B. Traven is one of the most mysterious figures in the 20th-century literature. His exact identity, place and birth date are still subject to much doubt. Some investigators believe that B. Traven was the pen name of Otto Freige, a German who travelled widely and worked variously as a manual laborer, and actor and the editor of an anarchist journal. Traven's widow announced in 1990 that he had been Ret Marut, a left-wing revolutionary in Germany during World War I. Will Wyatt presents the theory that Traven was born in 1882 in Schwiebus, Pomerania and christened Herman Albert Otto Macksymilian Wienecke. He was an illegitimate son, and after his parents married he became Otto Fiege. In 1896 he was apprenticed to a locksmith and in 1902-04 he served in the army. In about 1904 Feige disappeared. K.S. Guthke has found some evidence that between 1904 and 1907 Traven could have been a seaman. In 1907 a young actor and director joined the Essen Municipal Theatre under the name Ret Marut - and this person became Traven. Ret Marut played in various theatres and in 1915 he went to Munich to start his career as a writer. In 1916 he published a novella, To the Honorable Miss S... and started to write then for the anarchist-pacifist magazine Der Ziegelbrenner. In 1923 Marut escaped to England, where he stayed for some time. After arriving in Mexico he remained in his new home country for the rest of his life. He settled first in the oil town of Tampico, writing stories under the name B. Traven. He wrote about serious issues of social justice, cruelty and greed while employing a taut, suspenseful style. His works, written in German, were translated in many languages, although not yet into English, which he insisted was his native tongue. Traven's books have been translated into English from 1930s, but it was not until 1948 that he gained fame thanks to John Houston. The film director used Traven's book for the script of his film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart. After 1940 Traven wrote little. He married in 1957 his translator Rosa Elena Luján. They moved to Mexico City, where Traven died on March 26, 1969. His ashes were flown to Chiapas and scattered over Rio Jataté.

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GLOBALIZATION - PROPOSALS FOR FURTHER READING

Globalisation is shaping a new era of interaction among nations, economies and people. But what is it, this globalisation? And, is it really a new thing? Here, a few proposals for further reading.

Human development report 1999
In the following table from UNDPs "Human Development Report 1999" (ref. 1) response is given to the question "What's really new with globalisation?"

The mentioned UNDP report gives a lot of figures supporting the statements (in the table). It also analyses the effects of these changes for different groups of professionals. The financial dealers, the multinational corporations, the tourists (at least from high-income countries), the NGOs and the high-skilled labour are the winners, while the unskilled labour are the losers. "The collapse of space, time and borders may be creating a global village, but not everyone can be a citizen. The global, professional elite faces low borders, but billions of others find borders as high as ever" (ref. 1).

Pierre Bourdieu
The influential French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu addressed the Greek trade union confederation (GSEE) in Athens, October 1996(ref. 2), and analysed "The Myth of 'Globalisation' and the European Welfare State". Let us read parts of his speech:

"I've used the word 'globalisation'. It is a myth in the strong sense of the word, a powerful discourse, an idéeforce, an idea which has social force, which obtains belief. It is the main weapon in the battles against the gains of the welfare state. European workers, we are told, must compete with the least favoured workers of the rest of the world. The workers of Europe are thus offered as a model countries which have no minimum wage, where factory workers work twelve hours a day for a wage which is between a quarter and a fifth of European wages, where there are no trade unions, where there is child labour, and so on. And it is in the name of this model that flexible working, another magic word of neo-liberalism, is imposed, meaning night work, weekend work, irregular working hours, things which have always been part of the employer's dreams. In a general way, neo-liberalism is a very smart and very modern repackaging of the oldest ideas of the oldest capitalists. (Magazines in the US draw up a league table of these macho bosses, ranked, along with their salary, according to the number of people they have had the courage to sack.) It is characteristic of conservative revolutions, that in Germany in the 1930s, those of Thatcher, Reagan and others, that they present restorations as revolutions. The present conservative revolution takes an unprecedented form: in contrast to earlier ones, it does not invoke an idealised past, through exaltation of soil and blood, the archaic themes of the old agrarian mythologies. This new kind of conservative revolution appeals to progress, reason and science (economics in this case) to justify the restoration and so tries to write off progressive thought and action as archaic. It sets up as the norm of all practices, and therefore as ideal rules, the real regularities of the economic world abandoned to its own logic, the so-called law of the market. It ratifies and glorifies the reign of what are called the financial markets, in other words the return to a kind of radical capitalism, with no other law than that of maximum profit, an unfettered capitalism without any disguise, but rationalised, pushed to the limit of its economic efficacy by the introduction of modern forms of domination, such as 'business administration', and techniques of manipulation, such as market research and advertising.

If this conservative revolution can deceive people, this is because it seems to retain nothing of the old Black Forest pastoral of the conservative revolutionaries of the 1930s; it is dressed up in all the signs of modernity. After all, it comes from Chicago. Galileo said that the natural world is written in the language of mathematics. The neo-liberal ideologues want us to believe that the economic and social world is structured by equations. It is by arming itself with mathematics (and power over the media) that neo-liberalism has become the supreme form of the conservative sociodicy which started to appear some thirty years ago as 'the end of ideology', or more recently, as 'the end of history'.

To fight against the myth of globalisation, which has the function of justifying a restoration, a return to an unrestrained ­ but rationalised ­ and cynical capitalism, one has to return to the facts. If we look at the statistics, we see that the competition experienced by European workers is largely intra-European. According to my sources, 70 per cent of the trade of European countries is with other European countries. The emphasis placed on the extra-European threat conceals the fact that the main danger comes from the internal competition of other European countries and is sometimes called 'social dumping': European countries with less social welfare and lower wages can derive a competitive advantage from this, but in so doing they pull down the others, which are forced to abandon their welfare systems in order to resist. This implies that, in order to break out this spiral, the workers of the advanced countries have an interest in combining with the workers in less developed countries to protect their social gains and to favour their generalisation to all European workers. (This is not easy, because of the differences in national traditions, especially in the weight of the unions with respect to the state and in the means of financing welfare.)

But this is not all. There are also all the effects, visible to everyone, of neo-liberal policies. For example, several British studies have shown that Thatcherite policies have resulted in enormous insecurity, a sense of distress, not only among manual workers but also in the middle classes. The same can be seen in the United States, where there is a great rise in the number of insecure, underpaid jobs (which artificially bring down official unemployment rates). The American middle classes, exposed to the threat of suddenly losing their jobs, are feeling a terrible insecurity (which shows that what is important in a job is not only the activity and income it provides, but also the sense of security it gives). In all countries, the proportion of workers with temporary status is growing relative to those with permanent jobs. Increased insecurity and 'flexibility' lead to the loss of the modest advantages (often described as the 'perks' of the 'privileged') which might compensate for low wages, such as long-lasting employment, health insurance and pension rights. Privatisation equally leads to the loss of collective gains. For example, in the case of France, three-quarters of newly recruited workers are taken on on a temporary basis, and only a quarter of those three-quarters will become permanent employees. These new recruits naturally tend to be young people. That is why this insecurity mainly afflicts young people, in France ­ we observed this in our book La misère du monde ­ and also in Britain, where the distress of young people has reached very high levels, with consequences such as delinquency and other very costly phenomena."

"While globalisation is above all a justificatory myth, there is one case where it is quite real, that of the financial markets. Thanks to the removal of a number of legal restrictions and the development of electronic communications, which lead to lower communication costs, we are moving towards a unified financial market ­ which does not mean a homogeneous market. It is dominated by certain economies, in other words the richest countries, and more especially by the country whose currency is used as an international reserve currency and which therefore enjoys a greater scope within these financial markets. The money market is a field in which the dominant players ­ in this case the United States ­ occupy a position such that they can largely define the rules of the game. This unification of the financial markets around a small number of countries holding the dominant position reduces the autonomy of the national financial markets. The French financiers, the Inspectors of Finances, who tell us that we must bow to necessity, forget to tell us that they make themselves the accomplices of that necessity and that, through them, it is the French national state which is abdicating.

In short, globalisation is not homogenisation; on the contrary, it is the extension of the hold of a small number of dominant nations over the whole set of national financial markets. There follows from this a partial redefinition of the international division of labour, with European workers suffering the consequences, seeing for example the transfer of capital and industries towards low-wage countries. This international capital market tends to reduce the autonomy of the national capital markets, and in particular to prevent nation-states from manipulating exchange rates and interest rates which are increasingly determined by a power concentrated in the hands of a small number of countries. National authorities are subject to the risk of speculative assaults by agents wielding massive funds, who can provoke a devaluation, with left-wing governments naturally being particularly threatened because they arouse the suspicion of the financial markets (a right-wing government which acts out of line with the ideals of the IMF is in less danger than a left-wing government even if the latter's policy matches the ideals of the IMF). It is the structure of the worldwide field which exerts a structural constraint, and this is what gives the mechanisms an air of inevitability. The policy of a particular state is largely determined by its position in the structure of the distribution of finance capital (which defines the structure of the world economic field).

Globalisation and OSH?

Well, occupational safety and health (OSH) is evidently put under new pressure and confronted with new threats and challenges, considering the effects of globalisation described by UNDPm and discussed by Bourdieu, above.

The "globalisation" is also reflected in international OSH activities. The 15th ISSA World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health organised in Brazil 1999 had the title "Safety, Health and Environment, a Global Challenge". In the first issue of "OSH & Development", Jukka Takala described "ILO's global programme on occupational safety, health and the environment". In this issue there is a mention of an international conference organised by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington in June this year. Also this conference can be seen as related to the current globalisation trend. It is the first initiative from the World Bank-family, where IDB belongs, to focus on OSH as an important factor in the social sector.

Howard Frumkin, at the Emory University in Atlanta, USA, recently made an informative review of occupational health in relation to the increasing integration and globalisation of the world economy (ref. 3).

Frumkin points out that the workers in the poorer (developing) countries work under special conditions. Their work hazard profile is often different from the workers of the richer (industrial) countries, and their risk levels are higher. In the poorer countries the resources to control and prevent job hazards are scarce. Furthermore, the occupational health problems of industrial countries are closely linked with those of developing countries.

"The major political constituencies for occupational health in rich nations have been labor, government, and, to a lesser extent, medical and public health professionals. In many poor nations, these constituencies provide little or no support for occupational health. Governments often place economic development ahead of workers protection. Vigorous, independent labor unions are the exception, and when they function they often focus on job security and wages rather than on working conditions. The professional community is small and often voiceless. Together, these conditions make occupational health an 'orphan' issue in many developing nations."

Frumkin discusses the political economy of occupational health in a global economy, considering the development of multinational companies, the establishment of free trade zones and free trade agreements, and the export of hazards. He summarises the special problems of occupational health and safety in developing countries, as related to working conditions, the social organisation of work, the workforce and shortages of trained OSH professionals. He illustrates with two case studies: sneaker manufacturing in Asia, and auto parts manufacturing in México.

Frumkin presents some rates on occupational injuries and diseases in developing countries, and discusses the difficulties to quantify such rates.

Finally, he approaches the improvement of OSH in developing countries, discussing policy initiatives and public health initiatives. He lists the major ILO conventions relevant to OSH, and informs about the ratification of the last ten of these conventions, among 82 of ILO's member nations, developing countries as well as industrial ones.

References

It goes without saying that the references quoted above are highly recommended for reading. Now it is also said, and here they are:

1. UNDP: Human Development Report 1999, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-521562-1
2. Bourdieu, Pierre: Acts of Resistance ­ Against the New Myths of Our Time. Polity Press, Cambridge 1998, ISBN 0-7456-2217-8
3. Frumkin, H: Across the water and down the ladder: occupational health in the global economy. Occupational Medicine; State of the Art Reviews. Vol. 14, No. 3, July-September 1999. Philadelphia, Hanley & Belfus, Inc.

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Bangkok and Hong Kong are both very beautiful cities, but the noise and pollution from the traffic are a nuisance for the inhabitants. The authorities of both cities are well aware of the problems and have an active interest in assessing and documenting the situation and in taking measures against the problems, but the environment often gets a beating when in conflict with other interests.

Population and traffic situation in Bangkok

In Bangkok there are 6,5 million inhabitants. In the greater area Bangkok Metropolitan Region there are more than 11 million inhabitants and the number is increasing with almost 3 % annually to reach 18 million in the year 2011. Although only about 20 % of the population lives in the Bangkok region, half of the economic activity in Thailand is concentrated on this area.

Bangkok is built on marshland. To be built on, the marshland has to be filled, meaning that each new square meter on the average demands three cubic meters of filling. Sixty percent of all lorry traffic in Thailand concerns transportation of filling material. The transports wear heavily on the roads which now have to be strengthened. The expansion of Bangkok thus involves great direct and indirect impact on the environment and moreover it creates a traffic problem as such.

About a fourth of all motor vehicles in Thailand are found in Bangkok, almost 4 million, or 400 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants. Each year 300 000 vehicles are added to this sum. Forty-three percent of Bangkok's vehicles are motorbikes and similar vehicles, e.g., so called tuk-tuk, a kind of three-wheeler for passenger transportation. In Thailand as a whole the proportion of motorbikes is still higher, about 70 %. Two stroke engines power 90 percent of the motorbikes and three-wheelers, emitting 25 % of their fuel uncombusted as air pollution (white smoke). The advantage is a high power output per unit weight of engine making them less expensive to manufacture.

It is quite obvious that there is a loud noise in the street corners where the traffic stands still at traffic lights. In these places it is impossible to talk without shouting. Experience shows that noise at this level will cause impaired hearing and voice problems after prolonged exposure.

The traffic is intense on the river Chao Phraya, which flows through central Bangkok. In the older parts of Bangkok there is also a vast system of channels belonging to the river. Traffic on the water consists partly of public transportation using large, usually over-crowded passenger boats in regular service passing every 10 or 20 minutes along the river and ferry boats crossing the river. There are also taxi boats for rental or smaller regular taxi boats on Chao river and along the channel system. In Bangkok, like in other parts of the world, sea traffic seems to be a worse polluter than traffic on land. Almost all ships are powered by worn and ill adjusted diesel engines, emitting immense amounts of black smoke at starting and some times continuously as well. A number of old, traditional boats were originally constructed for rowing. Discarded lorry engines with intact propeller shafts have been mounted as outboard motors on these boats. The shafts go into the water in an angel that results in energy waste and unnecessary turbulence stirring up bottom sediment to make the water dirty. The mufflers on these engines are under dimensioned if at all existing, adding to the picture of general inefficiency and lack of safety and environmental awareness.

The infrastructure in Bankok is considered to be one of the worst in Southeast Asia. The streets are comparatively narrow, occupying 11 % of the total area of the city. This is significantly less than the average 20-25 % of the world's big cities. There is no room for more vehicles on the streets and therefore there is a great and increasing demand for new roads. There are plans to build a tunnel under the river Chao and a ring-road. More projects are under way or have been carried out, i.e. building roads on pillars above the existing districts.

The enormous road expansion program has encroached upon the room for traffic and at least temporary increased the crowding. The average speed on the streets of Bangkok is 24 km/h during morning rush hours, but in the central parts it is only 14 km/h, for the buses even less. This is supposed to cause the inhabitants of the area to use their own vehicles. There is therefore a vicious circle and according to an estimation of the World Bank, the average driver spends 44 days annually in traffic jams.

Traffic accidents are frequent. The number of people killed in the traffic is about 18000 each year. Two persons are killed every hour. Motorbikes are involved in half the accidents. This frequency is 12 times higher than on two lane roads in the North American countryside.

Pollution measurements

A measurement program for the air pollution is in progress. The emission of particles and carbon monoxide is considered to be especially difficult. The limit value for particles is 0,33 mg/m3 and this value is often exceeded to a serious extent. The average concentration on year base at the curb is 0,48 mg/m3 with peaks 5 times higher. Sixty % of the particles meet the definition of PM10 (particles <10 µm). The limit value for PM10 0,12 mg/m3 was exceeded in 58 % of the days observed. Forty % of the particles originate from vehicles according to estimation, 40 % comes from the road and another 20 % from industrial emissions.

Before 1992 the concentration of lead in the air was high but since then lead has been removed from petrol. The 8 h limit value for carbon monoxide is set to 10 mg/m3 and was exceed in less than 2 % of the observed time with peak value of 23 mg/m3. There is also a 1 h limit value of 34 mg/m3 and this was not exceed.

Development of engines, fuels and exhaust after-treatment

Thailand has adopted some of the rules of the European Union and now passenger cars and light and heavy lorries have to meet the demands of EU. As already mentioned the particle emission is a serious problem. This is especially true for diesel vehicles and motorbikes. Many old petrol cars are still not provided with catalysts and emit high levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, while nitrogen oxides is a lesser problem. The concentration of ozone is not high although there is an increasing trend.

The intention is to change the diesel fuel by increasing the volatility of the higher fractions, reducing viscosity, density and the content of sulfur and aromatics and adding surface active components.

After-treatment of exhaust is an interesting area, especially in developing countries. The technique for after-treatment of diesel exhaust has advanced considerably although there are still problems in removing particles and nitrogen oxides. Nevertheless there are different opinions about the economy in retrofitting.

Traffic planning

Measures to increase the mobility and the air quality by traffic control and planning may involve restrictions in the use of certain types of vehicles causing much emissions (e.g., motorbikes), flexible buss service, swift railways, improved credit systems to modernize old vehicle fleets, stricter rules for emissions and improved control of vehicles. Moreover measures may be adopted to change the distribution between private and public transports, decisions concerning the use of land, different taxes on road usage at different times, higher vehicle taxes, restrictions on parking, encouragement of multipassenger use of private cars.

The possibilities of development of intelligent transport system may be great, i.e., by improved use of roads, vehicles, fuels and a more even speed. Technically possibilities already exist for advanced traffic systems. Automobiles equipped with on-board computers, driver displays and communications devices will receive instructions about the optimal path to a destination from a traffic control center. When such systems can be practically realized they may contribute to solve some of the problems mentioned here.

Population and traffic situation in Hong Kong

Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty on 1 July 1997. Under a unique arrangement referred to as "One Country, Two Systems" Hong Kong is now a Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China promised a high degree of autonomy.

The total land area of Hong Kong is slightly over 1000 km2. A square-formed area of the same size will have a side length of roughly 32-km. In the north the large peninsula, Kowloon, borders on main land China. Hong Kong has a great number of islands, the largest one is Hong Kong island.

Because of terrain character about 60 % of the total area is nature area. There is an extensive farming in Hong Kong, about 25 % of the land is used for farming. The total area for dwellings, industries, roads and other exploitation is less than 25 %.

Hong Kong is home for 6.5 million people. Because of the terrain, most of these people live and work in 15 % of the total land area.

There are over 350.000 vehicles. The traffic is dominated by lorries, buses and taxis. Approximately only 10 % of the families own a car. The vehicles are running on 800 km of roads. Statistics have shown that the vehicle fleet has increased by 70 % in the last decade. The increase will go on.

The public transport system is well functioning. There are a great number of bus lines with vehicles of different size, from two-storey buses to small minibuses. There is also a very good subway, MTR, Mass Transit Railway.

In Hong Kong the Environmental Protection Department, EPD, is responsible for the environment, air, water and waste. In the annual report from 1998 EPD had a special chapter dedicated to noise. The aim is "To prevent, minimise and resolve environmental noise problems through intervention in the planning process, implementation of noise abatement measures and enforcement of the Noise Control Ordinance".

The noise picture in Hong Kong 15 years ago

In the mid 1980s a large-scale investigation was undertaken to measure the noise exposure at 171 locations in urban Hong Kong. The noise levels at the facade of the lowest and top residential levels were measured. The results indicated that over 30 % of the population were exposed to traffic noise in excess of 70 dB(A)L10,1-h, the relevant traffic noise standard of Hong Kong.

The current road traffic noise planning criterion LA10 lhr is based on the level in the peak hours of the day, without any regard to the noise levels at night, or to the number of hours such criterion is exceeded.

The noise picture in Hong Kong today

The lack of available land space has resulted in short distances between dwellings and noise sources. Noise sources are both traffic and industries. A systematic noise exposure study was carried out in the mid 1990s. The result showed that 55 % of the dwellings were exposed to traffic noise in excess of 70 dB(A)L10,1-h

In another investigation the results showed that the noise standard is exceeded for an average of 14 hours a day. In some extreme cases, traffic noise may be exceeded for as long as 20 hours and may start as early as 5 a.m. in the morning.

In the district Tsuen Wan in Hong Kong the equivalent noise level 55 dB(A) was exceeded during 99 % of all hours daytime. The levels were measured at the facades of dwellings. Contrary to what most people may believe traffic noise exposure does not decrease significantly with elevation. This can be seen in many investigations.

Traffic noise has its highest value for level 28 - 30. The noise value on level 1 is almost the same as on level 40. Many different factors, shielding from road surfaces and building facades, ground effects in the lower levels and reverberation can explain the phenomenon.

Hong Kong - How to find a solution

To minimise the noise emission from individual vehicles many measures have been taken by the government. Since 1996 all vehicles need to comply with the international standard on first registration. It is a necessary step but it will affect the noise level on the long term.

In urban areas where the problem already exists the Government has decided for a road-resurfacing scheme and also for an improving of noise screens nearby residential areas.
A new type of textured road surface is used and a vehicle typically generate a few less decibels noise compared with a typical concrete road. The drawback with this method is the high maintenance costs. The road surface has to be improved in 3 to 5 years intervals. So far a total length of over 10-km of roadways has been treated.
To build up a noise screen involves many technical problems. In Hong Kong the roads are very close to the buildings and the buildings have often more than 40 levels. Ordinary screens are not apt as they normally only bring benefit to the lower levels. A complicating factor is that some highways are elevated one or two levels above the ground.

The Environmental Protection Department has economic resources to take measures. Two new programmes are good examples. The first programme includes 620 million HK$ to provide quieter learning environment for children. The second programme includes 73 million HK$ on quiet road resurfacing.

The criteria used in Hong Kong for assessing noise impact caused by road traffic are 70 dB(A)L10,1-h, for domestic properties and 65 dB(A) for schools.

It is worth mentioning the introduction, in April 1997, of noise controls for burglar alarms. Car owners have to ensure their vehicle's alarm will not sound unless the vehicle is being tampered with, and after being triggered will not sound for longer than five minutes

Planning

Since 1986 the Environmental Protection Department has a programme for new roads, for new residential areas close to highways. In the planning process it is not possible to use the same criteria as in most western countries. The lack of available land makes it impossible to increase the distance between the roads and dwellings.

The nature and economics of urban development in Hong Kong are such that conventional design solutions to reduce traffic noise are not always appropriate. But if the conditions are not sympathetic to the adoption of conventional measures it is paradoxical that urban development provides unique opportunities for noise reduction through planning measures. This for many reasons. Firstly about half of Hong Kong's population is accommodated in public housing. The planners are enabled to design new site layouts to achieve the best optical noise screening effects in such a way that sleeping rooms are in the quiet part of the house and e.g. bathrooms and staircases are facing the noisy roads. Secondly, because residential blocks are designed simultaneously with shopping centres and car parks it is possible to place residential blocks in the acoustic shadow of other buildings. There are also other methods to minimise the noise problem. Most of the buildings are built on a podium and on slopes. The natural topography helps to reduce the noise impact. To some extent one uses decking over noisy roads and railways. Sometimes these decking are used as green areas or playgrounds.

Most of the facts in this article are based on two conferences. Ulf Ulfvarson participated in Automotive Technology Conference 30 Mars - 5 April, 1998, Bangkok, Thailand. Ulrik Sundbäck participated in "Managing Noise in Metropolis" 1999, Hong Kong.

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OSH & OHS
Kaj Elgstrand

As we are using the abbreviation OSH every now and then in this Journal, it may be worthwhile to focus for a moment on what it means in different contexts.

Well, first of all it means "occupational safety and health". It is widely used, and looking in documents from, for instance, ILO this is the abbreviation which is found. The assumption is "safety first", meaning that first we should try to prevent accidents, try to avoid that people get killed or injured. After that it is fair to address the health issues. This is an attitude often employed by engineers. OSH.

But sometimes OHS is used. Now we run into some small problems because OHS may have two different meanings. One is "occupational health and safety". This is sometimes preferred by physicians as they are trained to address illnesses ("health problems"), rather than safety problems. (When it comes to the effects of lacking safety they are very active, of course. Healing injuries is almost like health care). The physicians should have credit for that they initiated the concern for occupational health (and safety). And they still have the initiative in many ways, not least in LAC. The national institutes for occupational safety and health (of which there are very few in LAC) are still called "National Institute for (well, in many cases "of", instead of "for") Occupational Health", in many countries. And the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH) is called like that even if many of the members are engineers, hygienist etc, mostly caring for preventing occupational safety risks. Many, especially physicians of course, believe that "health" is the overall concept; if health is at hand it also means that there is safety.
The other meaning of OHS is "occupational health services". When talking about OHS in this meaning, reference has to be given to some basic "documents" issued by ILO. In 1959 ILO issued a recommendation concerning "Occupational Health Services in Places of Employment", stating among other things that the role of OHS should be essentially preventive (ILO Recommendation No. 112). This recommendation was superseded by the "Occupational Health Service Convention" of 1985 (ILO Convention No. 161), supplemented by an ILO recommendation of 1987 (ILO Recommendation No. 171).

What is "occupational health services" in the ILO meaning?
The following guidelines are related to the objectives of OHS:

- OHS is an advisory service
- OHS is essentially a preventive-oriented service
- OHS is a service at the level of undertaking
- OHS is a service for both employers and workers
- OHS is a service for a safe and healthy working environment
- OHS considers both the physical health and the mental health aspects of work.

Work/ing environment is a concept developed in the Nordic countries in the 1960s and 1970s.
The activities of OHS listed in the ILO instruments can be grouped into five categories depending on the objectives:
- preventive environment-oriented activities
- preventive individual-oriented activities
- first aid and treatment of accidental and other acute cases
- general preventive and curative activities
- information, education, training and advice.

The ILO instruments require widest possible coverage of services in order to provide access to OHS for all workers in all branches of economic activity and in all undertakings including the public sector and co-operatives, and also for the self-employed, i.e. for all who take part in the working life. This principle requires flexibility of the models for provision of services in order to meet the varying needs of undertakings of different sizes, type of industry and nature of work, and to enable the implementation in countries with widely varying societal and administrative systems.

What does WHO mean with occupational health services? Well, nothing different from what ILO means. Since the Alma-Ater Declaration 1978, the WHO occupational health strategy has been tightly connected to its global strategy for health for all. Many of WHO's essential elements of primary health care share common features with the ILO list of functions of occupational health services.

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In OSH & Development no.1, August 1998, Bengt Knave described the background and aims of Work Life 2000. Here is a follow-up report on how the activities have developed.

Work Life 2000 is well under way. 50 workshops have been organised in this special effort to gather knowledge of working life issues. Totally some 65 international scientific workshops will provide the basis for the Work Life Conference, scheduled for January 2001 when Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union.

The world of work in the European Union is changing rapidly, with great implications for individuals. Stress and insecurity are increasingly common problems. Demands for flexibility, adaptability and education are growing, while unemployment remains high in many countries and the number of short-term jobs is increasing. At the same time, many traditional work environment problems, like noise, chemical hazards and vibrations, remain, or are even getting worse. There are signs, for example, that repetitive work is becoming more widespread and musculoskeletal disorders are common.

The Work Life Conference

In order to bring the problems and possibilities of modern working life to the fore, and to broaden and deepen the discussion about them, the Work Life Conference will be held in January 2001, as Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union. The conference is aimed at decision-makers - representatives of governments, labour market parties, authorities, business organisations, and others - and it will be based on the results of a series of some 70 international scientific workshops. Work Life 2000, as the project is called, is organised by the National Institute for Working Life, the National Board of Occupational Safety and Health and the Joint Industrial Safety Council.

The workshops

At the outset, about 12 workshops were to precede the conference. However, interest grew rapidly and now there are nearly 70, covering virtually all aspects of modern working life. They are divided in six categories: the labour market, the work environment, work organisation, the information society, small and medium-sized enterprises, and the multicultural society. All workshops are led by distinguished scientists or practioners.
The first workshop, which discussed transnational trade union rights within the European Union, took place in 1997.

What can be said about them so far? The first reflection is that although the workshops cover very different topics they have much in common. Most of them are rather small - usually about 25 people participate, sometimes less - which encourages dialogue and the creation of networks that will exist long after the workshop is closed.

Some themes

The second reflection concerns some of the themes and trends that have been brought up and discussed during the workshops. Following a brief overview:

* Quite clearly the polarisation of working life has been in focus in several workshops. The rapid development of new information and communication technologies, the ever more institutionalised ownership of capital and the prevalence of the short-term perspective contribute to a working life where the difference between jobs grows. Some people get better, freer jobs while other people's work get more routine and monotonous.
(Examples of workshops discussing this: Tengberg: Fewer and harder jobs, Bradley: Working life in the information society)

* Management systems and quality systems are also often discussed. What does quality management systems mean for the people involved? What is the future of environmental and occupational health and safety management systems? Many workshops participants have had a critical view, seeing and saying that management systems are based on a top-down approach which aims at controlling behaviour rather than encouraging real participation.
(Examples of workshops discussing this: Eklund: Quality in working life, Frick: New strategies to improve occupational health and safety, Litske: Environmental magangement and health and safety)

* New kinds of jobs are appearing while others disappear. What should be done to make it easier for people whose jobs don't exist anymore to qualify for new ones, and how can people's capacities be strengthened in a world where ever more emphasis is placed on personal characteristics, like flexibility and social competence, rather than formal qualifications? One workshop clearly showed that the possibilities to train and learn in restrictive jobs are quite good, if the people concerned are allowed to do it in their own way and build on their own experiences.
(Example: Zamore: Learning in restrictive jobs)

* There is a growing need of cooperation by the labour market parties the across borders, and you must look further than the European Union. When world trade is increasing and the economy is globalised the issue of basic world-wide social rights for all is vital.
(Example: Bruun: Transnational trade union rights, Bruun: Social rights in a global economy)

Coming workshops

Less than a year is left before the Work Life Conference. During this period, many more topics will be covered. Labour market institutions and employment, job creation, EU enlargement from a labour market perspective, the role of government in industrial development, women's working conditions, work and health in small enterprises are just a few examples of subjects of the coming workshops.

For those of you who are interested, you are very welcome to subscribe - free of charge - to popular summaries of the workshops. The workshops are also documented in detailed reports (gathered in yearbooks). Please contact the author of this article.

Lena Skiöld
International Secretariat
National Institute for Working Life
SE-112 79 Stockholm
Tel. +46-8-619 67 33
Fax +46-8-618 36 35
E-mail: lena.skiold@niwl.se

During the period from June to November 2000, the following Work Life 2000-workshops will be held. The dates and names may be subject to change. Within parenthesis the workshop leader is mentioned.

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CURRENT ACTIVITIES AT NIWL
Kaj Elgstrand

The Swedish National Institute for Working Life (NIWL) has reorganised several times since the creation of the new Institute in 1995 (integrating the former Swedish National Institute of Occupational Health and the Swedish Institute for Work Life Research and parts of the Swedish Work Environment Fund). For the Institute, it seems like the new millenium has started with an organisation which may be permanent for some years to come. The former departments (of Occupational Health, Work Physiology etc) have been replaced by approx. 20 research programmes. Besides the research programmes there is an administrative unit and secretariats for information, training and international cooperation, respectively. Even if the research component still is strong at NIWL, the current policy underlines that the Institute should be equally oriented towards training and practical development activities. Further information about NIWL and its organisation and activities can be found at its website: www.niwl.se

Since 1995 NIWL has put high priority to international collaboration. The cooperation within European Union, which Sweden joined in 1995 is in focus. As an example of this cooperation, Work Life 2000 can be mentioned. It is described on pages 25-27 in this issue of OSH & Development. NIWL has also development cooperation projects with institutions and enterprises in countries in Central and Eastern Europe, like Poland and Slovakia. This year the Institute has made an agreement with the World Health Organisation (WHO), to join WHO as one of its collaborating centres.

When it comes to cooperation with developing countries, NIWLs international training program should be mentioned. During the period from 1993 to 1999 six international one year-courses, "Occupational Safety and Health in Practice" were organised for countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Asia and Eastern and Central Europe. The trainees have had different educational backgrounds, such as physicians, hygienists, engineers. They were employed by governments, employers' and trade union confederations, private enterprises or universities. The courses have comprised one initial period in Sweden, and a final period in one of the participating countries. Out of totally 158 participants, 135 trainees (85%) have completed the training including the presentation and approval of an individual development project which has been carried out during the course year. The participants' comments on the training undergone have been extremely positive, also referring to the applicability to the conditions in the participants' home countries.

In order to improve the preconditions for the individual projects included in the training program, the total course duration has been prolonged from one to two years. The new type of course, "Occupational Safety, Health & Development" is ongoing for two groups of participants, one from countries in Africa, another from countries in LAC. Besides the individual development project in the home country, the course includes an initial four week course period in Sweden, and two course periods in participating countries, of one and two weeks' duration. A third course will probably start next year, 2001, for participants from countries in the Middle East and northern Africa. See the Institute's website (www.niwl.se) for further information.

In March 2000, a ten-day follow-up workshop was arranged in Punta Leona, Costa Rica. A mixed group of OSH and productivity experts participated. The OSH experts were former participants of the NIWL course "Occupational Safety and Health in Practice", organised in 1993-94 for participants from LAC. The productivity experts were former participants of an international course organised in 1996-1998 by the Ifa Production Development AB,
"Improving Production for Competitiveness". The joint activities shared by these two different specialist groups during discussions, factory visits and social events were stimulating for both parties. They gathered new insights with concern to each other's competence and work tasks, and saw new perspectives for collaboration. Among the ideas which came up at the workshop, was the development of an internet-based course on "OSH and Productivity" for personnel in small and medium sized enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean. The further development of this idea will be reported in next issue of "OSH & Development".

NIWL and Ifa would be happy to organise follow-up workshops with former course participants from other parts of the world. Such proposals will be forwarded to the sponsor of the basic training courses, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). If Sida finds the proposals attractive, and has possibilities to finance such follow-up events, they will be organised for OSH and productivity experts from Asia and Africa.

In NIWL's "pipeline" at Sida there is another proposal, a one year training course on "Pesticides Policies and Management", for participants from Southern Africa and Central America. The proposal has been developed by NIWL in cooperation with the Swedish National Chemical Inspectorate. Sida has expressed its interest in the proposal. If it will be possible for Sida to finance the training, the first course will start during the last half of 2001, or during the first half of 2002.

Development cooperation between NIWL and the Central Institute for Labour Protection (CIOP) in Poland has been ongoing since 1995. On the Swedish side the cooperation has been sponsored by Sida. First there was a three-year project 1995-1997 aiming at the establishment of a traning program at CIOP for OSH personnel in Polish industry. Curricula were developed, a series of different training events was organised, and an extensive written training material in Polish was developed, tested and published. During this project it was felt that CIOP and NIWL would like to go a step further together: not only disseminate information through training, but also directly work with the implementation of changes of work and work environment in order to achieve better OSH and - if possible - higher productivity. So, last year a new three-year development cooperation project started between NIWL and CIOP and five big manufacturing enterprises in different parts of Poland.

Since 1998 a tri-regional program on work and health has been planned between NIWL and other Swedish institutions and prospective partners in southern Africa and Central America. The program should improve conditions for work and health in the participating countries, increase sustainable productivity and human resources, and strengthen regional mechanisms for collaboration in work and health inclusive capacity for research, training and development actions. The overall activities to achieve these long-term objectives should include support to existing and new research initiatives, assistance in planning and implementation of information, research training and specialist training activities; and promotion of actions for change at regional, national and local or enterprise levels. The full program would be planned for ten years of cooperation. A proposal for a one-year feasibility study was presented to Sida in April 1999. After consultations in the regions, Sida has agreed upon the needs for such a program but declared that the proposed feasibility study is too extensive and costly. NIWL has been requested to come back with a proposal for a more limited feasability study. The work developing such a new proposal is ongoing.

Kaj Elgstrand
International Secretariat
National Institute for Working Life
SE-112 79 Stockholm
Tel. +46-8-619 67 42
Fax +46-8-618 36 35
E-mail: kaj.elgstrand@niwl.se

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INTERAMERICAN FOCUS ON OSH

Occupational safety and health (OSH) conditions are a primary determinant of general health conditions. But OSH concerns extend well beyond the obvious health consequences of work-generated illnesses, accidents and deaths. OSH is a key element in the process of social and economic development, with direct and indirect impacts o such areas as the labour market, labour productivity, household income, poverty, social security systems, international trade, and the environment.

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), OSH has a direct impact on approximately 210-million workers and their families. But the OSH situation in the region is far from adequate. This is largely due to three main factors. First, there is a general lack of awareness regarding the importance of a safe and healthy work environment. Second, data on occupational accidents, illnesses and deaths tend to underestimate the magnitude of the problem. Finally, the region lacks the institutional capacity and infrastructure needed to develop and sustain a safe and healthy working environment. The region's failure to implement or enforce appropriate safety-related laws translates into lost production, lost wages, medical expenses, disability, and even death. The International Labour Organisation estimates the annual costs from occupational injuries and deaths in LAC at US$76 billion.

To discuss new solutions to these problems, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is organising an international conference on OSH on June 19-20 in Washington, DC. Recognising the multidisciplinary nature of OSH, the conference will examine the subject from a broad perspective, addressing health, social security, labour, trade, gender, and youth issues, and should serve as a catalyst for more interventions in this area. Participants will include representatives from governments, the private sector, academia, and NGOs.

The conference is intended to create a basis for a special OSH agenda of the IDB. Different divisions and departments of the Bank are involved in the preparations for the conference. The conference will be opened by Enrique Iglesias, the Bank's President. Roberto Iunes is the Bank's co-ordinator of the event.

There is a Swedish touch to the conference. The Swedish government is co-sponsoring it with so called trust fund money. A Swedish consultancy firm, Sodeco in Lund, is assisting in the organisation. The long list of speakers at the conference includes ­ besides persons from countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, USA, Canada and international organisations ­ also some Swedes: Christer Hogstedt and Bengt Knave from the Swedish National Institute for Working Life, and Bertil Remaeus from the Swedish National Board of Occupational Safety and Health.

For more information on the OSH conference, visit the Bank's website: www.iadb.org

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DISSERTATIONS

Grace J.A. Ohayo-Mitoko: Occupational pesticide exposure among Kenyan agricultural workers - an epidemiological and public health perspective. Doctoral thesis. Department of Agricultural and Environmental Studies 1997. University of Wageningen

This study was part of the Kenyan component of a multi-centre epidemiologic survey, the East African Pesticides Project. The general objective was to assess the health hazards posed by pesticide handling, storage and use in agricultural estates and small farms in selected rural communities in Kenya, where cotton, tobacco, flowers and other horticultural crops are grown, with a view to developing strategies for the prevention and control of pesticide poisoning. 666 agricultural workers, 120 agricultural extension workers and 108 health care workers from Naivasha, Wundanyi, Homabay and Migori comprised the study population. It was found that the 370 formulations registered for use in Kenya by the Pest Products Control Board (PCPB), represented 217 active ingredients. About 22% of the volume imported was highly hazardous, 20% moderately hazardous, 45% slightly hazardous and the rest unclassified. Acetylcholinesterase inhibition occurred in agricultural workers (390 exposed; 276 unexposed) as a result of exposure to organophosphate and carbamate pesticides. Acetylcholinesterase levels of 29.6% of exposed individuals were depressed to values below 60% of baseline.

Workers from Naivasha had the largest inhibition (36%), followed by Homabay (35%) and Wundanyi (33%); workers from Migori had by far the least inhibition (26%). Empirical modelling techniques were used to identify and quantify factors affecting exposure to cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides. The models were adequate as they explained 57-70% of the observed variability in acetylcholinesterase. There was no significant difference in personal hygiene practices between areas. Access to a washing and bathing facility had a positive effect while washing hands and bathing was found to be more reactive than proactive.

Spraying had a more profound effect on cholinesterase levels than mixing of pesticides. It has also been shown that workers who sprayed less hazardous pesticides had less inhibition than their counterparts who sprayed more toxic pesticides. However, hardly any variability existed in factors such as personal protective devices and hygienic behaviour within areas, thereby limiting the power of the models to detect the effects of these potential factors affecting exposure. The prevalence of symptoms in this population was described in order to relate levels of inhibition to reported symptoms and to evaluate at which inhibition levels symptoms become elevated. The prevalence of symptoms was found to be higher during the high exposure period than during the low exposure period in the exposed subjects. The presence of a relationship between acetylcholinesterase inhibition, acetylcholinesterase level and respiratory, eye and central nervous system symptoms was established. Increased symptoms prevalence was observed at acetylcholinesterase levels which are generally considered non-adverse

The knowledge, perceptions, observed and reported practices were assessed for the population of agricultural workers. Knowledge was found to be low with regard to safe use of pesticides. For instance the most important route of occupational exposure to pesticides. Practices such as storage, mixing and application were found to be generally poor. Personal hygiene practices were good but the use of personal protective devices was low especially among farmers in Homabay and Migori. The knowledge, perceptions and practices of agricultural extension workers was assessed with respect to safe handling of pesticides. About one third of the extension workers did not know the pesticide operations responsible for poisoning. All the extension workers reported that they were involved with advising on the use of pesticides but only 80% gave advise on safe use. About two thirds of the extension workers felt that pesticides poisoning was a minor problem. They emphasized following of instructions, use of personal protective clothing and devices as well as personal hygiene to prevent poisoning. Knowledge, perceptions and practices of health care workers were also assessed with respect to diagnosis, management and prevention of pesticide poisoning. Only about one fifth of the health care workers thought pesticide poisoning was a major problem in the community. Most of the health care workers were able to provide information on the health aspects of pesticides but less than ten percent of this information was directed at the farmers. Diagnosis of poisoning was found to be difficult with only one third of the health care workers reporting that they had seen at least one case of pesticide poisoning in the duration of time that they worked in this agricultural area. Almost all health care workers reported that they would like information and training as well as drugs and antidotes for the management and treatment of poisoning.

Lack of knowledge, poor perceptions and practices at all levels as well as the availability and use of the more toxic pesticides were found to be major factors influencing pesticide poisoning. It is necessary to urgently initiate interventions to address the gaps found. The results of this study will facilitate the development of effective multi-faceted strategies for the management, prevention and control of occupational pesticide exposure in Kenya and other developing countries

Grace Ohayo-Mitoko
Sustainable Development Consultants
Health and Environment
3 Jameson Court
Ngong Road
P.O. Box 25287
Nairobi, Kenya
Telephone: + 254-2-576 118
Tel. / Fax: +254-2-576 120

Aiwerasia Vera Festo Ngowi: The evaluation of effects of pesticide on farm workers in the coffee growing areas of Tanzania. Master thesis, 1997. School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences. Centre for Occupational Health. University of Manchester.

This report is an evaluation of effects of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) on farm workers in coffee growing areas of Northern and Southern Tanzania. The intent was to provide a scientific basis for concerns over farm workers being overexposed to pesticides during application. The study was conducted in 1991-92. It involved about 350 farm workers and 104 controls drawn from a population of about 240,000 coffee farmers. Standardised questionnaires were administered to every study subject during both low and high pesticide exposure periods. At the same time, erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was determined for each subject. During spraying season, those reporting use of OPs had a lower mean AChE activity (32.0 u/g Hgb) than those who used other pesticides (34.4 u/g Hgb;
p = 0.12). Those who used OPs had marginally lower AChE activity during spraying season, consistent with small non-significant effect of OP on AChE (p = 0.26). Farm workers who used Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) had higher AChE than those not using protection.
Five of the seven OP related symptoms were reported more frequently during spraying season, but the difference reached statistical significance only for runny nose. The evaluation demonstrated that, despite an apparent careless use of OPs, very little depression of AChE ac-tivity was observed. Although OP related symptoms tended to be reported more frequently by OP users, such reports were unrelated to AChE activity.

Aiwerasia Vera Festo Ngowi
Tropical Pesticides Research Institute
P.O. Box 3024
Arusha, Tanzania
Telephone: +255-57 88 13/15
Telefax: +255-57 85 93
E-mail: tpri@yako.habari.co.tz

Mohamed Elmi: Assessment of exposure to fungicide propamocarb among Finnish potato farmers and inspectors with a special reference to models predicting exposure in developing countries. Kuopio UniversityPublications C. Natural and Environmental Sciences 76.1998. 92 p. ISBN 951-781-714-2

Finnish potato farmers' and potato inspectors' exposure to a fungicidal formulation containing both propamocarb and mancozeb was studied. A gas chromatographic method was developed for the analyses of propamocarb in air, patch, handwash, and foliar samples. The determination of urinary propamocarb N-oxide was used as a biological monitoring method for propamocarb. Mancozeb exposure was evaluated based on propamocarb results and on their concentration ratio in the formulation. Urinary concentration of ethylenethiourea, a metabolite of mancozeb, were also analysed.

The suitability of the German predictive exposure assessment model was tested with the Finnish exposure data. The questionnaire study was performed in Egypt for farmers and health workers where data on use, safety measures and health risks for agricultural fungicides were gathered to characterise fungicide exposure in a developing country. Egyptian farmers'exposures to mancozeb were estimated by using the German predictive exposure model. The suitability of the model was first tested with the Finnish exposure data.

Skin was found to be the main route through which propamocarb enters the body. Both farmers and inspectors were mainly exposed via their hands, this constituted 98% of the total exposure. The workers were also dermally exposed to propamocarb via other parts of the body, and especially via thigh and back among farmers, and thigh and chest among inspectors. Inhalation exposures were negligible. Urinary excretion of propamocarb N-oxide was high at 3-8 hours after the cessation of exposure. The half-life of disappearance of propamocarb from the foliage was 7 days. The half-life of urinary elimination of propamocarb N-oxide was 9-15 hours. The concentration of ethylenethiourea (ETU) in the urine was <0.1 mmol/mol. creatinine except for one farmer and one inspector.

The occupational exposures to propamocarb and mancozeb were low in the Finnish agriculture. The total doses were well below the acceptable operator exposure levels and, therefore, are not likely to cause any significant health effect among the exposed workers.

The German model was found to suit reasonably well for estimation of the potential exposure (exposure on the clothing) in Finnish potato farms. The model, however, greatly over-estimated the protection provided by the gloves. The results of the interview indicated that both Egyptian farmers and health workers lacked awareness about pesticide toxicity. The farmers did not wear protective clothing because they believed that inhalation was the most important exposure route, and often neglected washing and changing of clothes after pesticide work. They also stored pesticides in the rooms used for living. Thus, the whole families were at risk.

According to the prediction of German model, Egyptian farmers were exposed to clearly higher levels of fungicides than the Finnish farmers. The difference in actual exposure levels is probably even much larger because of several differences between European and Egyptian conditions.

Mohamed Elmi
Kumpukatu 7-9 C
FIN-70620 Kuopio, Finland
Telephone/Fax +358-17-261 6301
E-mail: mohamed.elmi@mikkeliamk.fi

E. Bejerot: Dentistry in Sweden - Healthy work or ruthless efficiency? Arbete och Hälsa 1998:14, National Institute for Working Life, Solna, Sweden.

The general objective of this thesis is to offer understanding of the organisation of Sweden's Public Dental Health Service (PDHS) and the problem it has faced. This is achieved against the background of its historical development. Work conditions in the PDHS have been discussed for a long time, with a focus on how dentists should be managed in the light of their almost constant dissatisfaction with salaries, pace of work, and management style.

A brief review is conducted of work conditions and job satisfaction in dental care, both internationally and in a Swedish setting. From this review, two essentially different images emerge: working with dentistry can be very stimulating and rewarding; or, very stressful, pressuring and exhausting with low rewards. On this basis, it is argued that there are two contrasting aspects of work conditions in dentistry: "healthy work" and "ruthless efficiency".

Some of the philosophical foundations of the concepts of "healthy work" and "ruthless efficiency" are described. The genesis of ruthless efficiency is captured in the image of the "Panopticon" - a disciplinary strategy with long historical roots. One modern management doctrine in particular, Human Resource Management (HRM), is analysed from this perspective.

The thesis comprises five papers, based on two empirical studies - one conducted in 1987, the other in 1992. Both studies use self-reports from mailed questionnaires. The sample for the first study was based on county lists of staff: 769 dentists and 493 dental nurses responded (response rate 88% and 85%, respectively). The second study was based on a random sample of dentists from the membership register of the Swedish Dental Association: 312 dentists in PDHS, and 160 dentists in private practice responded (response rate 66%-77%). This sample of dentists was part of a larger study of Swedish professional workers. The same questionnaire as for dentists was administrated to a random sample of two percent of the members of the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (SACO). The questionnaire was returned by 3,595 graduate employees, giving a response rate of 75%. The material was analysed with statistical methods (PCA, logistic and multiple regressions, interaction models).

The objective of the first study was to investigate the properties of "healthy work" among professionals, and to see whether differences could be found between various types of occupation (Paper I). It was observed that when graduate workers report what they consider to be very important for healthy work, they virtually always stress the "intellectuality of work". In some professional groups, such as physicians and dentists, the importance of the "value of work" is also emphasised. The difference between ideal and reality, between conception of healthy work and its actual fulfilment, was found to differ considerably between dentists in the PDHS and those in private practice. Indeed, dentists in the PDHS showed the greatest discrepancy between ideal and reality of all the professional groups. Differences were particularly evident with regard to independence and the encouragement of initiative-taking. It seems probable that the reasons for these lie in factors such as work organisation and leadership style.

Paper II contains a description of the development of the PDHS control system, from the travelling inspectors in the 40s to the use of modern information technology. The staff opinion on the present control system was analysed. PDHS dentists reported that they felt constantly supervised and evaluated. Their pace of work was adapted to surveillance, competition and demands of the employer, not to patient queues or piece-work wages. It is concluded that the system of productivity evaluation was an effective management approach for increasing the work output of staff, but at the same time it contributed to poor work conditions for dentists. The study supports tenets drawn from Foucault's metaphor of the Panopticon.

The third objective was to continue investigation of management control systems by examining how these have changed in the assessment of publicly employed professionals, in particular dentists in the PDHS. In Paper III, it is reported that perceived changes in control systems tend to be distributed along two different dimensions, corresponding to aspects of two HRM technologies: "management by objectives", and "management by dialogue". The dimensions were interpreted as mirroring "hard" and "soft" HRM models respectively. An analysis of changes in management style in the PDHS showed that "hard" HRM technologies predominate, but also that "soft" HRM has increased. A clear duality was apparent in changes to managerial control systems in the PDHS.

The succeeding goal was to investigate the impact on work conditions of dual aspects of HRM in both a pathogenetic and a salutogenetic context, as operationalized by "effort-reward balance" and "the core of healthy work" respectively. Dentists were also compared with other publicly employed professionals. The results of Paper IV show that the combined effects of "hard" and "soft" HRM tend to be more negative for dentists than for other publicly employed graduate workers. Organisational efficiency was reported to have increased considerably in the PDHS, far more so than in other parts of the public sector. This was interpreted as a form of "ruthless efficiency", where work effectiveness is gained at the cost of a lack of balance between efforts and rewards. With regard to "the core of healthy work", the results showed that the dual aspects of HRM did not improve the opportunities for dentists in the PDHS to work professionally - contrary to the prediction of HRM advocates.

In the final study several threads were tied together. Its general aim was to investigate relations between objects of work, management control systems, and perceived work conditions. Graduate workers were divided into two groups according to whether their knowledge lay in "things/data" or in "life". The analysis showed that managerial changes contributed to a polarisation between human-service work and that of other professionals. While opportunities for healthy work increased among graduates who worked with things and data, the same changes led to worsened effort-reward balance for human-service workers (when there was a pronounced duality to HRM strategies). Negative effects were found to be much more pronounced for dentists than for human-service workers as a whole. Dentists seem to constitute an extreme subgroup among human-service workers.

Dentists' special vulnerability is discussed on the basis of the work of Hirschman (1970). His concepts concern individuals' reactions to negative circumstances by leaving "exit", by protesting "voice", or by doing neither "loyalty". One interpretation is that dentists have been forced into a position where "loyalty" is the only option available.

Eva Bejerot
National Institute for Working Life
SE-112 79 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel. +46-8-730 91 02
Fax +46-8-730 98 60
E-mail: eva.bejerot@niwl.se

Monica Bjerlöv: Learning in Workbased Discourse. A Study of Talk and Learning in Meetings at a Workplace. Doctoral thesis no. 89. Department of Education, Stockholm University. ISBN 91-7153-870-4, ISSN 1104-1625. Arbete och Hälsa 1999:1. ISBN 91-7045-507-4, ISSN 0346-7821. Solna, National Institute for Working Life.

This thesis describes the spontaneous, unplanned learning of the participants in workbased discourses. We follow the activities of ten participants in five workbased discourses at a public authority.

The study uses a qualitative method and its theoretical foundation is a constructivist and intentional perspective on learning. The formation and analysis of the data is based on the intentional interpretation. By interpreting and describing the content and meaning of each participant's lines, we discover a direction in the line and the activity of the participant as a whole. This is the basis of the intentional analysis. The participants'experiences of the recent organisational change is the common starting-point for their reflections as regards a work procedure that ought to be established in their own workgroup, the project-grants group.

The thesis describes and analyses the participants' efforts to create and organise a new work task. It also describes what happens in five successive workbased discourses about the work meeting and the group's communication. Further, all the participants are attributed an objective (a purpose) which is based upon their respective activities during the talk. The objectives are categorised in three main types: one institutional category, one relations directed category, and one category with a direction primarily towards one's own person.

It is the variations (and the differences) between the objectives of the ten participants that constitute the breeding-ground for learning. The learning takes place within the construction of a mutual social moral for cooperation. This construction work includes five themes: technical solutions; legitimacy and identity; confidence; trust and respect; knowledge exchange and learning, and to have one's say. It is in the interplay between the three types of objectives, the personally directed, the relations directed and the institutionally directed, within the framework of the five themes, that a spontaneous, unplanned learning takes place. With regard to two themes, coordination and skills upgrading, there seems to be an overall agreement.

Monica Bjerlöv
National Institute for Working Life
SE-112 79 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel. +46-8-730 94 55
Fax +46-8-730 98 98
E-mail: monica.bjerlov@niwl.se

Åke Thörn: The emergence and preservation of sick building syndrome. Research challenges of a modern age disease. Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Social Medicine 1999

Since the 1970ies, the sick building syndrome (SBS) has become a common health problem. It is usually defined as a state of ill health consisting of subjective symptoms from mucous membranes and skin, as well as of general symptoms such as e.g. fatigue and headache. At the same time, demonstrable pathological alterations should be absent. Its occurrence is associated to a wide variety of factors related to the building, its indoor environment, work and work organisation, as well as to personal, individual characteristics of its inhabitants. The accumulated scientific knowledge on SBS is, however, vague and general, and the aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the development and maintenance of the syndrome.

Applying a multi-case study design, the thesis consists of six cases. Four focus on the buildings inclusive of their populations, while the remaining two put their centre on individuals. Information was retrieved from a wide range of historical documents. Data were also collected by questionnaire-based surveys as well as by semi-structured, open-ended interviews.

The case buildings had varying histories of proven or hypothesised water damage, ventilation defects and chemical emissions. Such conditions might have initiated the building-related health problems, which in turn seemed to generate protracted and complicated processes. These involved conflicting agendas between different parties within the buildings, and between the buildings and the surrounding society. This, together with structural conditions, such as e.g. economic and gender perspectives, seemed to influence the long-term outcome of SBS. Therefore, it was suggested that evolving sick building syndromes should be approached and analysed using integrated bio-psycho-social models. This seemed particularly important from an intervention aspect as there were indications that symptoms might persist in spite of rational corrective measures, taken from strictly bio-medical perspectives.

The thesis examined the concept of SBS and compared it with other building-related diagnoses. As a diagnostic concept, the construction of the SBS definition was shown to be inadequate. In spite of that, it was found to be used in legal contexts. This conveyed the ambiguous notion of a formal, individual diagnosis, which could have a normative and prescriptive force, which was one reason why it was suggested that the term SBS should be abandoned.

Finally, methodological research aspects were examined. It was concluded that qualitative methods are well suited in the study of environmentally related, non-specific syndromes such as SBS.

Åke Thörn
Yrkesmedicinska Enheten
Bodens Sjukhus
SE-961 85 Boden, Sweden
Tel +46-921-672 28
Fax +46-921-505 62
E-mail: ake.thorn@nll.se

Margareta Ardeberg: Personality, health and mortality of workers in a PVC production plant in Sweden. A longitudinal study. Lund University. Department of Psychology 1999. ISBN 91-628-3570-X

A longitudinal study was initiated in a PVC production plant in 1967. It was repeated in 1987. A cohort of 101 workers was followed. The aim of the 1967 study was, after a heavy rise in absenteeism and sick leave, to analyse perceptions of work environment and health. The aim of the second study was to investigate possible health effects of the workers after the change of threshold limit value, TLV, in 1975 and, further, to study the personality, disease and mortality pattern over time. In 1967, the TLV for exposure to vinyl chloride (VC) solvents, used in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production in Sweden, was 500 PPM (parts per million). It was changed to 1 PPM from January 1, 1975, after discovery of a rare type of cancer in the liver, angiosarcoma, among PVC workers in the world. In 1979, high mortality in heart disease, cancer, accidents and suicide was reported in a study of disease and mortality among PVC workers in Sweden. The research method of the present study involved use of two self-rating questionnaires, the MNT scale, and the MFS questionnaire, a medical health inventory. Further, a structured interview concerning perception of the work environment was employed. As appendices to the thesis, three reports are presented. The first report concerns health and work perception of the workers in 1967, as compared to a corresponding group of workers not exposed to solvents. The second report studies the disease and mortality pattern of the workers as well as the relation between these factors and personality, defined and measured through a personality scale, based on Sjöbring's model. The third report concerns the development of health and personality as a function of time for a group of 68 persons investigated both in 1967 and 1987, as well as for a sub-group of 16 persons working at the PVC plant at both occasions. The results demonstrate that the PVC workers had many more physical and mental symptoms than the group of workers not exposed. In addition, the PVC workers perceived their work environment as highly straining and characterised by heavy work load. Significant correlation between the Sjöbring personality factor Validity and mortality in coronary heart disease, CHD, and suicide was found as well as between personality and symptoms from the endocrinological system. After a major reduction of PVC exposure, significant improvements in health were seen for the group of 68 persons. The improvements were less marked for the group of 16 persons still in the same workplace. The development and change of the personality pattern were studied as functions of time. In the first study, low Validity, the level of energy, was identified. In the second study, this level had increased, now reaching a level which, as referring to the age of the workers, could have been expected in the first investigation. The results indicate that high levels of solvents affect personality as well as health in a highly significant manner. However, the study also shows that, after elimination of exposure to solvents, a recovery to normal values is possible.

Margareta Ardeberg
Lund University
Department of Psychology
Paradisg. 5
SE-223 50 Lund, Sweden
Tel +46-46-222 91 19

Blåmesvägen 2
247 35 Södra Sandby

Jaffar Kavian: Learning from Miners' risk management. A case study from the Swedish mining industry. Luleå University of Technology 1999. 1999:07. ISSN 1402-1544

This historical - empirical case study deals with miners' collective (in this study, "collective" means the informal organisation of the miners' community rather than a formal organisation) safety and risk management of an occupational lung disease (Silicosis) at Laisvall lead mine from 1943 to 1953. About 45 miners contracted the disease and the deaths of 25 are documented. Occurrence of Silicosis was due to the use of a "dry-drilling" method with correlating high dust emissions. Representatives of various groups responsible for the working environment comprised the Safety Committee; one of the study's primary information sources. The focus is first on understanding how the miners participated in the occupational health and safety activities. Then, emphasis is on a retrospective assessment of subsequent actions taken to achieve a solution. The workers' resource limitation is discussed. This qualitative approach utilises multiple sources of information and evidence. Miners' risk management was studied by means of individual survey, record review methods and work environment hazard analysis. The main information sources consisted of protocols from Safety Committee meetings and interviews with retired workers. Additional sources of information included documents from different archives. This study seeks to develop arguments that show how better understanding of and solutions to problems related to work environment hazards require use of innovative perspectives. One perspective, having had its strengths frequently underestimated, is blue-collar worker attitudes and actions in solving occupational health and safety problems. The history of Silicosis at the Laisvall Mine can be charted as a complex socio-political saga in managing industrial epidemiology. Economic and cultural dominance by industry owners, despite its importance, is not the whole explanation for the slow resolution of a work hazard. Highlighted is the role of workers in identifica-tion, definition and perception of lung diseases. As the labour collective didn't actively participate in the decision processes, the improvement of the work environment at the Laisvall Mine neither completely belonged to the workers, nor was it directed by individuals or entities outside of the worker collective. The experience of Laisvall miners suggests that a struggle for improvement of work environment is an integral and important part of a broader process. Pre-existing worker traits and values such as: negligence of personal security/comfort, diligence and self-discipline in the culture of the Swedish working class, shaped their encounters with a well-organised management. The resolution of the Silicosis problem at Laisvall Mine then became the offshoot of a larger compromise between representatives of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Swedish Employers' Confederation for national regulation of work environments. The experiences of Laisvall miners are compared to the resolution of occupational lung diseases in another cultural context; the Appalachian coal miners from West Virginia. The American coal miners' struggle for the political/legal definition of a similar occupational disease went through sometimes violent political and social upheavals that was outside of any formal miner organisation. Appalachian miners engaged in unsanctioned strikes and riots. Although supported by medical scientists and lawyers, formal governmental recognition was slow in coming. It was found that the Swedish experience in the resolution of this occupational respiratory disease took longer than was ideally possible. However, it was also apparent that no organisation or party actively sought to cause the delay; at the most, there was some passive resistance. Furthermore, comparing Silicosis with analogous occupational diseases demonstrates a chronological generic pattern. This pattern is also found in many industrially developing countries, where known occupational diseases still claim the health of a large number of workers. Thus, the aim of the current research is to assess the role of human work principles in technological development when a new mining production technique is introduced in an industrialised country or in a industrially developing country.

Key Words: Mining, Risk management, Occupational lung diseases, Silicosis, Labour collective, Participation, Trade unions, Experts, Organisation of occupational safety, Industrially developing countries.

Jaffar Kavian-Lanjani
Knalltorpsv. 42
SE-975 93 Luleå, Sweden
Tel +46-920-75756
Fax +46-920-75010
E-mail: jaffar.kavian@startnyckeln.aurorum.se

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