Mike Wilson's keynote: "In the Arc of History: AIHA and the Movement to Reform the Toxic Substances Control Act"
In his experience as a firefighter, paramedic, union officer, green chemistry leader, and now Director of the UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program, Switzer Fellow Mike Wilson (2002) has learned that when someone is injured, sickened, or killed on the job, the immediate cause is usually obvious: an unguarded machine, a blocked exit door, a toxic chemical, exposure to silica, and so forth. The underlying cause, however, traces its roots to political economy and social priorities, which are expressed through public policy and law. Protecting worker health and safety requires on-the-job technical solutions, certainly, but the historical record shows that these will be put in place only when employers are compelled to do so through regulatory policy and worker empowerment. Chemicals policy, labor rights, unionization, OSHA, worker training, green chemistry--these are all part of what is needed to protect people at work. In his keynote address before the general assembly of the American Industrial Hygiene Association in 2011, Dr. Wilson challenged the organization to look beyond technical fixes at the workplace and join other leading U.S. health organizations that are working in the political arena to rewrite the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1974, the primary U.S. chemical statute that is widely regarded as having failed to meet the intent of Congress. His address was subsequently published in May 2012 in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene.
