ABSTRACT
Centuries ago scientists recognized that work situations may have adverse health effects. Goodell, Wolf and Rogers (1986) suggest that the involvement of medical science with work and health problems started with Hippocrates, as early as the fifth century BC. Nearly 300 years ago, the Italian physician Ramazzini published a detailed account of the diseases related to various professions. The concern for potential bad impact of work on health was particularly raised by the unhealthy and risky work environments that resulted from the industrial revolution. In the last century, the English physician Charles Turner Thackrah wrote the first systematic treatise on the occurrence and prevention of occupational diseases, and occupational medicine made its entry into industrial society. In the twentieth century, numerous government measures were taken against factors in the work environment that may constitute a threat to employee health, in particular measures to prevent accidents, to reduce physical and chemical health risks and to reduce the number of working hours.
