ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by drawing together from the case studies the generic empirical characteristics of the practice in corporate management of hazards. As the burden of hazard management has escalated, so too has the view of safety, waste reduction, and environmental protection. Commitment of high-level management to health and safety appears to be an important, if somewhat elusive, contributor to effective hazard management. Patric Lagadec notes the importance of top-level management's ensuring that hazard problems are not covered up at lower levels and insisting on an effective system of upward flow of information. Modern hazard management employs a wide variety of technological and behavioral controls designed to prevent or reduce hazard. Comparative studies of hazard management in industrialized countries have suggested a greater reliance on corporations and trade unions in hazard management and more confidence in regulatory discretion outside the United States.
