ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a basic introduction to the subjects of occupational health, toxicology as it relates to the workplace and occupational epidemiology. It considers The health impacts of hazardous materials and hazardous environments on the human body. The concepts of hazard, dose and risk, their relationships and their role in workplace risk assessment will also be explained, as will the way epidemiology can provide a link between exposure and disease. Observation of workers exposed to thousands of different hazardous substances such as asbestos or solvents, or processes such as welding, has provided the basis for making workplaces much healthier. Occupational health may be defined as the maintenance of the individual worker’s state of wellbeing and freedom from occupationally related disease or injury. Benzene is a potent leukaemia hazard, but while contained in a closed reaction vessel it presents a low risk; xylene used in open tanks or in painted coatings may pose a greater risk to health.
