Dangerous Work

Spring 2012 quarter

Faculty

Sarah Ryan labor studies/history, industrial relations , Nancy Anderson community and international health

Fields of Study

community studies, environmental studies, health, history and law and government policy

Preparatory for studies or careers in

public health, health-related fields, history, labor relations, management, environmental studies

Description

How have workers, employers, and policy makers dealt with dangerous work, historically and in the present?  Why do we have laws and institutions designed to control hazardous and dangerous work and compensate workers who are injured, or their families when they're killed?  This program will look at the history of occupational safety and health efforts in the U.S., focusing on the careers of two pathbreaking individuals: public heath doctor Alice Hamilton and labor leader Tony Mazzocchi.  We will review the development of laws regulating occupational health and safety and study landmark cases and events that promoted legal protections for working people.  We'll look into the systematic disparities and inequalities in exposure to dangerous work.  We will consider the Washington State context, including the most common workplace-related health and safety concerns in our state.  Students will learn basic techniques of data interpretation related to studies of occupational health and safety. 

Students registered for 12 credits will participate in the weekly symposium "The Occupy Movement: Uprisings at Home and Abroad".  Topics and readings will address the national and regional Occupy movements; popular economics, the global debt crisis and neoliberalism; ecological sustainability; public and social health; communities of color and migrant labor; global solidarity from Egypt to Venezuela; the security state; cooperatives and food sovereignty; art and the Occupy movement.  Students will complete some short related assignments.

Students registered for 16 credits will devote at least 20 hours per week to an internship in the field of occupational safety and health.

Advertised Schedule

9a-5p Sat (no class Memorial Day weekend); 12 credit students also meet 6-9p Thur; first meeting for 12 credit students is Thur, April 5

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

Enhanced Online Learning

Books

Greener Store

Required Fees

$20 registration fee for the Pacific Northwest Labor History Conference in Tacoma on May 19

Internship Possibilities

Students registering for the 16 credit option will be required to participate in an internship related to occupational health and safety for 20 hours a week.  Students may arrange their own internships but must get faculty approval.

Offered During

Evening and Weekend