What are the primary hazards faced in the industrial sector?
Loewenson: There are about three main groups. The classical industrial sector for which the Factories and Work Acts were written involve the risks associated with mechanical hazards, heat and dust. There is a major preoccupation in these old laws with mechanical risks like falls, and risks from scaffolding, elevators, escalators, hoists and such. What perhaps is less well recognized in the industrial sector are the chemical hazards and the dusts associated with production, and even the heat-related problems. In heavy industry work, such as smelting, there is a high degree of heat-related hazards. This under-recognition of certain hazards means that you can have a sector like the chemical sector, which we know to be a high risk sector, rated as safe as the banking sector, which we know to be a less risky sector, because the chemical industry risks are generally resulting in chronic diseases, and they tend not to be detected. And then you have a whole new sector growing up around microel
