Vol.
26 No. 1
January-February 2004
On
the Practice of Safety, Third Edition
Fred
A. Manuele
Wiley Interscience, Hoboken, NJ, 2003
ISBN 0-471-27275-2
reviewed
by John Duffus
This
book is already well established through its previous editions
as a classic text for baccalaureate and master’s degree
safety programs. However, I come to it as someone who has
never read it before and so can review it as though I were
a new student to whom it had been recommended. My first impression
was of a textbook that looked dated in layout and, when compared
with most modern textbooks, was not very welcoming. This is
a pity because the book is a distillation of many years of
experience by the author, thoughtfully reviewed and carefully
analyzed. Many of his statements remain in the mind after
reading: “safety is culture driven,” “finance
is the language of management,” and “safety is
freedom from unacceptable risk.”
From
my personal point of view as a toxicologist, I find it difficult
to understand how a book on safety can define a curriculum
for the safety professional (Chapter 5), which omits toxicology.
In fact, I don’t think the subject is mentioned anywhere
in the book. This is particularly surprising in a book which
considers risk assessment and management very thoroughly.
Assessing risk of chemical exposure is often a major part
of the risk assessment process.
In
spite of the above reservation, I think that some parts of
this book could well be prescribed as compulsory reading for
safety professionals. Chapter 17, “Guidelines: Designing
for Safety,” and Chapter 18, “System Safety: the
Concept,” fall into this category. The relationship
of “quality management” to “safety practice”
is another important concept developed here.
Although I found this book, as one might expect, very much
based on practice in the USA, I was pleased to find attention
drawn to the ILO/OSH Guidelines on Occupational Safety and
Health Management, which are available on the Web for download
at <www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/cops/
english/download/e000013.pdf>.
The
final discussion of the nature of a safety audit and the guiding
thoughts derived by the author from his lifetime experience
again should be essential reading for all those concerned
with safety.
Having
started to read this book with a little reluctance because
its layout and appearance were somewhat off putting, I finished
reading it with an admiration for the way in which the author
had distilled wisdom from his lifetime involvement in practical
safety management. This is a book to be read now for its educational
value and also to be kept on the shelf for easy future reference.
If only it said a bit more about my own area of expertise
in toxicology, I should have little to find wrong with it!
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