Technology, Law, and the Working Environment
Course facts
- Payment: Free, no certificate
- Credits: Non Credit
- Learning style: Self-paced, start anytime
- Resources: Written Assignments
MIT OpenCourseWare details
- As taught in: Spring 2006
- Department: Chemical Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
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US law of the working environment: OSHA, TSCA, the NLRA, risk assessment, right-to-know, workers’ compensation and toxic exposure.
When technology exposes workers to toxic substances or unsafe processes, several bodies of law decide what happens next. This course investigates the legal, scientific and policy issues of the working environment in the United States: the regulation of toxic substances and processes that affect workers’ health and safety, the economics of health and safety, labor and anti-discrimination law, the worker’s right to know, and workers’ compensation. It works through the NLRA, OSHA, TSCA and suits by workers in the courts.
What You Will Achieve
- Explain how US statutes such as OSHA and TSCA regulate workplace hazards
- Analyze options for regulatory intervention and the role of risk assessment
- Describe labor-management law and protections against retaliatory employment practices
- Draft a policy memo on using existing statutes to reduce exposure to toxic substances
Program Overview
Harm, Regulation and Risk
The problem and the tools for regulating it.
- The nature of the harm and options for regulatory intervention
- Administrative law
- Risk assessment
- Economic issues in occupational health and safety
Labor Law and Workers’ Rights
Workers’ collective rights and their protection.
- Labor-management relations under the NLRA
- Toxics information transfer in the workplace
- Retaliatory employment practices
Statutes, Compensation and Prevention
The main laws and what happens after exposure.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
- The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976
- Biogenetic monitoring and consumer products
- Compensation, pollution prevention and accident prevention
Course Completion
Job Outlook
This knowledge serves occupational health and safety work, environmental and labor law, regulatory affairs and policy analysis.
Good for: Engineers, safety professionals and policy students who want to understand US workplace health and safety law.
Keep in mind: A spring 2006 course on US law as it stood then; the materials are the session topics and one memo assignment, so check current statutes and rules before relying on it.
Bottom line: A clear map of how US law handles technology’s risks to workers, statute by statute.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the writing assignment?
A memo of about five pages advising a new administration on a coordinated federal strategy for using existing statutes to reduce indoor exposure to toxic substances.
Is it specific to the United States?
Yes. It covers US federal statutes such as the NLRA, OSHA and TSCA, state workers' compensation and suits by workers in US courts.
Does it cover the economics of safety?
Yes. One session treats economic issues in occupational health and safety, alongside risk assessment and the options for regulatory intervention.
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