While the problems of occupational health have grown in recent decades, public policy for dealing with these risks remains limited in comparison to policy on occupational injuries. Occupational health hazards pose special problems in terms of setting standards and compensating workers. This article explores the issues of uncertainty, acceptable risk, and enforcement. Because of technical, economic, and political dilemmas, workers bear the burdens of occupational disease. Since society benefits by permitting workers to be exposed to occupational health hazards, it has a responsibility to compensate those who become ill and to provide an integrated system of legal controls to protect workers.
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