Acceptable Risk?: Making Decisions in a Toxic EnvironmentOrganizations and modern technology give us much of what we value, but they have also given us Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Bhopal. The question at the heart of this paradox is "What is acceptable risk?" Based on his examination of the 1981 contamination of an office building in Binghamton, New York, Lee Clarke's compelling study argues that organizational processes are the key to understanding how some risks rather than others are defined as acceptable. He finds a pattern of decision-making based on relationships among organizations rather than the authority of individuals or single agencies. |
Contents
Creating Risks | 1 |
Beginning Decontamination | 14 |
Constricting the Field of Organizations | 30 |
Organizing Medical Surveillance | 84 |
Organizing Decontamination | 114 |
The Exposed | 139 |
Organizing Risk | 157 |
The Players | 183 |
A Methodological Accounting | 189 |
References | 201 |
List of Interviews | 219 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accident Administration agencies ambiguous argued Arnold Schecter asked August August 11 Axelrod BCHD BCHD's behavior Bing Binghamton Evening Press Binghamton State Office blood Broome County Health Buckley Chemlab chloracne Citizens clean cleanup commissioner Committee contaminated context county executive county health department county health director decision makers decontamination Department of Health dibenzofurans dioxins DOH officials Drazen employees environment Environmental experts exposure February February 26 Fecteau fire furans ganizations garage hamton Haughie hazards important janitors legislature letter Love Canal March mechanical room medical monitoring medical surveillance program ment NIOSH October Office Building organizational organizations panel PCB levels PCBs phase political posed problems public health rational request responsibility risk assessment role safety samples scientists Seveso Slaunwhite SOB's social solutions soot state's structure Taylor interview TCDD test results theory Three Mile Island tion toxic toxic chemicals VERSAR