Tragedy elements

The thalidomide tragedy of the early 1960s served as an impetus for expanded research 1n the field of teratology. This and the Increased popularity of environmental and health issues caused a rapid acceleration in the rate of publications in this research area (Fig. 1). Proliferation of modern pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals has resulted in a mushrooming of the literature on their prenatal toxicology, which 1s an Important element 1n the total spectrum of toxicity Information. 

Many human tragedies have been caused by organomercury compounds in food. In the twentieth century, mercury compounds, usually the most toxic types, were applied as fungicides to seeds. Large-scale poisoning occurred in Iraq in 1971-1972 as a result of an appalling error, when seeds contaminated with Hg compounds were sold for consumption. After that event, the application of Hg compounds in farming practice declined, but a fair amount of the element remains in the soil. 

This chapter focuses on safe practice in relation to educational activities and experiences that take pupils away from the school and into the outdoor classroom. Here, the complex interplay of human and environmental factors is a significant issue and one which differentiates the learning context from that found on the school site and within the classroom. Drawing on case studies and research on accidents in the outdoors, this chapter begins by considering the unique nature of the outdoor classroom and what can be learned from tragedy in terms of understanding accidents in the outdoors. It also identifies supervision as the basic principle of safe practice and discusses elements of this and the... 

All of the safety professionals with whom I spoke were affected by the World Trade Center tragedy, but not as much as I expected. They are employed in large companies that have extensive security staffs, on whom the responsibiUty for additional security measures fell. There is an overlapping of responsibility with security personnel since an element in all of their safety management systems pertains to Emergency and Disaster Planning, which will be addressed later. 

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