A 3-E Quantitative Decision Model of Toxic Substance Control through Control Technology Use in the Industrial Environment.

Wang-CC

NIOSH 1982 Mar:53 pages

00177548

A quantitative model based on engineering, economics, and epidemiology (3-E) was presented to illustrate a decision outcome from the complex interplay of various interest groups to control hazards generated by toxic substances in the workplace. Total cost to society was minimized, while economic motivation of the company was stressed along with axiological expectations of society. The Firm was viewed as a corporate entity, the Worker as an entity but as a member both of the Firm and Society. The Consumer, also an entity, was interested in maximizing standard of living. Society was defined as an aggregate of various wills and sometimes consciences. A sample problem involved raw material use of a chemical substance NOX in manufacture of a product in high demand. The 3-E model explicitly minimized total cost of all entities, taken as a whole. The Firm wanted a higher concentration of NOX in the work environment than Society would allow. Economic theory of externalities was applicable. Optimal NOX level for Society and profit maximization NOX level for the Firm decreased with increased workers' wages. Optimal NOX level for Society and cost minimizing NOX level of the Firm decreased with increasing number of workers. Uncertainties of time created special problems in design of control technology equipment. The author concludes that the technique of interdisciplinary modeling may provide a broader, more rational insight toward resolution of some problems in industrial health.

NIOSH-Author; Worker-health; Safety-programs; Industrial-health-programs; Control-technology; Mathematical-models; Risk-analysis; Quantitative-analysis; Occupational-sociology;

19820301

1982

PB88-188842

A05

Infectious Diseases; Disease and Injury; Control Technology and Personal Protective Equipment; Research Tools and Approaches; Control-technology;

NIOSH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Cincinnati, Ohio, 53 pages, 4 references

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