Safety standards based on standard male workers
[ch 1: page 8]The TUC says “research developments in health and safety regulation, policy and risk management, have been primarily based on work traditionally done by men”.
As a result, occupational exposure levels (in the UK these are known as workplace exposure limits or WELs), job and safety equipment design and research into the links between disease and work, have all been calculated according to a “standard male worker” model. Most toxicological data have been derived from male subjects, for example. This has impacted on work equipment, tools, workplaces, personal protective equipment (PPE), safety clothing and work wear, and affects men who do not fit this standard male model as well as women workers.
Chapter 5 looks at women’s exposure to hazardous substances and physical hazards at work in more detail and Chapter 6 looks at the problems many women workers experience as a result of using and wearing work equipment and tools, work wear and PPE designed for men.