Accident insurance, sickness, and science: New Zealand's no-fault system.
This article explores the process of seeking compensation for occupational illness under a no-fault accident insurance scheme. The author uses two case studies--firefighters who attended a fire at a chemical storage depot and timbermill workers who worked with pentachlorophenol--to illustrate how science can be used to deny compensation to sick and dying workers. The results of the studies suggest that a no-fault accident compensation scheme, considered to be a victory for workers, offers no guarantee of just outcomes for working people. And science can be co-opted and used to support business and state interests against workers; this ideological support is increasingly hidden behind the development of "objective" systems of assessing compensation claims.
Dew
Kevin
K
Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine, Wellington South, New Zealand.
D030861:Capitalism; D002961:Civil Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control; D016468:Forestry; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000506:poisoning*; D006540:Herbicides / Q000506:poisoning; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D007346:Insurance, Accident / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D007351:Insurance, Liability / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009520:New Zealand; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000191:economics*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000191:economics*; D010416:Pentachlorophenol / Q000506:poisoning; D011057:Politics; D012586:Science; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*
D015386:Hazardous Substances; D006540:Herbicides; D010416:Pentachlorophenol