RISK AND HAZARD
The jobs- are up at the forefront of technology, are seen from a lucrative gaze, but like they say- everything has two sides.
In this
chapter , the author is describing the plight of workers working in nuclear
power plant, as regards the health risks to which they will be exposed and
other problems such as boredom, the problem of repetitive work ,
etc. He's considering the case study of a french nuclear power plant at
la hague ( France) , operated by COGEMA
nature of work in nuclear power plants
job at
nuclear power plant is considered a high technology job , which provides a
steady income and is believed to have interesting work. But it is evident from
the observations that workers are not satisfied with their jobs. they believe
that working in nuclear sector is on limits which makes it boring. They
just have to follow protocols , operate machine which makes their work monotonous.
Sources of boredom
Zonabend is
providing some reasons that explain boredom related to working in this
industry. He gives different sources of this boredom –
1. Size of
establishment/ plant -
usually any
power plant is spread in a great area And is characterized by many
units. So people are generally scattered which results in very less
interaction between them, and this in turn, makes work boring.
2. The
compartmentalization of laboratories.
Specific
laboratories for specific work are one of the characteristic feature of nuclear
sector. Also, there's a specific task the worker has to do. He's confined to
that task only (we can call it strict dol) And it makes work monotonous
and repetitive.
3. The other
source of boredom is computerisation of work - as tech progresses the
situation becomes worse. Now there are computers through which work is
done. Technicians who are skilled just have to give command to machine or
to operate it. There's no creativity left in the work And
Marginalisation of man at work takes place.
Marx concept
of alienation can be applied here that the worker feels detached from the work.
He's not doing anything creative. The work is abstract, monotonous and
sedentary.
There are
certain repercussions of worker's lack of interest in work. Zonabend expounds
that Lack of motivation and interest in job leads to -
1. Loss of
vigilance
2. Over
reliability on machines - believing that machine can never do any fault.
Both are a
direct harm to the sector
Zonabend, then
explains that, to adapt to this system and to render boredom tolerable, the
workers have devised their own ways. workers have their own way to make their
work interesting and zonabend is explaining through a case study
case study of french nuclear plant at la
hague
La hague
nuclear power plant is located in France , and is operated by COGEMA
company. the workers working in French nuclear plant, are divided into
two categories
The first one
is Kamikaze - this category includes worker who are not bothered much
about their safety and they can work beyond the limits. And the other category
is Rentier - this includes workers who are so much concerned about
their safety and always try to work on limits. Because kamikaze are not
bothered much about their safety , and can take risk, they are generally
found in mechanical departments , where there is some risk in the work. Whereas Rentier
generally are found in chemical departments, where there is less risk in the
work. It is also observed that, generally female technicians in nuclear
plant, are rentier in category. It means they avoid risky works. And they
are mainly found in chemical departments.
Strategies to make work interesting
kamikaze and
rentier , have different domains of work.
That is While
kamikaze work in mechanical department, rentier are mainly found in in chemical
department, but it is observed that both kamikaze and rentiers , and even all
nuclear workers, after completion of their task, talk about the risk they take
or run , with proud.
after
completion of their work, when they talk with each other , they express their
joy by using works that speak of maleness.
for example after doing any task successfully they will
explain how difficult it was and express it with words like "we have won
battle" .
And other
words that are Masculine.
Zonabend
eplains the reason behind their act i.e. this in one way makes their work a bit
interesting, and on the other hand, helps in counteracting the rumours which
claim that workers in nuclear industry are not real men.
so this is
the way through which, the deal with boredom and monotony of their work, but not all the workers that work in nuclear plant
talk about radioactivity in this way especially the women.
different attitude of women towards radioactivity.
female
technicians, who work in nuclear plant, generally don't use these
words. their approach is very different from other workers, other
male workers.
female
technicians generally avoid putting name to radioactivity. For instance, they
will never call radioactivity directly as radioactivity and will use the words
like " it" To describe radioactive elements. they do so because of
their anxiety regarding its potential biological effects. That is, they
are always afraid of radioactivity and its risk. They are always anxious about
the things or the polluted elements they are taking with themselves to their
home. it is because of the biological effects or the harms of
radioactivity, Women technician, generally avoid linking themselves with
radioactivity.
Zonabend then
explains about the biological harms of radioactive material. He describes that,
Radioactive material sticks to the skin.
And for a
woman , skin as an organ is very important , because it is the membrane within
which life is born and sustained. They don't want to give away their power
to give life as women and wives. hence , apart from other health issues
that developed because of exposure to radioactive materials , Such as
breathing problems and problems in different organs,
This is an
additional risk to women.
distinction between irradiation and contamination.
Irradiation Is
caused by the rays emitted by a nuclear substance Whereas Contamination
arises from direct contact with radioactive dust particles. so both irradiation
and contamination are the dangers of radioactivity. But their degree of of
danger varies.
That is, irradiation
is less harmful, as it is caused by the rays emitted by a nuclear
element, Unlike contamination, which is is caused by the direct
contact with radioactive dust particles. And is more harmful. Therefore
For people
associated with nuclear industry, Irradiation is seen in a positive
light, because the harm is not that serious
As compared to
contamination which is an alarming situation and so is considered
negative.
irradiation is
associated with strength And contamination with decay because, for workers
working in nuclear sector , being contaminated is more dangerous than being
irradiated. So, linking a radiation with strength Because of and positivity, is
just a matter of comparison.
the negative
connotations attached with contamination, any contaminated person is
marginalised and ostracised at various levels on vasious aspects.
For instance, Contaminated
men are discriminated in their families , because everyone fears that they
might get infected from that contaminated men.
both
irradiation and contamination, show us that nuclear energy , nuclear industry
and working there has its own drawbacks. but workers working they have to
face it albeit knowing that too much exposure of sources of irrdiation or
contamination , will lead to death. But to be in the job or in the nuclear
industry, either they face it directly with braveness
or they
try to avoid it - without thinking about it, like female technicians do. And
in both the methods , They are just trying to deny the danger of
radioactivity that threatens people. They are just trying to bear the
burden of fear that is implicit in the job.
The Medallions of the Nuclear Industries
The idea of
bracing oneself for danger in the daily employment leads the worker to provoke
an incident. This is because until he becomes a victim of an incident he had
not received his initiation which would transform him psychologically as well
as
biologically
causing him to advance from man to superman. Thus, Going to nuclear setting is
compared to an initiary process marking the passage from one world to another.
To sum up, zonabend states that the job at nuclear industry
is not as easy as it seems to be. Workers work their daily , Even
after knowing that they might get irradiated they might get contaminated. This
Show that the real picture of nuclear industry is very different from the one
which we always think of.
(add Case study of Bhopal gas tragedy)
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