Work and health in Mexico.

It is suggested that the relationship between work and health and disease traditionally has been analyzed in a limited way in that work has been considered only as a situational factor which puts workers in contact with environmental risks. It is proposed that work is an essential category for the understanding of disease, if one tries to study disease not as an individual biological phenomenon but as a social (and biological) phenomenon that occurs to the collectivity. Furthermore, it is suggested that the relation between disease and work should be analyzed in terms of the elements of the work process, understood as a technical and social process, and the capacity of different social groups to realize their interests. Reviewing the general trends of development of the work process in Mexico, it is shown that a transformation in the causes of death among men of working age has occurred during the last 20 years and there has been an increase in the number and the rate of work accidents and occupational diseases, despite a significant under-registration factor. Finally, the labor legislation on health and safety is contrasted with its actual implementation. This problem is interpreted in the context of traditional Mexican trade unionism. It is shown that trade unions which have become democratic and have gained their independence have struggled more vigorously on occupational health and safety issues.