Twenty years ago governments across Canada adopted--with much ballyhoo-new occupational health and safety laws. Consulted to Death shows how the laws failed to deliver on their promise because, despite their rhetoric, they refused to adequately confront the issue of power in the workplace.

Doug Smith is a Winnipeg writer and author of numerous books on political and social issues and Manitoba labour and political history: including Stickin’ to the Union: Local 2224 versus John Buhler, As Many Liars: The Story of the 1995 Manitoba Vote-Splitting Scandal, and Joe Zuken: Citizen and Socialist, Consulted to Death: How Canada’s Workplace Health and Safety System Fails Workers and As Many Liars: The Story of the 1995 Manitoba Vote-Rigging Scandal.

He has written for several magazines and newspapers including This Magazine, Maclean’s and the Winnipeg Sun. He has also worked as producer at CBC radio for documentaries and the CBC Radio program Ideas and worked as an editorial consultant on a number of public inquiries including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Doug Smith's profile page

For centuries workers have paid the ultimate price - their health - so that corporations could be productive, competitive and profitable. Consulted to Death presents a vivid sketch of the struggles workers and unions have waged to ensure that workers return home healthy and safe at the end of the workday. It provides an excellent context for our present struggles in health and safety, and is an inspiring read. - Lynn Bueckert, Director, Occupational Health and Safety, British Columbia Federation of LabourThis lucid and compelling book should make everyone who is concerned about workers' health and safety pause and rethink the strategies they have been pursuing. Smith does not pretend to provide all the answers, but he poses the questions that must be addressed if we are to advance the struggle for healthier, more democratic workplaces in the twenty-first century. - Eric Tucker, Osgoode Hall Law School