About CACOSH
CACOSH Overview
Over 30 years ago, occupational medicine physicians joined activist labor leaders to address the carnage in Chicago's work places. Too many workers were being killed and crippled on the job. They formed CACOSH to advocate for the right of all workers to safe and healthy workplaces.
Today the need for an aggressive health and safety movement is greater than ever. New technologies and cutthroat competitiveness put new stresses on workplace safety. Resources devoted to health and safety have declined with the strength of the union movement. Meanwhile, cuts in government funding have crippled efforts to enforce standards and corporations are aggressively rolling back environmental, health and safety protections. CACOSH is trying to push back!
CACOSH unites doctors, health and safety professionals, attorneys, unions, and individual workers. We serve labor unions, community organizations, and union and non-union workers by providing education, information, advocacy, and strategic advice. CACOSH was the first of the over twenty COSH groups in the United States today. The groups it has spawned span the nation from the East Coast to California, even penetrating the right-to-work states in the South and reaching north to Alaska.
A short pamphlet about CACOSH is viewable here. [screen optimized; 475-kb pdf]
A version of the pamphlet optimized for printing is here [682-kb pdf; (print settings: letter, portrait, 2 pages per sheet, duplex-long side; then fold in half for an "instant" pamphlet)]
Besides education and training, CACOSH has been active in:
- Activism: CACOSH was instrumental in the drive to enact Right-to-Know legislation and other struggles.
- Working with special populations: CACOSH has brought health and safety expertise to diverse groups through the Womens' Project and outreach into the Latino community.
- Organizing: CACOSH has helped unions to form Health and Safety committees.