FROM EMERGENT TO INNOVATIVE RISKS IN FRANCE: SPECIFICATION OR STANDARDIZATION OF THE OCCUPATIONAL RISKS OF NANOMATERIALS?

Abstract

The process by which occupational risks in industry and manufacturing emerge has been established as a subject of research in sociology. This often-contentious process draws on toxicological findings that may or may not be accepted as established, and on epidemiological observations of pathologies. Logically enough, there has been little interest in the toxicological risks of innovative industrial technologies, due to a lack of specific cases. With the development of new technologies such as nanomaterials, the question of risks has been formally raised but has not been addressed in terms of clear toxicological results or epidemiological observations. My goal in this article is to introduce the notion of “innovative risk” to refer to a process of making risks a subject of research and discussion before evidence of health problems has been established. By examining how French labor administrations and occupational medicine organizations monitor such risks in companies and research laboratories, I will demonstrate a tension between, on the one hand, the acknowledged specificity of these risks, and, on the other hand, the standardization of actual oversight. This tension calls into question the ability of research on industrial occupational risks to approach and analyze innovative risks.