"Why I Became an Occupational Physician" and Other Occupational Health Stories

"Why I Became an Occupational Physician" and Other Occupational Health Stories brings together an edited collection of the short articles published in the journal Occupational Medicine between 2002 and 2018. The articles originally appeared as 'fillers', commissioned to literally 'fill' the blank spaces at the end of the main scientific papers, but they soon became a feature in their own right. Written by doctors working in occupational medicine and health, the fillers began as a series of pieces exploring the varied and often surprising reasons why the individuals chose to pursue this unique speciality, whether it was a natural career move, triggered by a specific event, or stumbled upon by chance. Over time the articles became much broader in their scope and the journal began to attract pieces from some brilliant writers: Mike Gibson, John Challenor, Nerys Williams, and of course the superlative Anthony Seaton, amongst many others. Each article offers something different: a peek into history, a humorous adventure, a quiet musing, or a thought-provoking observation, but all are tied together under the umbrella of occupational medicine, a speciality that is often little known or understood in the wider world of medicine. This book brings together over 15 years' worth of fascinating and diverse articles into one volume for the first time, giving a rare insight into the world of the occupational physician.

John Hobson is a practising consultant occupational physician. He was the honorary Editor of the journal Occupational Medicine between 2002 and 2018. He holds academic appointments in occupational medicine at Keele, Manchester, and Birmingham Universities.

- 1: Bill Gunnyeon: Why I became an occupational physician... - 2: Jean Spencer Felton: Those extra moments - 3: Anon: One hundred years of the health and safety laboratory 1 - 4: A.C. Mackay: Fifty years ago: Raynaud's phenomenon in a pneumatic tool worker - 5: Anthony Seaton: Thoughts on lawnmower blades - 6: C.A. Veys: Why I became an occupational physician... - 7: Graham Hardy: Thackrah's grave - 8: Mike Gibson: The celebration of Saint Monday - 9: John Hobson: Sócrates - 10: Stewart Lloyd: Why I became an occupational physician... - 11: Anon: 'Working Lives' by John Darwell - 12: J.J.A. Blakely: Fifty years ago: Harmful noise - 13: J.A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 1: Solvents - 14: Katherine M. Venables: Why I became an occupational physician... - 15: G.O. Hughes: Fifty years ago: A mobile consulting room (report on a demonstration given at the Annual Provincial Meeting of the Association, Manchester July 1954) - 16: John Challenor: Excellent credit rating - 17: Anthony Seaton: Two words and a man - 18: John Sorrell: Why I became an occupational physician... - 19: Anon: The Hawthorne effect - 20: Anon: Fifty years ago: Free enterprise and public service - 21: John Hobson: Born to run? - 22: Peter Verow: Why I became an occupational physician... - 23: L.G. Norman: Fifty years ago: Book review: 'The diseases of occupations' by Donald Hunter - 24: Mike Gibson: Health and safety legislation - 25: Nerys Williams: How one pre-employment decision nearly changed the world order - 26: Susan A. Robson: Why I became an occupational physician... - 27: Hanaa Sayed: DDA 1995, 2005, or 605? - 28: D. Malcolm: Fifty years ago: The work of the Research Advisory Committee - 29: Anthony Seaton: I want never gets - 30: David Wright: Why I became an occupational physician... - 31: Andy Slovak: Why I became a second-hand bookseller: Part 1 - 32: J. A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 2: New job - 33: John Hobson: The oldest sick note - 34: Joseph L. Kearns: Why I became an occupational physician... - 35: Andy Slovak: Why I became a second-hand bookseller: part 2 - 36: W. M. Dixon: Fifty years ago: The first group occupational health service in Scotland - 37: Mike Gibson: I learned (a bit) about aviation medicine from that - 38: Raymond Agius: Why I became an occupational physician... - 39: Naomi Brecker: Occupational health in India - 40: John Challenor: A bit like turtles - 41: Anthony Seaton: On tenterhooks - 42: D. Coggon: Why I became an occupational physician... - 43: Naomi Brecker and Barbara Wren: Coming to the end of the road in occupational health: Lessons from cancer care - 44: A.W. W. Robinson: Fifty years ago: The medical officer of health and the small workplace - 45: John Hobson: The human spirit level - 46: R. Ian McCallum: Why I became an occupational physician... - 47: David Walker: A close friend - 48: J.T. Mets: Occupational hazard of rubber tapping - 49: J. A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 3: The Birdman of Linbridge - 50: Mike Gibson: Hunting canaries - 51: William Dixon: Why I became an occupational physician... - 52: James Preston: Why I now watch my step as an occupational physician - 53: R. Viner: Fifty years ago: Occupational health: An employer's view - 54: Anthony Seaton: Clinical research - 55: David Snashall: Why I became an occupational physician... - 56: Ken Addley and Paul McKeagney: The RMS Titanic - 57: Kenneth Lee: Fifty years ago: Assessment off the ability to work of the unfit - 58: Kirstie Gibson: In search of the black stuff - 59: John Hobson: Back to school - 60: Anthony Seaton: Billy Liddell - 61: Ann Fingret: Why I became an occupational physician... - 62: B. H. Pentney: Fifty years ago: General practice and industrial medicine in the United States - 63: Nerys Williams: Every cloud has a silver lining... even a failed private practice - 64: Ralph Aston: Why I became an occupational physician... - 65: Mike Gibson: A memorable patient - 66: Anthony Seaton: The strange case of Irving Selikoff - 67: Morris Cooke: Why I became an occupational physician... - 68: Vanessa Hebditch: Why I am doing the GCC again - 69: Anon: Fifty years ago: The appointed factory doctor - 70: John Hobson: Mesothelioma - 71: Ian S. Symington: Why I became an occupational physician... - 72: Mike McKiernan: Sydney 2000 - 73: J. A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 4: Vanadium - 74: John Challenor: Directly read - 75: Peter Harries: Why I became an occupational physician... - 76: Richard Colman: A leaky vessel - 77: H. Beric Wright: Fifty years ago: Parameters of occupational health in America - 78: Anthony Seaton: More genetics for medical students? - 79: Monty Brill: Why I became an occupational physician... - 80: Arthur Eakins: Charmed to be sure - 81: Mike Gibson: A practical demonstration of Boyle's Law - 82: John Hobson: Lest we forget - 83: Andy Slovak: Why I became an occupational physician... - 84: Sabine Wicker and Paul Grime: Are you ready for the EU Sharps Directive 2010/32/EU? - 85: Roy Goulding: Fifty years ago: A poisons information service - 86: J. A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 5: Drivers - 87: H. Engel: Why I became an occupational physician... - 88: John D. Meyer: The ex-servicemen's maternity ward - 89: Nerys Williams: Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress - 90: Anthony Seaton: Those two impostors - 91: Athol Hepburn: Why I became an occupational physician... - 92: Hans Engel: An elusive occupational toxin - 93: Anon: Fifty years ago: The proposed new constitution - 94: John Hobson: Armadillo - 95: Tim Carter: Why I became an occupational physician... - 96: Desmond O'Neill: Learning from the Vikings: Hávamál and occupational rehabilitation - 97: Mike Gibson: Early thoughts on g - 98: John Challenor: Employers: Aren't they all the same? - 99: Roy Archibald: Why I became an occupational physician ... - 100: Syed Nasir: The rewards of rural training in the Scottish Highlands - 101: Anon: Fifty years ago: Genesis of a new society - 102: Anthony Seaton: The mill reek in 1754 - 103: Alan Bailey: Why I didn't become an occupational physician... - 104: Gordon Shepherd: Time to ditch occupational health - 105: B.S. Baker: Fifty years ago: A new portable hand operated external cardiac compressor - 106: J. A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 6: Sniffing about - 107: Anon: One hundred years of the health and safety laboratory 2 - 108: John Hobson: All tied up - 109: Simon E. Asogwa: Why I became an occupational physician... - 110: Paul Grime: Fashion victims - 111: Anon: One hundred years of the health and safety laboratory 3 - 112: Anon: Fifty years ago: Malaises and discontents - 113: Clodagh Cashman: Why I became an occupational physician... - 114: D. Linn Holness and Gary Liss: The Ontario workplace health champions program - 115: Mike Gibson: Going through the motions - 116: Anthony Seaton: How to learn science - 117: Timothy P. Finnegan: Why I became an occupational physician... - 118: Emma Hirons: Hammerfest: Occupational medicine at 70° north - 119: R.W. Howell: Fifty years ago: Height, weight, and obesity in an industrial population - 120: John Hobson: The raincoat sign - 121: W. Glass: Why I became an occupational physician... - 122: Karen Coomer: The art of observation - 123: Kirstie Gibson: Worst job ads from history: Situation vacant plague doctor - 124: David Walker: The adjudicator - 125: Anthony Seaton: Stones - 126: Peter Verow: Why I became a part-time occupational physician - 127: Dorothy Linn Holness: A multidisciplinary clinic for occupational disease - 128: Anon: Fifty years ago: The teaching of occupational medicine to undergraduate medical students - 129: William R. Jenkinson: Why I became an occupational physician... - 130: John Storrs: Jaw ache: An occupational hazard? - 131: Nerys Williams: What clinicians should look for in health and lifestyle apps - 132: John Hobson: Mellifluous - 133: Ira Madan: Why I became an occupational physician... - 134: Anon: One hundred years of the health and safety laboratory 4 - 135: Dianne Baxendine: Slum clinics - 136: John Rich: Fifty years ago: Laser hazards - 137: Anthony Seaton: A sovereign remedy to all diseases - 138: Henry N. Goodall: Why I became an occupational physician... - 139: Paul Grime: Fashion victims campaign: Responses from clothing retailers - 140: Mike Gibson: What's in a name? - 141: J.A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 7: Aromatherapy - 142: David Fishwick: Why I became a respiratory physician with an occupational interest - 143: Paul Williams: An unusual occupation with novel hazards - 144: A. O. Bech, M. D. Kipling, and W. E. Zundel: Fifty years ago: Emery pneumoconiosis - 145: John Hobson: Piles - 146: Giuliano Franco: Why I became an occupational physician... - 147: Eva Baranyiová: Philosophical transactions: 350 years of publishing at the Royal Society - 148: Mike Gibson: Occupational histories - 149: Anthony Seaton: Risk assessments: good and bad - 150: John Aldridge: Why I became an occupational physician... - 151: Eric Altschuler: PTSD induced by the trauma of subordinates: The Robert Gates syndrome - 152: F. H. Tyrer: Fifty years ago: Problems of a group occupational health service in Lancashire - 153: John Challenor: Working in the shadow of a thin blue broken line - 154: Jerry Beach: Why I became an occupational physician... - 155: Tomoyuki Kawada: New stress check programme in Japan's workplace - 156: Anthony Seaton: Jelly beans and jumbo jets - 157: Nerys Williams: Society of Occupational Medicine golden jubilee travelling fellowship 2017 - 158: John Hobson: Shaking all over - 159: Robert Willcox: Why I became an occupational physician... - 160: Stephen Deacon: Preparing for retirement - 161: Anthony Ryle: Fifty years ago: The scope of occupational medicine in a university health service - 162: Anthony Seaton: A blue patient and exploding factories - 163: Malcolm Gatley: Why I became an occupational physician... - 164: Folashade Adenekan: Golden jubilee travel fellowship 2016 - 165: Mike Gibson: Which way is up? - 166: J.A. Hunter: Tales of Kieran: The occupational physician's odyssey 8: The HAVS and the Have Nots - 167: David Walker: Don Valley festival champions - 168: Ian Reid-Entwistle: Why I became an occupational physician... - 169: Timothy Finnegan: Pegasus at Wanlockhead - 170: Anon: One hundred years of the health and safety laboratory 5 - 171: Joan M. Davies: Fifty years ago: Searching for occupational cancer risks - 172: John Hobson: Ready, fire, aim! - 173: Chris Sharp: Why I became an occupational physician - 174: Frank Klont: Demoralization and stress we can all help? - 175: Kirstie Gibson: Keeping hat-making alive in Luton - 176: Anthony Seaton: The silent killer - 177: Joshua Devonport: Why I might become an occupational physician - 178: Timo Hannu: Occupational eye hazard of renaissance sculptor Benvenuto Cellini and the recurrent theme of pigeon's blood - 179: G.L. Leathart: Fifty years ago: Pulmonary function tests in asbestos workers - 180: Mike Gibson: It's not all hot air - 181: Douglas Scarisbrick: Why I became an occupational physician... - 182: Arun Chind: Visit the workplace? What's wrong with it? - 183: Nerys Williams: Why doctors need to be careful with social media - 184: Anon: One hundred years of the health and safety laboratory 6 - 185: John Hobson: I never knew - 186: Arun Peter Chind: Why I became an occupational physician... - 187: Eric Teasdale: The early working life of one occupational physician in the 1970s - 188: Elizabeth Mitchell: Fifty years ago: The shopworker - 189: Anthony Seaton: Neurological memories - 190: Karen Coomer: Consequences of OH alert syndrome - 191: P.J. Taylor: Fifty years ago: Sickness absence resistance - 192: Mike Gibson: More hot air - 193: Nerys Williams: Internet addiction: Caught in the web - 194: John Challenor: Hazard, risk, and a bullet - 195: Mike Gibson: Anti-smoking legislation - 196: John Garnett: Fifty years ago: Productivity, morale, and occupational medicine - 197: John Hobson: Corbett McDonald - 198: Anthony Seaton: Shale is here again