The Hawk's Nest Incident: America's Worst Industrial Disaster

By Martin Cherniack

Book Overview

The worst occupational health disaster in American history occurred nearly fifty years ago when hundreds of men died and over a thousand fell ill from acute silicosis contracted during the building of Union Carbide's Hawk's Nest Tunnel through Gauley Mountain in West Virginia. Presenting startling new evidence based on his extensive examination of local historical material, survivor interviews, and county death records, Dr. Martin Cherniack tells the story of that all-but-forgotten event and clarifies what happened and how the issue was resolved.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300035225
• ISBN13: 9780300035223
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Incredible insight into how companies handle problems

This book started me on a long research project which ultimately lead to my MA thesis. Companies so frequently avoid dealing with employee safety and medical problems that there is a discernible pattern. Cherniak's dedication to fact-finding is inspirational. The story is spell-binding and frightening. While the Hawk's Nest issue dates back 70 years, the situation exists today - companies still disregard the needs of employees and government proteciton agencies still avoid meaningful action.

This book provides the facts on a "forgotten" tragedey.

As a safety and health practioner whose strongest ultra specific technical competency is in the area of respiratory protection, I was searching for this book for several weeks. I wanted to know the particulars of how several hundred workers could die within a few months - on a jobsite - and no one go to jail for such actions. I was also seeking this book for inclusion in evidence on several matters soon being brought before this country's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The book is the perfect length, as I completed it in about five evenings. Its style is very readable and offers its reader the perfect blend of research rolled into a documentary format. Because I have devoted countless hours at the National Library of Medicine, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, etc. I fully appreciate the hundreds - if not thousands - of hours Dr. Cherniak devoted to research. How many boxes in musty court record archives did he examine ? Read the book's bibliography and you will have some degree of understanding of his enormous effort. Better yet, track down the original (primary) sources and read these as well. The book provides an excellent analysis of the United States corporation involved in the project. For this reason alone, it is well worth reading.