Regulating Health and Safety in Capitalist Workplaces: History, Practices, and Prospects

Author ORCID Identifier

Eric Tucker: 0000-0002-9958-4311

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

8-21-2024

Source Publication

Tucker, Eric, 'Regulating Health and Safety in Capitalist Workplaces: History, Practices, and Prospects', in Guy Davidov, Brian Langille, and Gillian Lester (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Law of Work (2024; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Aug. 2024) https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192870360.013.32

Keywords

occupational health and safety regulation; OHS; OHS history; political economy; self-regulation; enforcement; worker participation; precarious employment

Abstract

Occupational health and safety (OHS) regulation sits atop structures of risk creation integral to uneven processes of capitalist accumulation. It is largely shaped by the struggles of working people to limit the harms that otherwise would be inflicted upon them. This chapter examines OHS regulation in advanced capitalist countries, with a concentration on the English-speaking world. It outlines the broad lines of its historical development, beginning from the rise of industrial capitalism through to the first decades of the twenty-first century and the creation of new modes of regulation, often referred to as regulated self-regulation. It then reviews debates over the performance of this mode of regulation, including the relation between self-regulation and state enforcement, the practice of state enforcement, and the efficacy of worker participation rights. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of emerging OHS challenges to the regulatory regime, including precarious employment.

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