Regulating Workplace Risks A Comparative Study of Inspection Regimes in Times of Change

'State of the art research into the state of the art of occupational health and safety management and inspection. Its authors provide a warts and all assessment of the possibilities and limits of regulating health and safety in an increasingly challenging environment. A must read for anyone concerned about improving workplace health and safety in the new world of work.' Eric Tucker, York University, Canada 'This book, long in gestation, provides a profound analysis of the challenge to labour inspection of regulating OHS through a focus on management systems. Its detailed analysis of 5 disparate countries is a treasure trove of research, providing a rich opportunity for learning across jurisdictions. It provides a masterly dissection of the increasingly complex, competitive and pared down context of globalisation and then challenges it. Recording some successes, but more shortcomings, it is food for deep reflection by inspectorates and politicians internationally.' Andrew Hale, Hastam, UK and Emeritus Professor, Delft University, The Netherlands 'Despite the complaints of neo-liberal ideologists about the "burden on business" this book argues that there is no justification for reduced regulation and regulatory surveillance of health and safety at work. Drawing on analyses of the role played by labour inspection in Australia, Sweden, Canada, France and the UK, the authors provide a timely examination of the contemporary organisational and other challenges it faces with particular reference to the inadequacy of self regulation and the rise of systematic occupational health and safety management.' Theo Nichols, Cardiff University, UK 'An impressively broad and sophisticated study of a critical aspect of OHS regulation. This is the best socio-legal analysis available of the contexts, strategies and practices involved in inspection of approaches to managing health and safety in the face of change.' Neil Gunningham, Australian National University, Canberra Regulating Workplace Risks is a study of regulatory inspection of occupational health and safety (OHS) and its management in five countries Australia, Canada (Québec), France, Sweden and the UK during a time of major change. It examines the implications of the shift from specification to process based regulation, in which attention has been increasingly directed to the means of managing OHS more systematically at a time in which a major restructuring of work has occurred in response to the globalised economy. These changes provide both the context and material for a wider discussion of the nature of regulation and regulatory inspection and their role in protecting the health, safety and well-being of workers in advanced market economies. With its comparative nature and empirical studies, this book will appeal to OHS policy makers and regulators all over the world, as well as students in the field of occupational health and safety regulation internationally.