Two case studies of the successful use of supply chains to support the effective management of health and safety on constructions sites are analysed to identify the factors supporting this success. The analysis reveals that a combination of external regulatory pressures and an industry structure facilitative of the establishment and implementation of ‘good practice’ played a crucial role in the outcomes achieved. It is concluded therefore that while the findings lend weight to policy initiatives to utilise the power dynamics in supply chains to protect working conditions, they also suggest that surrounding institutional and industrial contexts exert a potentially crucial influence over their effectiveness. Consequently, it is further argued that such initiatives need to be responsively shaped to them.
AyresIBraithwaiteJ (1992) Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2.
BaldwinRBlackJ (2007) Really Responsive Regulation. LSE Law, Society and Economy Working Paper 15/2007. London: LSE.
3.
BoltHMHaslamRSGibbAGWatersonP (2012) Pre-conditioning for Success: Characteristics and Factors Ensuring a Safe Build for the Olympic Park. Research Report RR955. Sudbury: HSE Books.
4.
BraithwaiteJDrahosP (2000) Global Business Regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5.
BrownlieN (2012) Trade Union Membership 2011. London: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
6.
ClarkeL (2006) Valuing labour. Building Research and Information34(3): 246–256.
7.
CunninghamIHearneGJamesP (2013) Voluntary organisations and marketisation: A dynamic of employment degradation. Industrial Relations Journal44(2): 171–188.
8.
DawsonSWillmanPBamfordMClintonA (1988) Safety at Work: The Limits of Self-regulation. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
9.
DeakinSKoukiadakiA (2009) Governance processes, labour-management partnership and employee voice in the construction of Heathrow Terminal 5. Industrial Law Journal38(4): 365–389.
10.
DiMaggioPJPowellWW (1983) The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organisational fields. American Sociological Review48(2): 147–160.
11.
Donaghy Report (2009) One Death is Too Many: Inquiry into the Underlying Causes of Construction Fatal Accidents. London: Report to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2000) Occupational Health and Safety in Marketing and Procurement. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
14.
EwingK (2006) Global Rights in Global Companies: Going for Gold at the UK Olympics. London: Institute of Employment Rights.
15.
FordeCMacKenzieRRobinsonA (2009) Built on shifting sands: Changes in employers’ use of contingent labour in the UK construction sector. Journal of Industrial Relations51(5): 653–667.
16.
GereffiGHumphreyJSturgeonT (2005) The governance of global value chains. Review of International Political Economy12(1): 78–104.
17.
GibbonsS (1998) International Labour Rights: New Methods of Enforcement. London: Institute of Employment Rights.
18.
GjolbergM (2009) The origin of corporate social responsibility: Global forces or national legacies?Socio-Economic Review7(4): 605–637.
19.
GriffithsAPhillipsN (2001) The influence of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 upon the procurement and management of small building works. Construction Management and Economics19: 533–540.
20.
GunninghamNJohnstoneR (1999) Regulating Workplace Safety: Systems and Sanctions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
21.
House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee (2008) The Role of the Health and Safety Executive and the Health and Safety Commission in Regulating Workplace Health and Safety. Third Report Session 2007/08, Vol. 1. London: The Stationery Office.
22.
HSE (2009) Phase 1 Report: Underlying Causes of Construction Fatal Accidents – A Comprehensive Review of Recent Work to Consolidate and Summarise Existing Knowledge. Sudbury: HSE Books.
23.
HSE (2010) Construction Division Plan of Work 2011/2012. Sudbury: HSE Books.
24.
HSE (2011) Work Related Injuries and Ill Health. Sudbury: HSE Books.
25.
HSE (2012) Annual Report and Accounts 2011/12. London: The Stationery Office.
26.
HSE (2013) Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13. London: The Stationery Office.
27.
JamesPJohnstoneRQuinlanMWaltersD (2007) Regulating supply chains to improve health and safety. Industrial Law Journal36(2): 163–187.
28.
JamesSLloydC (2008) Too much pressure? Retailer power and occupational health and safety in the food processing industry. Work, Employment and Society22(4): 1–18.
29.
JohnstoneRMayhewCQuinlanM (2001) Outsourcing risk? The regulation of health and safety where subcontractors are employed. Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal22(3–5): 351–394.
30.
KochanTSmithMWellsJRebitzerJ (1994) Human resource strategies and contingent workers: The case of safety in the petrochemical industry. Human Resource Management33(1): 55–77.
31.
LathamM (1994) Constructing the Team: Joint Review of Procurement and Contractual Arrangements in the UK Construction Industry. London: HMSO.
32.
LockeRFei QinFBrauseA(Does monitoring improve labor standards? Lessons from Nike. Industrial and Labor Relations Review61(1): 3–31.
33.
LockeRRissingBTimeaP (2013) Complements or substitutes? Private codes, state regulation and the enforcement of labour standards in global supply chains. British Journal of Industrial Relations51(3): 519–552.
34.
MacKenzieRFordeCRobinsonA. (2010) Contingent work in the UK and Sweden: Evidence from the construction industry. Journal of Industrial Relations41(6): 603–621.
35.
MarchingtonMVincentS (2004) Analysing the influences of institutional, organizational and interpersonal forces in shaping inter-organizational relations. Journal of Management Studies41(6): 1029–1056.
36.
MayerFGereffiG (2010) Regulation and economic globalisation: Prospects and limits of private governance. Business and Politics12(3): 1–25.
37.
MayhewCQuinlanM (1997) Subcontracting and occupational health and safety in the residential building industry. Industrial Relations Journal28(3): 192–205.
38.
National Audit Office (2001) Modernising Construction: Report by the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral, HC87, Session 2000–01. London: NAO.
39.
NossarIJohnstoneRQuinlanM (2004) Regulating supply-chains to address occupational health and safety problems associated with precarious employment: The case of home-based clothing workers in Australia. Australian Journal of Labour Law17(2): 137–160.
40.
O’RourkeD (2003) Outsourcing regulation: Analysing non-governmental systems of labour standards and monitoring. The Policy Studies Journal31: 1–29.
41.
QuinlanMBohleP (2008) Under pressure, out of control or home alone? Reviewing research and policy debates on the OHS effects of outsourcing and home-based work. International Journal of Health Services38(3): 489–525.
42.
RebitzerJ (1995) Job safety and contract workers in the petrochemical industry. Industrial Relations34(1): 40–57.
43.
Rodríguez-GaravitoCA (2005) Global governance and labor rights: Codes of conduct and antisweatshop struggles in global apparel factories in Mexico and Guatemala. Politics and Society33(2): 203–233.
RuberyJCookeFEarnshawJMarchingtonM (2003) Inter-organizational relations and employment in a multi-employer environment. British Journal of Industrial Relations41(2): 265–289.
46.
ShortJLToffelMW (2010) Making self-regulation more than merely symbolic: The critical role of the legal environment. Administrative Science Quarterly55(3): 361–396.
47.
StandingG (2011) The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
48.
TeubenerG (1993) Law as Autopoietic System. Oxford: Blackwell.
49.
TombsSWhyteD (2013) The myths and realities of deterrence in workplace safety regulation. British Journal of Criminology53: 746–763.
50.
UCATT (Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians) (2008) The Evasion Economy: False Self-employment in the UK Construction Industry. London: UCATT.
51.
VogelD (2008) Private global business regulation. Annual Review of Political Science11: 261–282.
52.
WaltersDJamesP (2011) What motivates employers to establish preventive management arrangements within supply chains?Safety Science49(7): 988–994.
53.
WaltersDNicholsT (2007) Worker Representation and Workplace Health and Safety. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
54.
WaltersDWadsworthESampsonHJamesP (2012) The Limits of Influence: The Role of Supply Chains in Influencing Health and Safety Management in Two Sectors. Leicester: Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.
55.
WeilD (2009) Rethinking the regulation of vulnerable work in the USA: A sector based approach. Journal of Industrial Relations51(3): 411–430.
56.
WeilDMalloC (2007) Regulating labour standards via supply chains: Combining public/private interventions to improve workplace compliance. British Journal of Industrial Relations45(4): 791–814.
57.
WrightCBrownW (2013) The effectiveness of socially sustainable sourcing mechanisms: Assessing the prospects of a new form of joint regulation. Industrial Relations Journal44(1): 20–37.
58.
WrightCLundJ (2003) Supply chain rationalization: Retailer dominance and labour flexibility in the Australian food and grocery industry. Work, Employment and Society17(1): 137–157.
