The author examines some of the more recent developments in the social and political environments within which the “deregulation fetish” is crucial, but of which it remains only one element. This fetish, as part of a broader assault on the legitimacy of the external regulation of business activity, will not go away; its effects are already being felt in the context of the regulation of occupational safety in the United Kingdom. After outlining recent trends in recorded injuries in U.K. workplaces, with particular reference to manufacturing industries, the author charts the nature and effects of the social and political contexts of the work of U.K. safety regulators in the 1980s. While Thatcher governments withdrew from any direct deregulatory assault on occupational safety, what transpired was a gradual but continual undermining of the ability of these agencies to fulfill their mandated functions. The nature and effects of a new politics of deregulation are examined and this new politics is related to U.K. governmental opposition to European Union influence in domestic social policy, which stands in a symbiotic relationship with the reemergence of a sustained deregulatory discourse in the United Kingdom.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
The Guardian, May 25, 1994.
2.
CarsonW. G.HenenbergC.Social justice at the workplace: The political economy of occupational health and safety laws. Soc. Justice16: 124–140, 1989.
3.
DawsonS.Safety at Work: The Limits of Self-regulation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988.
4.
MooreR.The Price of Safety: The Market, Workers' Rights and the Law. Institute of Employment Rights, London, 1991.
5.
NicholsT.Industrial Safety in Britain and the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act: The case of manufacturing. Int. J. Sociol. Law18: 317–342, 1990.
6.
PearceF.TombsS.Class, Law and Hazards. Paper presented at Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Industrial and Environmental Hazards and Human Rights, London, November 28–December 2, 1994.
7.
Health and Safety Commission. Health and Safety Commission Annual Report 1992/93 Statistical Supplement. HSE Books, London, 1993.
8.
TombsS.Industrial injuries in British manufacturing industry. Sociol. Rev.38: 324–343, 1990.
9.
Safety and Health at Work, Report of the Committee 1970–72. Cmnd. 5034. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1972.
10.
BarrettB.JamesP.Safe systems: Past, present—and future?Indust. Law J. 17: 26–40, 1988.
11.
JamesP.The European Community: A Positive Force for UK Health and Safety Law?Institute of Employment Rights, London, 1993.
12.
FreemanS.Training: The decline and fall?The Safety Practitioner, February 1988, pp. 26–28, 1988.
13.
GrunbergL.Workplace relations in the economic crisis: A comparison of a British and a French automobile plant. Sociology20: 503–529, 1986.
14.
StowD.Safety officers fight for existence. The Safety Practitioner, January 1988, pp. 19–21.
15.
Health and Safety Commission. Health and Safety Commission Annual Report 1992/93. HSE Books, London, 1993.
16.
Health and Safety Commission. Health and Safety Commission Annual Report, 1991/92. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1992.
17.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 212: 6, 1993.
18.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 223: 2, 1994.
19.
Employment Gazette, January 1992, pp. 14–15.
20.
HughesA.Big business, small business and the “enterprise culture.” In: The Economic Legacy 1979–1992, edited by MichieJ., pp. 296–311. Academic Press, London, 1992.
21.
Health and Safety Commission. Health and Safety Statistics: Statistical Supplement to the 1993/94 Annual Report. HSE Books, London, 1994.
22.
StevensG.Workplace injury: A view from HSE's trailer to the 1990 Labour Force Survey. Employment Gazette, December 1992, pp. 621–638.
23.
KeatR.Introduction: Starship Britain or universal enterprise? In Enterprise Culture, edited by KeatR.AbercrombieN., pp. 1–17. Routledge, London, 1991.
24.
SavageS.RobinsL. (eds.). Public Policy under Thatcher. Macmillan, London, 1990.
25.
NicholsT.O'Connell-DavidsonJ.Privatisation and economism: An investigation amongst “producers” in 2 privatised public utilities in Britain. Sociol. Rev.41: 707–730, 1993.
26.
SamsonC.The three faces of privatisation. Sociology28: 79–97, 1994.
27.
ClaybrookJ.Retreat from Safety: Reagan's Attack on America's Health. Pantheon, New York, 1984.
28.
Lifting the Burden. Cmnd. 9571. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1985.
29.
Building Businesses … Not Barriers. Cmnd. 9794. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1986.
30.
Health and Safety at Work, April 1986, pp. 5–6.
31.
SniderL.The regulatory dance: Understanding reform processes in corporate crime. Int. J. Sociol. Law19: 209–236, 1991.
32.
HarrisonK.Manslaughter by breach of employment contract. Indust. Law J. 21: 31–43, 1992.
33.
SlapperG.Corporate manslaughter: An examination of the determinants of prosecutorial policy. Soc. Legal Stud. 2: 423–443, 1993.
34.
WellsC.Corporations and Criminal Responsibility. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1993.
35.
HaddenS. G.Citizen participation in environmental policy-making. In Learning From Disaster: Risk Management After Bhopal, edited by JasanoffS., pp. 91–112. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1994.
36.
DaltonA.Health and Safety: An Agenda for Change. Workers' Educational Association, London, 1991.
37.
The Guardian, August 26, 1988.
38.
BergmanD.Deaths at Work: Accidental Death or Corporate Crime. Inquest/London Hazards Centre, London, 1991.
39.
AtkinsonR.Government during the Thatcher years. In Public Policy under Thatcher, edited by SavageS.RobinsL., pp. 8–22. Macmillan, London, 1990.
40.
NapierB.CCT, Market Testing and Employment Rights. Institute of Employment Rights, London, 1993.
41.
The Times (London), November 1992.
42.
Health and Safety Commission. Plan of Work for 1993/94 and Beyond. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1993.
43.
Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists. Health and Safety: Keep it Together: Deregulation, Market Testing and Contracting Out—The Impact of Government Policies on the Health and Safety Executive. Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists, London, 1993.
44.
DawsonS.A difficult year: The HSC Annual Report 1992/93. Health and Safety Information Bull. 217: 11–15, 1994.
45.
National Audit Office. Enforcing Health and Safety Legislation in the Workplace. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1994.
46.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 218: 2, 1994.
47.
DaltonA.Lessons from the United Kingdom: Fightback on workplace hazards, 1979–1992. Int. J. Health Serv. 22: 489–495, 1992.
48.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 209, 1993.
49.
MillerK.SteeleM.Employment legislation: Thatcher and after. Industr. Rel. J.24: 224–235, 1993.
50.
MasseyA.Managing change: Politicians and experts in the age of privatisation. Government and Opposition27: 486–501, 1992.
51.
RichardsonB.Do Freer Market Economies Create Crisis Ridden Societies? Paper presented at New Avenues in Risk and Crisis Management, University of Nevada–Las Vegas, August 12–13, 1993.
52.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 215, 1993.
53.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 216, 1993.
54.
Business Deregulation Task Forces. Deregulation Task Forces Proposals for Reform. Department of Trade and Industry, London, 1994.
55.
PearceF.TombsS.Ideology, hegemony and empiricism: Compliance theories of regulation. Br. J. Criminol.30: 423–443, 1990.
56.
The Guardian, May 10, 1994.
57.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 222, 1994.
58.
FairmanR.Robens—20 years on. Health and Safety Information Bull. 221: 13–16, 1994.
59.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 207, 1993.
60.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 210, 1993.
61.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 213, 1993.
62.
Health and Safety Commission. Plan of Work for 1991/92 and Beyond. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1991.
63.
EvansS.EwingK.NolanP.Industrial relations and the British economy in the 1990s: Mrs. Thatcher's legacy. J. Manage. Stud.29: 571–589, 1992.
64.
A brief guide to the MHSW Regulations. Health and Safety Information Bull. 205: 8–15, 1993.
65.
Deregulation Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry. Regulation in the Balance: A Guide to Risk Assessment. Department of Trade and Industry, London, 1993.
66.
Deregulation Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry. Deregulation. Cutting Red Tape. Department of Trade and Industry, London, 1994.
67.
Deregulation Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry. Thinking About Regulating: A Guide to Good Regulation. Department of Trade and Industry, London, 1994.
68.
Health and Safety Information Bull. 217: 13, 1994.
69.
WaltersD.Worker Participation in Health and Safety: A European Comparison. Institute of Employment Rights, London, 1990.
70.
The Guardian, May 12, 1993.
71.
WedderburnLord. The Social Charter, European Company and Employment Rights: An Outline Agenda. Institute of Employment Rights, London, 1993.
72.
The Times (London), December 4, 1992.
73.
Health and Safety Commission. Plan of Work for 1985/86 and Beyond. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1985.
