The changing nature of work and the regulation of health and safety

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on the challenges posed by changes in work arrangements in contemporary economies to the regulation of occupational health and safety (OHS), and on possible regulatory strategies to address those challenges. As other chapters in this book have observed, for much of the middle of the twentieth century labour law was dominated by the employment paradigm — the assumption that labour law regulated the employment relationship between an employee (full-time, part-time, casual, fixed term or continuing) and a single entity employer. By the late 1970s most OHS statutes world-wide were built around the employment paradigm. The structural changes of the past 30 years, largely in response to the challenges of globalisation and the changing demands of capital,¹ have driven major changes in work arrangements and work relationships, which, in turn, have posed ‘new’ health and safety risks to workers, in addition to new hazards from technological change.

This chapter reports on research-in-progress for an Australian Research Council funded project, Australian Supply Chain Regulation: Practical Operation and Regulatory Effectiveness, DP120103162.