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The regulation of health and safety in Britain: from old Labour to new Labour
Author(s) -
Beck Matthias,
Woolfson Charles
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
industrial relations journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.525
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1468-2338
pISSN - 0019-8692
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2338.00145
Subject(s) - work (physics) , labour law , labour economics , political science , sociology , economics , engineering , mechanical engineering
The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA 1974), passed twenty‐five years ago, has been hailed as a significant advance for organised labour and a model for modern work‐place regulation. This article argues that, contrary to conventional interpretations, the making of the Act was dominated by business interests. We suggest that the Act’s emphasis on self‐regulation and goal‐setting made it vulnerable to deregu‐latory initiatives, which are unlikely to be reversed by new Labour in the foreseeable future.