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State-of-the-Art of Occupational Safety and Health in UK
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State-of-the-Art of Occupational Safety and Health in UK

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Occupational Safety and Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2023) | Viewed by 12126

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Andrew Watterson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
Interests: occupational health and safety; environmental health; health impact assessments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Matthias Beck

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department Management and Marketing, University College Cork, T12 K8AF Cork, Ireland
Interests: risk and risk management; health management; public private partnership; public sector management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Challenges to occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom have been compounded globally by the COVID-19 pandemic, but this has also highlighted the link between worker health and safety and public health. In the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northerin Ireland), occupational health and safety is affected by Brexit, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union that provided the health and safety framework within which the UK government, employers, and trade unions operated. This Special Issue welcomes the submission of papers on UK health and safety challenges and drivers from any discipline, including allied health professionals and health and safety practitioners. Geographic, historical, and occupational comparisons are especially welcome. Topics could relate to regulatory, organisational, technical, methodological, or clinical themes. Papers might focus on policy, epidemiology, occupational hygiene, ergonomics, occupational medicine, or risk assessment and management. Of particular interest would be papers that shed light on how COVID-19 has, or has not, altered the occupational health and safety terrain, how occupational health and safety research, regulation, and practice are functioning in a post-Brexit world or plan to do so, and how socio-economic disparities in occupational health and safety are being addressed.

Prof. Dr. Andrew Watterson
Prof. Dr. Matthias Beck
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • UK
  • health
  • safety
  • policy
  • practice
  • regulation
  • equity
  • COVID-19
  • Brexit

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 345 KiB  
Article
Health and Safety Reps in COVID-19—Representation Unleashed?
by Sian Moore, Minjie Cai, Chris Ball and Matt Flynn
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(8), 5551; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085551 - 18 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1461
Abstract
The paper explores the role of UK union health and safety representatives and changes to representative structures governing workplace and organisational Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) during COVID-19. It draws upon a survey of 648 UK Trade Union Congress (TUC) Health and Safety [...] Read more.
The paper explores the role of UK union health and safety representatives and changes to representative structures governing workplace and organisational Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) during COVID-19. It draws upon a survey of 648 UK Trade Union Congress (TUC) Health and Safety (H&S) representatives, as well as case studies of 12 organisations in eight key sectors. The survey indicates expanded union H&S representation, but only half of the respondents reported H&S committees in their organisations. Where formal representative mechanisms existed, they provided the basis for more informal day-to-day engagement between management and the union. However, the present study suggests that the legacy of deregulation and the absence of organisational infrastructures meant that the autonomous collective representation of workers’ interests over OHS, independent of structures, was crucial to risk prevention. While joint regulation and engagement over OHS was possible in some workplaces, OHS in the pandemic has been contested. Contestation challenges pre-COVID-19 scholarship suggestingthat H&S representatives had been captured by management in the context of unitarist practice. The tension between union power and the wider legal infrastructure remains salient. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art of Occupational Safety and Health in UK)
14 pages, 838 KiB  
Article
An Exploratory Study of Beryllium and UK Soft Touch Regulation: An Enduring Example of Weaknesses of UK Occupational Health and Safety Governance
by Andrew Watterson and Matthias Beck
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12771; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912771 - 06 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1710
Abstract
Smart regulation, better regulation, responsive regulation, business-friendly regulation and voluntary ‘self-regulation’ have their origins deeply embedded in UK policies in the 20th century. Their aim generally is to reduce workplace regulatory obligations on employers. This can overtly or covertly undermine efforts to improve [...] Read more.
Smart regulation, better regulation, responsive regulation, business-friendly regulation and voluntary ‘self-regulation’ have their origins deeply embedded in UK policies in the 20th century. Their aim generally is to reduce workplace regulatory obligations on employers. This can overtly or covertly undermine efforts to improve working conditions. In the UK, the historical control and regulation of beryllium (a toxic metal used in industry) illustrates this problem, and as we illustrate through an exploratory analysis of original archival material and official publications. Soft touch regulation of the metal beryllium was developed within the UK semiconductor industry when tighter controls were proposed in the 1960s and 1970s. Historical industry, government and science responses to health and safety information about beryllium provide important lessons for current debates on occupational health and safety. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art of Occupational Safety and Health in UK)
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21 pages, 371 KiB  
Article
The Escalating Crisis of Health and Safety Law Enforcement in Great Britain: What Does Brexit Mean?
by Andrew Moretta, Steve Tombs and David Whyte
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 3134; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19053134 - 07 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2518
Abstract
This paper explores occupational safety and health regulation in Great Britain following the UK’s exit from the European Union. In particular, the paper focuses on the credibility of regulatory enforcement. The prospects raised by the UK’s exit from the European Union have long [...] Read more.
This paper explores occupational safety and health regulation in Great Britain following the UK’s exit from the European Union. In particular, the paper focuses on the credibility of regulatory enforcement. The prospects raised by the UK’s exit from the European Union have long been part of a free-market fantasy—even obsession—of right-wing politicians and their ideologues. As the UK’s relationship with the EU is recalibrated, this will present right-wing opportunists with a new rationale for undermining health and safety law and enforcement. The paper uses empirical evidence of Great Britain’s record in health and safety law enforcement to evidence a drift towards an extreme form of self-regulation. It deepens this evidence with a detailed analysis of key international policy debates, arguing that Brexit now raises an imminent threat of the UK entering a ‘race to the bottom’. The paper concludes that the 2021 EU/UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement may enable the UK to evade its formal health and safety responsibilities under the treaty because of the lack of the prospect of significant retaliatory ‘rebalancing’ measures. Should minimal health and safety requirements cease to apply in the post-EU era, then the UK Government will be free to pursue a system of self-regulation that will allow health and safety standards to fall even further behind those of other developed economies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art of Occupational Safety and Health in UK)
24 pages, 579 KiB  
Article
Homeworking, Well-Being and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Diary Study
by Stephen James Wood, George Michaelides, Ilke Inceoglu, Elizabeth T. Hurren, Kevin Daniels and Karen Niven
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(14), 7575; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147575 - 16 Jul 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5387
Abstract
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments encouraged or mandated homeworking wherever possible. This study examines the impact of this public health initiative on homeworkers’ well-being. It explores if the general factors such as job autonomy, demands, social support and work–nonwork [...] Read more.
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments encouraged or mandated homeworking wherever possible. This study examines the impact of this public health initiative on homeworkers’ well-being. It explores if the general factors such as job autonomy, demands, social support and work–nonwork conflict, which under normal circumstances are crucial for employees’ well-being, are outweighed by factors specific to homeworking and the pandemic as predictors of well-being. Using data from four-week diary studies conducted at two time periods in 2020 involving university employees in the UK, we assessed five factors that may be associated with their well-being: job characteristics, the work–home interface, home location, the enforced nature of the homeworking, and the pandemic context. Multi-level analysis confirms the relationship between four of the five factors and variability in within-person well-being, the exception being variables connected to the enforced homeworking. The results are very similar in both waves. A smaller set of variables explained between-person variability: psychological detachment, loneliness and job insecurity in both periods. Well-being was lower in the second than the first wave, as loneliness increased and the ability to detach from work declined. The findings highlight downsides of homeworking, will be relevant for employees’ and employers’ decisions about working arrangements post-pandemic, and contribute to the debate about the limits of employee well-being models centred on job characteristics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art of Occupational Safety and Health in UK)
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