Outlining the economic significance of the role of global supply chains (GSCs) in the organisation of the global economy, this paper initially presents some indications of health and safety outcomes in low- and middle-income counties (LMICs) where GSCs source much of the production destined for use in advanced economies. It goes on to discuss the operational dynamics of these chains and the corporate priorities that they reflect, which, it argues, do little to improve the poor work health and safety (WHS) outcomes in LMICs. It then examines evidence for the effectiveness of various private and public regulatory strategies that are claimed to bring about improved health and safety practices and outcomes among GSC suppliers in these countries. The paper critically evaluates this evidence and argues that, while there may be some examples of effective strategies and regulatory practices in particular contexts, their overall influence remains limited. It identifies and discusses the principal reasons for these limitations and concludes that the global regulation of conditions of labour – including WHS – at the end of GSCs falls well short of universal best practice and is, more generally, insufficient to counter the economic forces working against the maintenance of adequate standards of worker protection.

In recent decades, there has been a global growth of the use of contract labour in the mining industry, primarily driven by cost/flexibility considerations. At the same time, contracting has been associated with poorer occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes across a range of industries. Drawing on published research, theses, and government reports, this paper critically reviews the available evidence on the OHS effects of contract labour in mining and the likely implications of further growth in this trend. This evidence confirms that the use of contract labour is associated with worse OHS outcomes, and that the Ten Pathways and Pressure, Disorganisation, and Regulatory failure (PDR) models are both valuable in explaining this. The latter point is confirmed by a more detailed examination of four serious mine incidents in NSW and Queensland. The paper identifies some gaps and areas for further research as well as the actions that mining companies, regulators, and unions could take to improve contractor safety. Notwithstanding the latter, the paper argues that the most effective way of improving contractor safety in mines is reducing the use of contractors overall and concentrating their activities in areas such as major shutdowns/repairs, where contractors have specialised expertise to undertake non-routine tasks. Despite oft-repeated phrases such as zero-harm and management systems, the corporate shift to using contractors is primarily driven by cost-cutting and highlights how OHS is compromised by such priorities.

Most truck drivers experience economic pressure in the form of low pay rates, no pay for non-driving work time, and long work hours. Unpaid working time, leading to low effective pay rates, encourages drivers to work excessive hours to pursue target earnings, which leads to fatigue and working time violations, and ultimately raises crash rates. This paper explores the complex relationship between regulatory violations, pay incentives, and crashes, to determine the effects of economic forces on carrier safety. We use data from 13,904 intrastate trucking companies in the United States, as well as median hourly truck driver wages from data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We find that controlling for observed regulatory violations (hours of service, unsafe driving, and substance abuse), at the mean, 1% higher driver wages are associated with 1.04% fewer crashes. Stated differently, a 10% wage increase would be 5 times as effective as a 10% reduction in ‘unsafe driving’ or 2.5 times as effective as a 10% reduction in ‘driver fitness’ violations. This unit elasticity between driver pay and crashes suggests that higher compensation will bring direct and commensurate worker and public safety benefits. Every unit in higher pay, at the mean, will lead to a corresponding unit improvement in safety. Our findings suggest that the most effective way for regulators to pursue their mission to reduce crashes, fatal or otherwise, would be to collect firm-level data on truck driver compensation and allow their methodology to follow sound science.

Commercial motor vehicle driving is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. The production of most trucking services takes places on public roadways, which makes commercial motor vehicle safety a topic of concern for industry stakeholders, supply chain operations, policy makers, and the general public. This study explores the relationship between new employee driver compensation and for-hire interstate truckload motor carrier crash incidence. The results suggest that, all else constant, higher benefits are associated with fewer crashes. While mileage pay rates predict crashes, we find that higher mileage rates can be correlated with either higher or lower crash frequency – depending on the carrier’s existing starting pay level. This may be due to pernicious incentives created by piece-rate pay structures, because drivers who have more unpaid non-driving work time may earn a slightly higher mileage pay rate, which only partially compensates them for unpaid labour time. Regardless, these results suggest that compensation is an important predictor of safety and the existing pay practices in the industry may be unsafe. It also suggests that the role of compensation in motor carrier safety performance deserves further exploration with better quality data–especially full documentation of hours of work and pay rates.

The compensating wage differential (CWD) for nonfatal injury and value of statistical life or injury in occupations have rarely been analysed separately by gender or race. This paper uses individual-level data from the 2012–2015 March Current Population Survey to estimate the CWD as well as the value of statistical injury (VOI) by race and gender. We find male workers command a positive risk premium, and this is higher when they are unionised. We also find a positive risk premium for White unionised workers and a slightly lower risk premium for White males. Like other investigators, we find that nonfatal risk is heterogenous, and its compensation is difficult to estimate using a standard wage equation, even with some smaller subsamples from our dataset that are gender- or race-specific. Our estimates of the VOI show us that male workers who are unionised have the highest VOI, followed by Hispanic union workers, and Black females. This last finding follows from Black females working in jobs that have the highest risk rates compared to White and Hispanic females.

This article argues for domestic legislative regulation of global value chains to protect offshore workers. First, it outlines the policy reasons necessitating such legislation. Empirical evidence confirms that global value chains are a dominant feature of the global economy. It is contended that lead firms wield influence in global value chains in a manner which leads to poor outcomes for offshore workers. Second, the article sets out the minimum steps necessary for a domestic state to attribute the responsibility for transparency of global value chains to lead firms. Then, it proceeds to explore the possibilities and limits of the proposed scheme of regulation. Despite some complexities with implementing the scheme, it is argued that if domestic legislative regulation of global value chains strengthens even to a small extent the monitoring of global labour issues, it is worth pursuing.

This article discusses sexual harassment in the east African cut-flower and horticultural industry, based on research on 62 farms in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It argues that sexual harassment is fostered both by coercive labour conditions within global value chains and by existing hierarchical gender relations. The research finds that harassment is widespread, that many lack a vocabulary to describe or discuss this, and that female casual and temporary workers are most likely to be targeted. Action research coupled with organisation of workers, however, has been effective in giving ‘voice’ to those suffering harassment: this is a first step in a feminist labour mobilisation and policy formulation. Procedures against sexual harassment are beginning to be formulated: a key concern is implementation. Addressing sexual harassment is central in ensuring the security of working people, particularly the most marginalised.

The purpose of this study is to employ Koeske and Koeske’s stressor-strain-outcome model of stress to examine the extent to which strain, a central component of occupational stress, mediates the relationship between safety climate and safety-related outcomes. The relationship between safety climate, strain and safety outcomes has been relatively under tested where strain is a mediating variable. This study makes a contribution to the literature by examining the dynamics of these relationships. Questionnaires were sent to 1,800 employees of an electricity provider, with a 41.4% response rate. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. Analysis of the hypothesized model indicated that, while safety climate had a significant direct relationship with safety-related behaviors, the model was also partially mediated by the experience of strain. Understanding the relationship between safety climate, strain and safety outcomes is important. Support for the model verifies that safety climate is mediated by strain in terms of safety outcomes. Practical implications include the need to manage safety climate through management attitudes to safety, maintaining high safety standards and communication to reduce ambiguity on safety norms.

aims: 1. compare memory ability between ct and mri radiographers using the rey auditory verbal learning test (ravlt) and between mri radiographers working with 1 and 1.5tesla (t) scanners. 2. investigate the change in memory ability (as measured by ravlt) with increasing time worked in mri.

subjects: 11 ct and mri radiographers from four hospital sites were included. each worked exclusively in their modality. ravlt was administered once to each subject. results show no significant difference between mri and ct groups' scores. there were significantly lower scores in subjects who worked more than 5 years in mri and subjects who worked with 1.5t scanners.

the results indicate that static magnetic fields may have a detrimental effect on memory ability. these results indicate the need for further research into the neuropsychological effects of the mri environment on occupationally exposed staff.