Health and Safety in Contemporary Britain, 1st ed. 2019 Society, Legitimacy, and Change since 1960

This book analyses the perceived legitimacy of health and safety in post-1960 British public life. Since 2010 health and safety has appeared to be in crisis, being attacked by press, politicians and public alike, but are these claims of crisis accurate? How have understandings of health and safety changed over the past 60 years? By exploring the history, culture, and operation of health and safety in contemporary Britain, this book provides a new assessment of an understudied, but surprisingly far-reaching, part of the British political and social landscape. Combining archival research with focus group, social survey and oral history testimony, the book examines the historical background to health and safety, how health and safety has been enacted in public and in the workplace, the impact of changing economic, occupational and social structures on the operation of health and safety, and the conflicts and interests that have shaped the area.

1. Introduction and Organising Ideas.- 2. Recent Public Attitudes Towards Health and Safety.- 3. Shaping Health and Safety, 1800 – 2015.- 4. A New Order? Constituting Health and Safety.- 5. Health and Safety in a Changing World.- 6. Health and Safety in Action.- 7. Justice and Values: Whose Interests are Served?.- 8. Conclusion.- Bibliography.- Index.

Charts the development of modern British health and safety, in response to ideas around risk society, managerialism, regulatory capitalism, and demographic and economic changes in the workplace Draws on interviews, detailed archival research, and a review of both academic and policy literature Contextualises recent debates over voluntarism and identity, the limits of political consensus, and the commercialisation of health and safety