Provides a comparative overview of national practices in worker representation in health and safety matters in eight European countries. Identifies types of worker representation schemes established and assesses their effectiveness in practice.

A cutting edge look at the experience of worker representation in the employment relations of workplace health and safety. Examining the extent to which existing arrangements deliver results, this book reflects on whether the effectiveness of worker representation is eroded or enhanced by current regulatory and organizational constructs.

A cutting edge look at the experience of worker representation in the employment relations of workplace health and safety. Examining the extent to which existing arrangements deliver results, this book reflects on whether the effectiveness of worker representation is eroded or enhanced by current regulatory and organizational constructs. In many countries the regulation of health and safety at work underwent a new turn in the 1970s and 80s. This book brings together research that reviews the coverage and effectiveness of the consequent arrangements for worker representation on health and safety that exist in the EU generally, within this specifically in the UK, Spain, France and Sweden, and beyond this in Australia, Canada and the Baltic States. It examines the effectiveness of these arrangements in different countries and how they operate in different sectors and in organisational of different size. It also considers in some detail the conditions that support or constrain these arrangements in different countries, which are generally found wanting, and especially the impact upon them of major political and economic changes in recent years.

The aim of this paper is to review the role that representative worker participation can play in contributing to better health and safety performance in small enterprises. The relevance of representative participation to health and safety in small enterprises is addressed and the challenges that the sector poses are discussed. Using a number of examples, including legislative approaches, trade union initiatives and joint trade union employer schemes in various countries, the paper explores some of the ways in which such challenges have been tackled.

The safety obligation in any employment relationship, enshrined in numerous laws and regulations, must necessarily absorb advances in medicine and technology. The law of health and safety at work is perhaps best understood as an ongoing process engaged in the making of a dynamic and effective regulatory framework able to cope with an ever-changing work environment. This book, an in-depth survey of the current state of health and safety law in Europe represents the work of labour lawyers involved into the Pontignano International Seminars and into the European Working Group on Labour Law (EWL). The seventeen contributing labour lawyers provide national reports from ten EU Member States, along with a chapter on EU law relating to health and safety and a concluding comparative analysis. Among the topics examined are the following: the concepts of 'health', 'danger', and 'risk'; employers' obligations to inform, evaluate, and monitor; rights and duties of workers' representatives with regard to health and safety at work; the obligation to carry out a systematic work environment management; reintegration efforts required from the employer and employee; instruments available to help the employer in the proper fulfilment of safety obligations; the interaction between health and safety regulation and the social security system; labour inspecti civil, administrative and criminal liability of the employer; specific legislation regarding pregnant women; protection of other vulnerable groups; moral harassment or 'mobbing'; sexual harassment; work-related stress the concept of pénibilité au travail; effect of a company's hierarchical structure on liability; and domestic workers and home-workers. For practitioners dealing with cases involving health and safety issues at work, this book will be welcomed as a thorough and up-to-date guide on available approaches. Of especial value is the detailed coverage of the scope of the safety obligation, the consequences of its violation, workers' representation, and the link between occupational health and safety and the fight against harassment at work.

The book provides a collection of cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary research-based chapters on work, workers and the regulation and management of workplace health and safety. Featuring research from Australia, Europe and North America, the chapters traverse important historical examples and place important, emerging contemporary trends, like work in the gig economy, into wider international and historical perspectives. The authors are leading authorities in their fields. The book contributes to advancing our knowledge – empirical and theoretical – of the ways in which labour market dynamics, management strategies, state regulation and public policy, and union organisation affect outcomes for workers. It features in-depth exploration of, and reflection on, some of the major labour market challenges facing workers, and analysis of strengths and weaknesses of responses to those challenges, whether via management, state regulation or collective employee voice. The chapters highlight shifts in in/equality of outcomes; access to security and flexibility at work; genuine access to workplace voice and decision-making; and the implications of different avenues and mechanisms for regulating work and employment. The text is aimed at researchers, undergraduate and postgraduate students in work and organisational studies, industrial/employment relations and human resource management, workplace (or occupational) health and safety, employment law, and labour history. It will also be of particular interest to policy makers and practitioners working in the field of workplace health and safety.