NCJ Number
227274
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 49 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 326-342
Date Published
May 2009
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article describes the responsibilization strategy of health and safety in Canada where workers are redefined as both potential victims and offenders acquiring greater responsibility for their own safety at work.
Abstract
While employers have traditionally been the target of health and safety law, workers are increasingly assigned greater responsibility for their own safety at work and are held accountable, judged, and sanctioned through this lens. This can be seen through an analysis of the new ticketing regulatory system in Canada. The ticketing regulatory system is where workers are targeted for sanctions and blamed for health and safety violations. Under this new responsibilization strategy of health and safety, workers are not only redefined as both potential victims and offenders but they also find themselves forced to adopt a rights-defined identity. While this paper was empirically based in Canada, many jurisdictions have been affected by deregulatory policies, which, in turn, play a role in health and safety enforcement. Responsibilization falls more heavily on workers, as they are the ones who are subject to unsafe conditions and are also forced to practice individual responsibility. Safety rights technically empower workers but, in the evolution of individual responsibility, they have often been turned around to the detriment of workers. Figures, table, and references