Increasingly, workers are demanding greater input into working conditions. Nowhere in the management/labour dynamic is this more evident than in the area of occupational health and safety, but standards vary significantly across the globe. The occupational health and safety regimes in Ontario, Canada, Sweden and the United States have been born out of radically different national, political and labour landscapes. This paper aims to describe how these competing visions have manifested themselves within their respective work environments and their effect upon the labour/management relationship. A unique feature of this paper is the utilization of the author’s personal professional experience within the occupational health and safety enforcement mechanism in Ontario, Canada. The personal anecdotal information informs the discussion of the competing enforcement mechanisms being employed in the comparator jurisdictions. Other areas of comparison include the varying degrees of responsibilities of workplace stakeholders, non-disciplinary mechanisms in the use and effects of organized labour upon the regimes. The unique external influence of European Union initiatives on Sweden’s regime is also discussed. Ultimately, the work is a discussion of workplace power dynamics within three very different safety regimes and was written with an eye to stimulating discussion in the ongoing dialogue on workplace safety.
International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations