Professions, power and paradox in occupational safety and health in the 21st century

Walters, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5973-1938 2024. Professions, power and paradox in occupational safety and health in the 21st century. Safety Science 174 , 106446. 10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106446

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Abstract

Analysis of the development of professions and professional institutions in occupational safety and health is somewhat neglected. While there are some accounts of the development of professional practice in occupational medicine and a discourse on its ethics in the literature, that addressing the development and role of the general OSH practitioner is more limited. This paper seeks to contribute to this literature and to the development of such a discourse, with an account of some key antecedents of current practice. It identifies structural factors within the economy and its regulatory framework for OSH, that have influenced the rise to prominence of the generalist professional/practitioner. It examines the consequences of this for these OSH professionals and the associations that represent their professional interests. It frames this examination with reference to the sociological literature on professions more generally. Drawing on parallels in this literature, it argues that substantial shifts in the loci of power in work relations during recent decades, occurring against a back-drop of neo-liberal political and economic policies, have helped shape the current corporate demand for OSH generalists. This has led to their increased presence in the OSH infrastructures of advanced market economies and beyond. At the same time, and with reference to parallels in the sociological literature on salaried professionals, the paper suggests that meeting such a demand, in these structural contexts, may have consequences for professional practice. But with a few notable exceptions, it finds theoretically informed discussion of these consequences and their determinants to be underdeveloped in recent specialist literature on professional practice in OSH. The paper concludes that further research and informed discussion of the issues raised by viewing professional development in OSH from a more sociological perspective is important and should be encouraged.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0925-7535
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 June 2024
Date of Acceptance:	24 January 2024
Last Modified:	24 Jun 2024 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/169939

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