Cooperation or resistance? Representing workers' health and safety in a hazardous industry

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12147
• Author: David Walters,Michael Quinlan,Emma Wadsworth,Richard Johnstone
• Published date: 01 July 2016
• Date: 01 July 2016

Cooperation or resistance? Representing

workers’health and safety in a hazardous

industry

David Walters, Michael Quinlan,

Richard Johnstone and Emma Wadsworth

ABSTRACT

This study considersthe actions of worker health and safetyrepresentatives in coalmines

in Queensland, where there is little evidence of the facilitating role of management

previous studies haveassociated with the successful operation of worker representation

in occupational health and safety. It examines how worker representatives deliver their

pluralist representational role in a context characterised by essentially unitary thinking

amongst their employers and the effectiveness of the strategies they use.

1 INTRODUCTION

In most advanced market economies statutory arrangements for workers’representa-

tion and consultation on occupational health and safety (OHS) were implemented

during the last three decades of the 20th century. These provisions governed the

selection, rights and functions of workers’representatives, facilities employers were

to afford them, and their part in risk assessment and OHS management (OHSM)

procedures. Subsequent research on worker representation suggests that this

essentially pluralist approach, when implemented with adequate support, is likely to

result in improved OHS outcomes (Nichols and Walters, 2009).

The introduction of these statutory measures coincided with a period of economic

and political development —the so-called ‘golden years’of the post-war compromise

—when preconditions necessary for its successful operation were at their zenith.

Times have changed. The political economy in which these arrangements for workers’

OHS are situated has altered fundamentally. Consequently, some of their institu-

tional supports have eroded. Employers and many OHS practitioners have embraced

a different approach to worker engagement in which there is limited room for auton-

omous representation of workers’interests in OHS. These more unitary approaches

emphasise individual worker engagement with corporate values and organisational

culture, and assume an identity of interest between workers and managers in

improving OHS performance. Improvements are largely operationalised through

❒David Walters and Emma Wadsworth, Cardiff Work Environment Research Centre, School of Social

Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. Michael Quinlan, School of Organisation and Management,

University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Richard Johnstone, Queensland University

of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Correspondence should be addressed to David

Walters Cardiff Work Environment Research Centre, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.

E-mail: waltersd@cardiff.ac.uk

Industrial Relations Journal 47:4, 379–395

ISSN 0019-8692

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

the application of management systems orientated towards behaviour modification,

individual accountability and monitoring.

Others who have examined participative approaches to OHSM in mining have

argued that one reason for the limitations in its contribution to improving trends in

OHS recently are the hostile labour relations in the industry —which they suggest

lead to mistrust between managers and union representatives (Gunningham and

Sinclair, 2012). They conclude that this undermines participative engagement, and

this in turn stalls progress on OHS. However, this interpretation assumes the

existence of common interests in health and safety shared between workers and their

employers, fails to take into account the historical, pluralist basis of the relevant

regulations and also fails to acknowledge wider and equally long-standing reasons

for the hostile labour relations that characterise the mining industry.

The core interest of this paper therefore concerns what happens when workers seek

to represent their OHS interests where the regulatory ideal is undermined both by

poor labour relations and managerial aspirations to pursue a unitarist approach.

To do this, we have examined the role and activities of union OHS representatives

in coalmines in Queensland, Australia.

2 PARTICIPATION IN A COLD CLIMATE —CONFLICTING MODELS AND

LIMITED OUTCOMES?

In many countries, statutory measures provide workers and their organisations with

rights to appoint/elect representatives and support their OHS functions within their

workplace, including rights to be consulted, participate in joint health and safety

committees, receive information, inspect workplaces, accidents and incidents, and

to receive training and time to undertake these tasks. Representatives often have

rights to accompany regulatory inspectors during visits and receive information from

them. Details vary by country, sector and establishment size. Similar provisions are

outlined in supra-national measures such as ILO Convention 155 and the EU

Framework Directive 89/391.

Studies have found that these participatory arrangements are associated with

improved OHSM practices, and these findings generally hold for both direct perfor-

mance indicators, such as injury or illness rates, as well as indirect measures, like

OHSM practices (see for example Yassi et al., 2013; Walters and Nichols, 2007). A

recent UK study concluded (Robinson and Smallman, 2013: 689):

The empirical modelling of workplace injuries also reveals that representative participation matters.

Participation is associated with lower levels of injuries and conversely, non-participation is associated

with a higher incidence of injuries. This adds to the empirical literature on institutional arrangements

by linking union effectiveness to the level and access to participation they enjoy vis-a-vis management.

Specifically this perspective reveals that some participation is better than none, higher is better than

lower and that the alignment of voice between management and unions is fundamental to success.

In sum, the weight of evidence indicates that better outcomes are likely when

employersmanage OHS with representative workerparticipation and that jointarrange-

ments, tradeunions and worker representation at theworkplace are positivelyassociated

with such outcomes. However, to be effective this representation requires a set of

preconditions to support its implementation, central among which is the facilitating

support of management (Walters and Nichols, 2006; Nichols and Walters, 2009).

Studies in several countries indicate that both representatives and managers base

their ideas about how participation should occur on statutory requirements (Nichols

380 David Walters et al.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd