Socio-political context for OHS in Australia

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the socio-political context of occupational health and safety (OHS) practice. It is about the different legal and advisory instruments, government and non-state institutions or actors, economic and social forces, and other factors that constitute the context for OHS practice. Collectively, these contextual elements frame and shape OHS policy, regulation and workplace practice, and they impact on OHS risks and how they are dealt with in these settings. The chapter begins by providing a broad overview of the sociopolitical context of OHS, and then examines some of its key elements in more detail. These elements are OHS policy and regulation, other regulation impacting on OHS, technical standards and instruments, the education and training framework, employer associations and unions, OHS professional associations, and economic and social trends.