A Socio-Legal Ethnography of the Right to Refuse Dangerous Work
Studies in Law, Politics, and Society (2002), Volume 24, Pages 133-169
19 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2011 Last revised: 27 Jul 2013
Abstract
The right to refuse unsafe work and the 'internal responsibility system' represent a fundamental shift in ideology over how workplace health and safety is governed. Using qualitative data, I provide a grounded critique of this shift and demonstrate that the right to refuse is continually evolving through its everyday application; the local definition of what constitutes risk is constantly being negotiated. Even when workers do not formally use this right to deal with a hazard they still, nonetheless, engage in the local construction of how this safety right is conceptualized, defined, and exercised.
Keywords: safety culture, legal rights, risk, ethnography, regulation, compliance, organizations, individual responsibility, legal consciousness, safety voice, speaking up
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