Investigating Health and Safety Regulation: Finding Room for Small‐scale Projects
| Author | Paul Almond |
| Published date | 01 June 2008 |
| Date | 01 June 2008 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2008.00428.x |
Investigating Health and Safety Regulation:
Finding Room for Small-scale Projects
Paul Almond
INTRODUCTION
This paper outlines and assesses the field for small-scale research within a
government regulatory agency, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The
value and purpose of research within this sphere is considered, before the
discussion looks specifically at the contribution that small-scale research
projects can make to debates surrounding this area of legal activity. The
methodological approaches taken in conducting regulatory research are
discussed, with particular reference to a small-scale research project con-
ducted by the author, focusing on the process by which this research was
conducted rather than the outcomes achieved. While the discussion relates
primarily to health and safety regulation, and the experiences of researchers
in this area, this paper offers insights that can inform research projects in a
much wider range of regulatory fields and agencies.
Much has been written about the practice and methodology of police
research.
1
By contrast, relatively little has been written about the practice of
research into regulatory enforcement agencies.
2
This is perplexing, given that
empirical research into regulatory agencies within a multitude of different
contexts has proved to be fertile ground for researchers. The practices of
environmental pollution regulators,
3
environmental health inspectors,
4
the
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1T.Cockcroft, `Oral History and the Cultures of the Police' in Qualitative Research in
Criminology, eds. F. Brookman, L. Noaks, and E. Wincup (1999) 130±40; V. Jupp,
Methods of Criminological Research (1989); R. Reiner, `Police Research' in Doing
Research in Crime and Justice, eds. R. King and E. Wincup (2000) 205±35.
2 For other discussions of regulatory research methods, see K. Hawkins, Environment
and Enforcement: Regulation and the Social Definition of Pollution (1984) 225; K.
Hawkins, Law as Last Resort: Prosecution Decision-Making in a Regulatory Agency
(2002) 445; G. Richardson, A. Ogus, and P. Burrows, Policing Pollution: A Study of
Regulation and Enforcement (1984).
3 Hawkins, id. (1984); Richardson, Ogus, and Burrows, id.
4B.Hutter, The Reasonable Arm of the Law? The Law Enforcement Procedures of
Environmental Health Officers (1988).
HM Railway Inspectorate,
5
and the United Kingdom Food Standards
Agency
6
have all been interrogated from `within'.
I argue that small-scale research projects can make a positive and valuable
contribution to the academic literature, and that potential researchers should
not be scared away from conducting projects of this sort when they have a
pressing question to answer. That said, some degree of caution and circum-
spection is needed in planning and conducting research of this sort if a
worthwhile yield of data is to be gathered. Crucially, there are some core
challenges to overcome, which need to be designed into a research plan or
methodology. While these challenges seem daunting, they can be overcome,
and insights into the fascinating world of regulation can be gathered even by
those working with relatively modest resources and budgets. Crucially, such
research can also ensure that we have a balanced and rounded view of those
agencies we seek to understand.
I. THE RESEARCH FIELD ± THE HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE
The Health and Safety Executive is the government body with responsibility
for the promotion, enforcement, and monitoring of standards of occupational
health and safety in the United Kingdom. It was created under the terms of
regulatory body upholding the requirements and regulations laid out in that
statute. While other bodies, most notably local authorities, have similar
responsibilities to oversee the safety of the human environment, HSE has a
particular remit relating to industrial workplaces and hazardous installations.
HSE provides health and safety advice to employers and the public, provides
technical and scientific guidance to government, works with the Health and
Safety Commission on policy creation, and investigates accidents and
enforces compliance in the field. It oversees this enforcement role in relation
to some 17 million individuals working in approximately 740,000 premises
nationwide.
7
HSE's enforcement powers include the ability to prosecute
companies and individuals, and to issue improvement and prohibition
notices, under the terms of the HSWA 1974.
HSE's strategic role in the creation, implementation, and enforcement of
policy renders it a crucial site for research into the legal structures and
processes of health and safety law. Studies of regulatory agencies in general
109
5B.Hutter, Regulation and Risk: Occupational Health and Safety on the Railways
(2001).
6H.Rothstein, `Escaping the Regulatory Net: Why Regulatory Reform Can Fail
Consumers' (2005) 27 Law and Policy 520.
7HSC, Delivering Health and Safety in Britain: Health and Safety Commission Annual
Report and the Health and Safety Commission/Executive Accounts 2002/03 (2003)
55.
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