HILL, Victoria Charlotte (2023). The Industrial Fatality in Post-Robens Britain, 1974 – 2014. Doctoral, Sheffield Hallam University.
Documents
33951:644848
PDF
Hill_2024_PhD_TheIndustrialFatality.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
Hill_2024_PhD_TheIndustrialFatality.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
Download (4MB) | Preview
Abstract
This thesis examines workplace fatalities in the period 1974 to 2014 with the
subject matter arranged as five case studies presented in chronological order.
Developments are examined from the advent of the Health and Safety at Work
etc. Act 1974 over a forty-year period to just after the introduction of the Corporate
Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. There are common themes
running through each chapter. Oral history interviews are used alongside the
examination of public inquiry reports, official documents, press reports and
archival sources, exploring themes including industry regulation, organisational
culture, corporate crime, and social movements.
This thesis presents the case that modern industrial fatalities should be separated
from the broader historical literature on occupational health and safety. Whilst the
subject belongs within, or close to, labour history it is its own sub-topic, in the
same way that asbestosis, or work-related disabilities have their own bodies of
literature. The modern industrial fatality, as defined by this thesis:
- Occurs in a developed and fully industrialised economy, within a modern
regulatory framework.
- Occurs after the emergence and adoption of modern safety theory, from
the early 1980s onwards.
- Takes place in industrial settings where equipment, machinery, and
processes have inherently hazardous properties but crucially, hazardous
properties that can be managed and controlled.
- Is foreseeable and preventable.
The modern industrial fatality remains an ongoing moral, legal and social
conundrum that cuts across the humanities and social sciences with immediate
contemporary relevance. This thesis is strongly aligned with Sheffield Hallam
University’s applied university goals because it creates knowledge that will help
to provide practical solutions to this real-world challenge.
The originality of this research is twofold. Firstly, by combining industrial safety
theory and historical inquiry, it occupies a space loosely covered by labour history
and the social sciences, but hitherto not explicitly examined. Secondly, by framing
the modern industrial fatality as a distinct phenomenon it introduces a new
paradigm that invites further academic scrutiny. There is significant scope for
future research both from a labour history point of view and in terms of
implications for organisational learning and policy development.
More Information
Statistics
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Metrics
Altmetric Badge
Dimensions Badge
Share
Actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |