The Escalating Crisis of Health and Safety Law Enforcement in Great Britain: What Does Brexit Mean?
The Escalating Crisis of Health and Safety Law Enforcement in Great Britain: What Does Brexit Mean?
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DOI：
10.3390/ijerph19053134
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发表时间：
2022-03-07
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Whyte D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Moretta A;Tombs S;Whyte D
本文探讨了英国退出欧盟后英国的职业安全和健康监管。特别是，本文将重点放在监管执法的可信度上。长期以来，英国退出欧盟带来的前景一直是右翼政客及其理论家的自由市场幻想--甚至是痴迷--的一部分。随着英国与欧盟关系的重新调整，这将为右翼机会主义者提供破坏健康和安全法律和执法的新理由。这篇论文使用了英国在健康和安全执法方面的经验证据，来证明英国正在走向一种极端的自我监管形式。它对关键的国际政策辩论进行了详细的分析，深化了这一证据，认为英国退欧现在引发了英国进入一场“逐底竞赛”的迫在眉睫的威胁。这篇论文的结论是，2021年欧盟/英国贸易与合作协议可能会让英国逃避该条约规定的正式健康和安全责任，因为英国没有可能采取重大的报复性“再平衡”措施。如果最低限度的健康和安全要求在后欧盟时代不再适用，那么英国政府将可以自由地推行一种自我监管体系，使健康和安全标准进一步落后于其他发达经济体。
This paper explores occupational safety and health regulation in Great Britain following the UK’s exit from the European Union. In particular, the paper focuses on the credibility of regulatory enforcement. The prospects raised by the UK’s exit from the European Union have long been part of a free-market fantasy—even obsession—of right-wing politicians and their ideologues. As the UK’s relationship with the EU is recalibrated, this will present right-wing opportunists with a new rationale for undermining health and safety law and enforcement. The paper uses empirical evidence of Great Britain’s record in health and safety law enforcement to evidence a drift towards an extreme form of self-regulation. It deepens this evidence with a detailed analysis of key international policy debates, arguing that Brexit now raises an imminent threat of the UK entering a ‘race to the bottom’. The paper concludes that the 2021 EU/UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement may enable the UK to evade its formal health and safety responsibilities under the treaty because of the lack of the prospect of significant retaliatory ‘rebalancing’ measures. Should minimal health and safety requirements cease to apply in the post-EU era, then the UK Government will be free to pursue a system of self-regulation that will allow health and safety standards to fall even further behind those of other developed economies.