Citation

Gray GC. Pol. Pract. Health Saf. 2006; 4(2): 77-93.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (Great Britain))

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

While employers have traditionally been the target of health and safety regulation, workers are increasingly being made responsible for enforcement (by individually refusing unsafe work) as well as becoming a target of regulation (through fines and tickets). This paper examines a ticketing enforcement strategy in Ontario, Canada, in which tickets, analogous to parking tickets, are being issued to workers, supervisors and employers for health and safety violations. A key finding is that the ticketing strategy is not an isolated enforcement strategy but is related to and intertwined with various legal issues. The right to refuse unsafe work is one significant area affected by the ticketing strategy, because a worker who knowingly performs unsafe work not only faces possible injury but also a ticket. In other words, workers who do not use their legal right to refuse (for whatever reason) will be seen as allowing the continuation of hazards and therefore deserving of health and safety tickets.