The author looks at work environment matters from the perspective of p
ublic policy-making and the policy instruments used to deal with workp
lace health and safety: standard setting; joint health and safety comm
ittees; compliance, enforcement, and prosecution; workers' compensatio
n as an economic incentive; and collective bargaining. While regarding
all as necessary, the author considers them as separately and collect
ively, fundamentally flawed and therefore insufficient, because libera
l public policy-making itself is problematic. He proposes an alternati
ve way of thinking about this subject from the perspective of the ''po
litics of meaning.''