THE EFFECTS OF SUBCONTRACTING OUTSOURCING ON OCCUPATIONAL-HEALTH-AND-SAFETY - SURVEY EVIDENCE FROM 4 AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIES/

This article discusses the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) conseq uences of subcontracting. After briefly discussing the growth of subco ntracting, the paper considers available evidence on its effects on OH S and proposes a number of reasons for this. Qualitative and quantitat ive data gathered during a survey of over 250 self-employed/subcontrac t and employee workers in four industries were analysed. It was found that job specific hazard and risk exposures were the major determinant of patterns of work-related injury and illness. However employment st atus (i.e. whether workers were subcontractors or employees) had an im portant secondary effect. Four key features associated with the subcon tracting of work have been identified as crucial influences on the OHS of subcontractors: economic and reward factors, disorganisation, inad equate regulatory controls, and the ability of workers to organise to protect themselves. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.