ABSTRACT
The question of how staff more generally can be held responsible for environment, health and safety (EHS) risks is an important one. So although employers are the primary target of regulatory enforcement, in a neo-liberal sense health and safety responsibilities are equally shared between employers and their employees; but employees are in fact more responsible as they are closer to the risk. The "responsibilization" for safety by motivating workers to behave more safely and giving them greater empowerment to undertake tasks safely has corporate political problems associated with it. There are two dichotomous approaches to the management of legal non-compliance, especially in occupational health and safety. The first is a school of thought that self-regulation is best, using legal punishment as a last resort. The second argues for more policing, enforcement and punishment in line with typical legal management of crime.
