ABSTRACT
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is about the prevention of death, injury and illness (Bohle and Quinlan, 2000, ch. 1; ILO, 2001, pp. 3, 18), a goal which is reflected in the Australian and European regulatory regimes in focus in this research (see Chapter 2). The research applied this regulatory goal of prevention as the benchmark for manufacturer performance, and three core elements of manufacturers’ legal obligations, which were critical for prevention, provided the conceptual framework for evaluating firm performance. These core elements were identification of hazards, implementation of control measures to eliminate or minimize risks, and provision of safety information. They were framed as substantive safety outcomes since machinery could not be regarded as safe and without risks to health unless manufacturers had comprehensively recognized the hazards of the machinery, eliminated these hazards or incorporated effective control measures to minimize the risks arising from them, and provided safety information to support and reinforce risk control measures.
