ABSTRACT
This chapter takes the juxtaposition between concerns about the labour standards implications of outsourcing and attempts to use supply chains to protect them as its starting point. It also examines the circumstances under which supply chains are sometimes used to positively influence health and safety management and standards. The chapter observes that the growth in outsourcing that has occurred over the last three decades or so has formed an important part of current concerns and debates about employment vulnerability in the modern world of work, including those concerning how far workers are being exposed to increased risks to their health and safety. The literature highlights that such relationships vary considerably and can, and often do, extend beyond highly transactional, arm's length ones. The British construction industry consists of around 168,000 firms and employment in it, prior to the recent recession, stood at close to two million people.
