Abstract/Summary

This is a significant and sizeable piece of work that explores, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the ways in which the social and political legitimacy of ‘health and safety’ as an area of law, policy, and as a practical concept, have changed since 1960. Drawing on extensive empirical and archival investigations, it identifies the constitutional, functional, democratic, and justice-based legitimacy judgments and challenges that health and safety has faced, and the impacts that have arisen for regulators, politicians, practitioners, workers, the public, and business. It is original in that it is one of the first modern (C20th) histories of H+S; it is a historical work and published in the ‘history’ list of Palgrave Macmillan, so a sense about suitability for UoA18 would be helpful.