Making local regulation better? Marketisation, privatisation and the erosion of social protection

2020 ◽  
pp. 293-308
Author(s):  
Steve Tombs
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Fire Safety ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Regulatory Policy ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Local Regulation ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
The Uk

This chapter considers how marketisation, privatisation and deregulation have combined in the UK to produce both a de-democratisation and the erosion of social protection. It does so through an exploration of the enforcement of food safety, pollution control, trading standards and workers’ health and safety law, and, via a focus upon the atrocity at Grenfell Tower in 2017, on fire safety. In particular, I examine enforcement and regulatory policy at Local Authority level under the guise of the Better Regulation initiative and, then, conditions of austerity. These contexts have produced the opportunities for reframed – that is, specifically, privatised and marketised – forms of regulation which prioritise the interests of business over social protection.

A Survey of Fitness-for-Service Trends in Industry

2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Holtam ◽  
D. P. Baxter ◽  
I. A. Ashcroft ◽  
R. C. Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
American Petroleum Institute ◽  
Current Application ◽  
Life Management ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
Industry Survey ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Industry Sectors

In 2002, TWI Ltd. carried out a questionnaire-based survey of “user experience of plant life management practices,” to gain a better understanding of the reality of plant life management and the needs of plant operators [Iravani and Speck, 2002, “Industry Survey of Risk Based Life Management Practices and Their Relationship to Fitness-for-Service Assessment,” TWI Report No. 13032/5/02]. In 2003, the European fitness-for-service network reported the results of their survey on “current application and future requirements for European fitness-for-service (FFS) technology” [Filiou et al. 2003, “Survey of Current Application and Future Requirements for European Fitness-for-Service Technology,” Technical Report No. FITNET/TR2/03, FITNET Consortium]. In 2006, the management of aging plant became a regulatory hot topic in the UK with a health and safety executive document on the subject being released [Health and Safety Executive, 2006, “Plant Ageing: Management of Equipment Containing Hazardous Fluids or Pressure,” RR509]. Considering also the recent release of the new API/ASME joint FFS standard [2007, API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, Fitness-For-Service, 1st ed., The American Petroleum Institute and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Washington, DC], TWI Ltd. decided 2007 was the ideal time to carry out an updated industry survey to assess how developments such as these might affect plant life management practices in different industry sectors across the world. The aims of this survey were to gain an insight into current FFS trends across several industry sectors and how these may change in the future. Information was gathered as to how different companies handle their FFS activities, both in terms of the types of flaw they assess and the complexity of the assessments they carry out. The survey also investigated how safety regulating authorities view FFS activities and whether or not they accept the results as the basis for plant integrity management decisions. Closely related to this is whether there is a need for better regulation of FFS activities, FFS training, or, indeed, whether FFS qualifications should be introduced. This paper presents the results of the online industry survey and draws pragmatic conclusions that will be of interest to all those involved with FFS activities, from inspectors to researchers and from engineers to insurers.

A Survey of Fitness-for-Service Trends in Industry

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Holtam ◽  
D. P. Baxter ◽  
I. A. Ashcroft ◽  
R. C. Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Current Application ◽  
Life Management ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
Integrity Management ◽  
Industry Survey ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Industry Sectors

In 2002 TWI Ltd carried out a questionnaire-based survey of ‘user experience of plant life management practices’, to gain a better understanding of the reality of plant life management and the needs of plant operators [1]. In 2003 the European Fitness-for-Service Network (FITNET) reported the results of their survey on ‘current application and future requirements for European Fitness-for-Service (FFS) technology’ [2]. In 2006 the management of ageing plant became a regulatory hot topic in the UK with a Health and Safety Executive document on the subject being released [3]. Considering also the recent release of the new API/ASME joint FFS standard [4] TWI Ltd decided 2007 was the ideal time to carry out an updated industry survey, to assess how developments such as these might affect plant life management practices in different industry sectors across the world. The aims of this survey were to gain an insight into current FFS trends across several industry sectors and how these may change in the future. Information was gathered as to how different companies handle their FFS activities, both in terms of the types of flaw they assess and the complexity of the assessments they carry out. The survey also investigated how Safety Regulating Authorities (SRA) view FFS activities and whether or not they accept the results as the basis for plant integrity management decisions. Closely related to this is whether there is a need for better regulation of FFS activities, FFS training or indeed whether FFS qualifications should be introduced. This paper presents the results of the online industry survey and draws pragmatic conclusions that will be of interest to all those involved with FFS activities, from inspectors to researchers and from engineers to insurers.

On-Site Characterisation, Re-Packaging and Transport of Luminised, Former Aircraft Escape Hatches

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Reeves ◽  
Colette Grundy ◽  
Alex Sutherland ◽  
Gordon John ◽  
Cath Shaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Authority ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Final Disposal ◽  
Inclement Weather ◽  
North Wales ◽  
Environment Agency ◽  
Site Characterisation ◽  
The Uk

AMEC NNC, under contract to the UK Environment Agency, recovered a number of redundant aircraft hatches from an insecure location in North Wales. The Environment Agency instigated emergency action under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93), (1), to recover the hatches. Section 30(1) of RSA93 gives the Environment Agency powers to dispose of radioactive waste where it is unlikely the waste will be lawfully disposed of. Funding for this project was provided by the UK Government, within the Surplus Source Disposal Programme. The Environment Agency worked closely with partner regulatory organisations including the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Local Authority to ensure the safe packaging, removal and transport of the material to a part-shielded store pending final disposal. The project comprised a number of technical difficulties that needed to be overcome. These included poor existing characterisation of the waste, insecure premises requiring daily lockdown, construction of a temporary containment facility with associated filtered extract and the inclement weather. AMEC NNC’s initial risk assessment identified the likelihood of high levels of loose, airborne radiological material. In order to provide adequate protection for personnel, and to prevent the spread of any radioactive contamination, the decision was made to implement radiological containment and to equip contractors with appropriate RPE (Respiratory Protective Equipment). Accurate characterisation of the radiological nature of the material was a crucial objective within the project. This was in order to correctly identify the Proper Shipping Name for consignment for transport, and to ensure that suitable transport containers were used. The packaged wastes were then transported to a secure location for temporary storage prior to final disposal. An innovative route was identified for processing of this material. Beneficial recycling and re-use within the nuclear industry was the outcome.

Policy interventions in health and safety: What works and when--Evidence from the UK

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hollis ◽  
Stavroula Leka ◽  
Aditya Jain ◽  
Nicholas J. A. Andreou ◽  
Gerard Zwetsloot
Keyword(s):  
Health And Safety ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
What Works ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals Reaffirming health and safety precautionary principles for COVID-19 in the UK

The Lancet ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 397 (10271) ◽  
pp. 274
Author(s):  
Raymond M Agius ◽  
Denise Kendrick ◽  
Herb F Sewell ◽  
Marcia Stewart ◽  
John FR Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Health And Safety ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals On the Use of ‘Glyphmaps’ for Analysing the Scale and Temporal Spread of COVID-19 Reported Cases

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Roger Beecham ◽  
Jason Dykes ◽  
Layik Hama ◽  
Nik Lomax
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Design Requirements ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Temporal Spread

Recent analysis of area-level COVID-19 cases data attempts to grapple with a challenge familiar to geovisualization: how to capture the development of the virus, whilst supporting analysis across geographic areas? We present several glyphmap designs for addressing this challenge applied to local authority data in England whereby charts displaying multiple aspects related to the pandemic are given a geographic arrangement. These graphics are visually complex, with clutter, occlusion and salience bias an inevitable consequence. We develop a framework for describing and validating the graphics against data and design requirements. Together with an observational data analysis, this framework is used to evaluate our designs, relating them to particular data analysis needs based on the usefulness of the structure they expose. Our designs, documented in an accompanying code repository, attend to common difficulties in geovisualization design and could transfer to contexts outside of the UK and to phenomena beyond the pandemic.

scholarly journals Welfare chauvinism across benefits and services

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110230
Author(s):  
Gianna Maria Eick ◽  
Christian Albrekt Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Cash Benefits ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
The Uk

The article theorises how covering social risks through cash transfers and in-kind services shapes public attitudes towards including/excluding immigrants from these programmes in Western European destination countries. The argument is that public attitudes are more restrictive of granting immigrants access to benefits than to services. This hypothesis is tested across ten social protection programmes using original survey data collected in Denmark, Germany and the UK in 2019. Across the three countries, representing respectively a social democratic, conservative and liberal welfare regime context, the article finds that the public does indeed have a preference for easier access for in-kind services than for cash benefits. The article also finds these results to be stable across programmes covering the same social risks; the examples are child benefits and childcare. The results are even stable across left-wing, mainstream and radical right-wing voters; with the partial exception of radical right-wing voters in the UK. Finally, the article finds only a moderate association between individual characteristics and attitudinal variation across cash benefits and in-kind services.

scholarly journals Worlds of welfare collide

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Gráinne McKeever ◽  
Mark Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Conservative System ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Unemployment Benefits ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Asymmetric Shocks ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Operational Issues ◽  
The Eu

The post-2007 financial crisis has brought renewed interest in a European Unemployment Benefit Scheme (EUBS) as a manifestation of solidarity between citizens of different Member States and an economic stabiliser in the event of future asymmetric shocks. The EU-wide benefit would operate in tandem with existing national unemployment benefits. This creates challenges of compatibility given the diversity of approaches to social security within the Union, based on at least four philosophies of welfare: liberal, conservative, social democratic and southern European. This article examines potential legal, operational and political difficulties associated with marrying a EUBS that is at heart a conservative system of social insurance to the UK’s liberal welfare state. Few legal obstacles exist and although the addition of a new, earnings-related benefit to an already complex mix of social protection would raise significant operational issues, these need not be insurmountable. However, fundamental ideological differences would have rendered the EUBS as proposed politically ill-matched with the UK even absent the June 2016 vote to leave the EU. A contributory income maintenance benefit is a poor fit with a residual, largely means-tested national system whose role is limited to offering protection against severe poverty while maintaining work incentives and minimising costs.

Game Analysis on Problem of Food Safety in the Agricultural Products Supply Chain

2010 ◽  
Vol 20-23 ◽  
pp. 1040-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Hua Shi ◽  
Zi Lai Sun ◽  
Kun Jing Dong
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Survival And Development ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
The Government ◽  
Material Conditions

Food is the most basic material conditions of survival and development of human society, its security situation is relation to the health and safety of consumer directly. This paper analyze the reasons of causing problems of food quality and safety in the agricultural products supply chain from the perspective of the game theory as well as the government incentive and regulatory mechanisms affect the decision-making of farmers and food producers respectively. In the game between crop growers - farmers and food producers, the government play the outsider role and should give farmers subsidies to encourage them to grow high-quality green crops, as far as possible to ensure food safety from the source. In the game between producers and regulators, the government, as the game participant, should be asked to improve the supervision efficiency and the control ability to prevent unqualified food products entering the market.

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