Content area
Abstract
Occupational health and safety is a relatively neglected field within the social sciences. It is yet more neglected with respect to underdeveloped countries. This thesis is a contribution toward rectifying the latter deficiency with respect to a leading newly industrialised country, Taiwan. The thesis attempts to address occupational health and safety in Taiwan at both macro and micro levels and it uses a variety of methods including interviews, participant observation, analysis of documentary sources and the analysis of some quantitative data. The thesis is divided into two parts.
Part One is set at the macro level and examines the determination of the injury rate between 1987-1999 with respect to health and safety legislation and implementation and the changing nature of Taiwanese political economy. It is commonly argued that developing countries suffer from the export of hazard, as more developed economies relocate dangerous industrial processes to less developed ones. The argument advanced here looks at matters the other way round. It seeks to explain an apparent improvement in Taiwan's industrial injury performance in terms of the export of more hazardous operations to China.
Part Two is set at the more micro level. Although still acknowledging the important contribution made at the level of the state and by more general capitalist interests, it focuses specifically on occupational decompression sickness in the construction industry. It examines the specific social relations of production that affected such occupational decompression sickness in the building of one of Taiwan's most prestigious projects - the new underground system that was built between 1986 and 1999. It details the way in which production oriented management had the effect of squeezing labour, increasing productivity and neglecting occupational health and safety requirements.