Occupational Injury: Accidental or a Reflection of Conflict Between Capital and Labour?

The term 'accident' suggests an unexpected or unforeseen happening which afflicts a worker. Historically there has been a tendency to categorise such injuries as aberrant or unusual with a focus upon the individual injured. High injury rates tend to occur in lower socio- economic groups whose perception of causation and work experience place them at odds with management. At the same time injuries are treated, investigated and compensated at an individual leveL This medical and legal individualisation process has served to obscure group susceptibility and group responses to health threat. Further, patterns of behaviour, injuries and overt conflict may be related to the levels of control experienced at work A case study of a large Brisbane factory demonstrated that a conflict of interest was recognised by both workers and management and resulted in tacit acceptance of 'restrictive labour practices', as survival mechanisms. This recognition of inherent danger, injury-avoidance withdrawal and the contradictory nature of control for safety and production, by both sides, is de facto legitimation of occupational injuries being embedded in the social relations of production - rather than being 'accidental'.