Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Accidents will happen: (de)regulation of health and safety legislation, workplace accidents and self employment

Brown, Donna and Wadsworth, Jonathan (2022) Accidents will happen: (de)regulation of health and safety legislation, workplace accidents and self employment. CEP Discussion Papers (1855). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

[img] Text (dp1855) - Published Version
Download (550kB)

Abstract

In 2015, the UK government exempted "low-risk" self-employed workers from legislation on workplace safety. This reversed a move two decades earlier that incorporated the self-employed more fully into the same regulatory framework as employees. This paper examines whether workplace accidents among self-employed workers shifted after these two changes to safety regulations. A difference-in-differences estimation framework suggests that the extension of regulation in 1999 had little impact on relative accident rates. In contrast, after 2015, accident rates for high and low risk self-employed converged, driven primarily by a steep fall in accident rates among those still covered by legislation.

Item Type: Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion...
Additional Information: © 2022 The Authors
Divisions: Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
K Law > K Law (General)
JEL classification: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J8 - Labor Standards: National and International > J80 - General
J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J28 - Safety; Accidents; Industrial Health; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
K - Law and Economics > K3 - Other Substantive Areas of Law > K32 - Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R4 - Transportation Systems > R41 - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
Date Deposited: 13 Jan 2023 14:36
Last Modified: 14 Sep 2024 04:21
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/117890

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics