Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Accidents with Dangerous Substances in the Dutch Chemical Industry

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Hazardous Waste and Pollution

  • 787 Accesses

Abstract

This research studies the relation between rule violation, compliance, organizational crime and safety science in chemical corporations. The focus is on the enforcement of regulation by field-level inspectors from three different inspectorates: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Inspection Agency and the Fire Department. The research concentrates on violations of occupational safety, health and environmental regulations of chemical corporations and their relation to safety records. In this chapter, we focus on the results of an exploratory stage of our research. The research is based on a triangulation of data from document analysis, interviews, a survey and ethnographic data. We discovered that (international) corporations violate the rules, but until now we have not found any evidence that this causes higher accident rates.

This chapter originally appeared as a chapter in Emerging Issues in Green Criminology: Power, Justice and Harm edited by Walters et al. (2013).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Directive 87/216/EEC of March 1987. OJ L 085, 28/03/1987, pp. 0036–0039.

  2. 2.

    Directive 88/610/EEC of November 1988. OJ L 336, 07/12/1988, pp. 0014–0018.

References

  • Bardach, E., & Kagan, R. (1982). Going by the book: The problem of regulatory unreasonableness. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besluit. (27 mei 1999). tot vaststelling van het Besluit risico’s zware ongevallen 1999 en tot herziening van enkele andere besluiten in verband met de uitvoering van Richtlijn nr. 96/82/EG van de Raad van de Europese Unie van 9 december 1996 betreffende de beheersing van de gevaren van zware ongevallen waarbij gevaarlijke stoffen zijn betrokken, Staatsblad 1999, 234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, J. (1984). Corporate crime in the pharmaceutical industry. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, J. (1985). To punish or persuade. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carson, W. G. (1970). Some sociological aspects of strict liability and the enforcement of factory legislation. Modern Law Review, 33, 396–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clinard, M. B., & Yeager, P. C. (1980). Corporate crime. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Commissie-Oosting. (2001). De vuurwerkramp. Eindrapport van de Commissie Vuurwerkramp Enschede. Enschede, Den Haag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, OJ 1997 L 10/13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cline, K. (2010) Negotiating the superfund: are environmental protection agency regional officials willing to bargain with states? The Social Science Journal, 47, 106–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Directive 87/216/EEC. (1987). OJ L 085, 28/03/1987, pp. 0036–0039.

    Google Scholar 

  • Directive 88/610/EEC. (1988). OJ L 336, 07/12/1988, pp. 0014–0018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geis, G. (1967). The heavy electric equipment antitrust case of 1961. In M. B. Clinard & R. Quinney (Ed.), Criminal behaviour systems: A typology (pp. 139–150). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale, A., Hopkins, A., & Kirwan, B. (2002). Changing regulation: Controlling risks in society. Oxford: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, K. (1984). Environment and enforcement: Regulation and the social definition of pollution. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Huisman, W. (2001). Tussen winst en moraal. Achtergronden van regelnaleving en regelovertreding door ondernemingen. Den Haag: Boom Juridische Uitgevers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutter, B. M. (1988). The reasonable arm of the law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutter, B.M. (1989). Variations in regulatory enforcement styles. Law & Policy, 11(2), 153–174. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9930.1989.tb00024.x.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutter, B. M. (1997). Compliance: Regulation and environment. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kagan, R.A., Gunningham, N., & Thornton, D. (2011). Fear, duty, and regulatory compliance: Lessons from three research projects. In C. Parker & V. L. Nielsen (Eds.), Explaining compliance business responses to regulation (pp. 37–58). Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koolhaas, E. (1990). Milieu, handhavingsstrategieën en beleid. Justitiële Verkenningen, 16, 92–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • LAT risicobeheersing bedrijven (2007) Werkwijzer BRZO. (1999). http://www.latrb.nl/instrumenten-0/werkwijzer-brzo-ii-0/. Accessed 8 Aug 2012.

  • Lipsky, M. (1980). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning, P. K. (1988). [Review of Braithwaite, J.] To punish or persuade. British Journal of Criminology, 28(4), 559–561.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, P. J., & Winter, S. (2000). Reconsidering styles of regulatory enforcement: Patterns in Danish agro-environmental inspection. Law & Policy, 22, 143–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May, P. J., & Winter, S. (2011). Regulatory enforcement styles and compliance. In C. Parker & V. L. Nielsen (Eds.), Explaining compliance business responses to regulation (pp. 222–244). Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, P. J., & Wood, R. S. (2003). At the regulatory front lines: inspectors’ enforcement styles and regulatory compliance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 13(2), 117–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mascini, P., & van Wijk, E. (2008). ‘Vis ruikt nou eenmaal zo’. Responsive regulation door de Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit. Tijdschrift voor Criminologie, 50(2), 114–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mascini, P., & van Wijk, E. (2009a). Responsive regulation bij de Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit. Den Haag: Boom Juridische uitgevers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mascini, P., & van Wijk, E. (2009b). Responsive regulation at the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority: An empirical assessment of assumptions underlying the theory. Regulation & Governance, 3, 27–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAllister, L. K. (2009). Dimensions of enforcement style: Factoring in regulatory autonomy and capacity. Law & Policy, 32(1), 61–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCaffrey, D. P., Smith, A. E., & Martinez-Moyano, I. J. (2007). ‘Then let’s have a dialogue’: Interdependence and negotiation in a cohesive regulatory system. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17, 307–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pautz, M. C. (2010). Front-line regulators and their approach to environmental regulation in Southwest Ohio. Review of Policy Research, 27(6), 761–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce, F., & Tombs, S. (1998). Toxic capitalism: Corporate crime and the chemical industry. Dartmouth: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearce, F. , & Tombs, S. (2012). Bhopal: Flowers at the altar of profit and power. Lincolnshire: CrimeTalk Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shover, N., Lynxwiler, J., Groce, S., & Clelland, D. (1984). Regional variation in regulatory law enforcement: The surface mining control and reclamation act. In K. Hawkins, K. Thomas, & J. Thomas (Eds.), Enforcing regulation (pp. 121–146). Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Shover, N., Clelland, D., & Lynxwiler, J. P. (1986). Enforcement or negotiation? Constructing a regulatory bureaucracy. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, S.S., & Rorie, M. (2011). Motivating compliance: Economic and material motives for compliance. In C. Parker & V. L. Nielsen (Eds.), Explaining compliance business responses to regulation (pp. 59–77). Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Versluis, E. (2003). Enforcement matters. Utrecht: Utrecht University.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Environmental Protection Agency and their inspectors for their generous cooperation in this study. I thank Ben Ale, Wim Huisman and Ellen Jagtman for their valuable comments on a previous version of this chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Dr. Marieke Kluin

Authors
  1. Dr. Marieke Kluin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marieke Kluin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom

    Tanya Wyatt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kluin, M. (2016). Accidents with Dangerous Substances in the Dutch Chemical Industry. In: Wyatt, T. (eds) Hazardous Waste and Pollution. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18081-6_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18081-6_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18080-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18081-6

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation