The Chemicals Industry

Abstract

In their study of health and safety arrangements in the chemicals industry during the 1980s, Dawson et al. (1988) described an industry in which there were relatively stable patterns of employment with a largely permanent, well-qualified full-time workforce, well-developed management structures and a significant presence of large firms. There have been developments in the decade and a half since Dawson et al.’s study in which there has been a tendency to shift operations towards speciality chemicals (intermediates and consumer products) and away from bulk production (Pearce and Tombs 1998: 159–160). This has been partly responsible for the decline in the number employed in the sector in the UK since the 1980s. Nevertheless, the features of the industry noted by Dawson et al. have remained largely in place. Furthermore, the industry continues to be essentially one in which trade union organisation is still relatively well established and unions play a significant role in joint arrangements, including those for health and safety.