The politics of a scaffolding company

Episode 8 — The Scaffolding CompanyShow notesThe story in this episode is composite, drawn from real events. Identifying details are changed. Real-world events the story draws on, full citations, and further reading are below.REAL-WORLD EVENTS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEAustralia- Around 30 to 45 worker deaths a year in the Australian construction industry, with the most recent annual figure 36 per cent above the five-year average. Falls from a height are the second-leading cause of all workplace fatalities, with the construction sector accounting for nearly half of all fall-from-height deaths. Around 188 traumatic worker fatalities in total in 2024, 37 of them in construction.- The model Work Health and Safety Act 2011, adopted by the Commonwealth and most states and territories, providing the framework for primary duties of care to workers.- Industrial manslaughter as a specific criminal offence: Australian Capital Territory (2003), Queensland (October 2017), Northern Territory (February 2020), Victoria (July 2020), Western Australia (March 2022), New South Wales (June 2024).- High proportion of workers most at risk in Australian construction are on visa conditions, in labour-hire arrangements, or working through multiple layers of subcontracting.South Korea- The death of Kim Yong-gyun, a 24-year-old subcontracted worker, on 11 December 2018 at the Korea Western Power thermal plant in Taean. Kim was inspecting a malfunctioning coal conveyor belt alone on a night shift after only three hours of safety training. His mother led a national campaign in the months that followed.- The "Kim Yong-gyun Act" — amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act passed 27 December 2018, in force 16 January 2020.- The Serious Accidents Punishment Act, enacted 26 January 2021, in force 27 January 2022, making corporate officers criminally liable when their companies fail to prevent serious workplace accidents.New Zealand- The Pike River Mine disaster on 19 November 2010, when 29 miners were killed in a methane explosion at the underground coal mine on the West Coast of the South Island.- The Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy, reporting October 2012.- The establishment of WorkSafe New Zealand as a stand-alone regulator in December 2013.- The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, which passed Parliament with cross-party support.International- The International Labour Organization's Convention on Safety and Health in Construction (Convention No. 167), adopted 20 June 1988, in force 11 January 1991.REFERENCES[1] Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1944).[2] Pun Ngai, Made in China: Women Factory Workers in a Global Workplace (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005); Migrant Labor in China: Post-Socialist Transformations (Cambridge: Polity, 2016); Pun Ngai and Lu Huilin, "A Culture of Violence: The Labor Subcontracting System and Collective Actions by Construction Workers in Post-Socialist China," The China Journal 64 (2010): 143-158.[3] Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2024. https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/insights/key-whs-statistics-australia/latest-release[4] Commonwealth of Australia, Work Health and Safety Act 2011, and state and territory industrial manslaughter legislation across ACT (2003), Queensland (2017), Northern Territory (2020), Victoria (2020), Western Australia (2022), and New South Wales (2024).[5] Migrant Workers' Taskforce, Report of the Migrant Workers' Taskforce (March 2019); Laurie Berg and Bassina Farbenblum, Wage Theft in Australia (UNSW Sydney and UTS, 2017).[6] Republic of Korea, Serious Accidents Punishment Act, Act No. 17907; Al Jazeera, "South Korea puts CEOs on notice with contentious work safety law" (27 January 2022).[7] Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy, Report of the Royal Commission (Wellington: New Zealand Government, October 2012); Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (New Zealand).[8] International Labour Organization, C167 — Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167). Geneva: ILO, 1988.[9] E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (London: Victor Gollancz, 1963); Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 (1845); Steve Tombs and David Whyte, The Corporate Criminal (London: Routledge, 2015).FURTHER READINGKarl Polanyi, The Great Transformation (1944). Foundational text on labour as fictitious commodity and the political countermovement against treating workers purely as a market input.Pun Ngai, Migrant Labor in China (2016). Extended treatment of the political construction of migrant labour and the institutional weakening of supports around the migrant worker.E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (1963). Foundational labour history on the political formation of working-class consciousness through workplace politics.Steve Tombs and David Whyte, The Corporate Criminal (2015). On corporate harm and the political fight to make corporate violations of worker safety prosecutable.Joanna Howe et al., research on labour exploitation across Australian industries with significant migrant labour content.About the hostLiv Roe is a civic and political adviser based in Melbourne. She works with businesses, organisations, and individuals on the political and civic context of their work. Book a consultation at livroe.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit civicsandcommerce.substack.com