10.2190/WR.17.2.c M7K3820184684024 3 Vulnerability at Work: (Un)Safety Culture in Temporary Jobs 153 174 20140630 20140630 20140630 20140630 M7K3820184684024.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=M7K3820184684024 2 Elisa Bellè Anna Carreri Francesco Miele Annalisa Murgia University of Trento, Italy In recent years, many studies have highlighted particular changes in working conditions and in the composition of the workforce: among others, the increasing use of temporary contracts and the massive entrance of immigrant workers into Western labour markets. These structural changes imply the redefinition of health and safety standards and the introduction of a new analytical category, called "vulnerable work." In order to contribute to the debate, this article presents the results of a qualitative research project on the health and safety conditions of temporary workers carried out in a province of northeastern Italy. First, the aim of the article is to highlight the hazards and risks faced by temporary workers, which contribute to the production of a specific condition of vulnerability. The culturalist approach adopted here shows that the construction of (un)safety at work is the result of the intersection among different dimensions of vulnerability. Second, the article has an operational goal. On the basis of the research results, in particular on the basis of the interviews conducted with key informants, some recommendations for policymaking and human resource management are provided. In particular, the article points out that injuries sustained by temporary workers are often the consequence of an underestimation both of their specific risks and of a more general state of vulnerability.

Ambrosini, M., & Barone, C. 2007. Employment and working conditions of migrant workers. Retrieved from <a target="_blank" href='http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/studies/tn0701038s/tn0701038s.htm'>http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/studies/tn0701038s/tn0701038s.htm</a>

Appay, B., & Jefferys, S. 2009. Restructurations, precarisation, valeurs. Toulouse, France: Octares.

Barrett, B., & Sargeant, M. 2008. Health and safety issues in new forms of employment and work organization. International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 24: 243-261.

Barth, E., Roed, M., & Torp, E. 2002. Towards a closing of the gender pay gap: A comparative study of three occupations in six European countries. Retrieved from <a target="_blank" href='http://www.donne-lavoro.bz.it/download/297dextk3nU1m.pdf'>http://www.donne-lavoro.bz.it/download/297dextk3nU1m.pdf</a>

Belin, A., Zamparutti, T., Tull, K., Hernandez, G., & Graveling, R. 2011. Occupational health and safety risks for the most vulnerable workers. Retrieved from <a target="_blank" href='http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/201108/20110829ATT25418/20110829ATT25418EN.pdf'>http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/201108/20110829ATT25418/20110829ATT25418EN.pdf</a>

Berton, F., Richiardi, M., & Sacchi, S. 2009. Flex-insecurity: Perché in Italia la flessibilità del lavoro diventa precarietà. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.

Browne, I., & Misra, J. 2003. The intersection of gender and race in the labor market. Annual Review of Sociology, 29: 487-513.

Burgess, J., & Campbell, I. 1998. The nature and dimensions of precarious employment in Australia. Labour and Industry, 8(3): 5-21.

Castel, R. 1995. Les métamorphoses de la question sociale: Une chronique du salariat. Paris: Fayard.

Cox, S., & Flin, R. 1998. Safety culture: Philosopher's stone or man of straw? Work and Stress, 12: 189-201.

Di Nunzio, D. 2011. Rischi sociali e per la salute: Le condizioni di lavoro dei giovani in Italia. Rome: Ediesse.

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. 2007. Expert forecast on emerging psychosocial risks related to occupational safety and health. Retrieved from <a target="_blank" href='https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/7807118'>https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/7807118</a>

Gherardi, S. 2006. Organizational knowledge: The texture of workplace learning. Oxford: Blackwell.

Gherardi, S., & Nicolini, D. 2000. The organizational learning of safety in communities of practice. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9: 7-10.

Gherardi, S., Nicolini, D., & Odella, F. 1997. La cultura della sicurezza nei luoghi di lavoro. Sviluppo e Organizzazione, 162: 15-30.

Giovannone, M., & Tiraboschi, M. 2011. Work organisation, new forms of employment and good practices for occupational health and safety: Evidence from Italy within the European context. In M. Sargeant & M. Giovannone (Eds.), Vulnerable workers: Health, safety and well-being: 93-120. Farnham, UK: Gower Publishing.

Grimshaw, D., Ward, K., Rubery, J., & Beynon, H. 2001. Organisations and the transformation of the internal labour market in the UK. Work, Employment and Society, 15: 25-54.

Heyes, J., & Gray, A. 2003. The implications of the National Minimum Wage for training in small firms. Human Resource Management Journal, 13(2): 76-86.

Ibáňez, M., & Narocki, C. 2012. Occupational risk and masculinity: The case of the construction industry in Spain. Journal of Workplace Rights, 16: 195?217.

Kalleberg, A. L. 2009. Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American Sociological Review, 74: 1-22.

Lucas, R. 2004. Employment relations in the hospitality and tourism industries. London: Routledge.

Mitlacher, L. W. 2008. Job quality and temporary agency work: Challenges for human resource management in triangular employment relations in Germany. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19: 446-460.

Palidda, S. 2008. Mobilità umane: Introduzione alla sociologia delle migrazioni. Rome: Cortina.

Pidgeon, N. 1991. Safety culture and risk management in organizations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 22: 129-141.

Quinlan, M., Mayhew, C., & Bole, P. 2001. The global expansion of precarious employment, work disorganization, and consequences for occupational health: Placing the debate in a comparative historical context. International Journal of Health Services, 31: 507-536.

Rathod, J. M. 2010. Beyond the "chilling effect": Immigrant worker behavior and the regulation of occupational safety and health. Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal, 14: 267-294.

Rodgers, G., & Rodgers, J. 1989. Precarious jobs in labour market regulation: The growth of atypical employment in Western Europe. Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies.

Sargeant, M., & Giovannone, M. 2011. Vulnerable workers: Health, safety and well-being. Farnham, UK: Gower Publishing.

Sayad, A. 2008. L'immigrazione o i paradossi dell'alterità: L'illusione del provvisorio. Verona, Italy: Ombre Corte.

Sennett, R. 1998. The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York: W. W. Norton.

Standing, G. 2011. The precariat: The new dangerous class. London: Bloomsbury.

Tsianos, V., & Papadopoulos, D. 2006. Precarity: A savage journey to the heart of embodied capitalism. Transversal, 2006 (11).

TUC Commission on Vulnerable Employment. 2008. Hard work, hidden lives: The full report of the Commission on Vulnerable Employment. Retrieved from <a target="_blank" href='http://www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk/files/CoVE_full_report.pdf'>http://www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk/files/CoVE_full_report.pdf</a>

Turner, B. A. 1992. The sociology of safety. In D. Blockey (Ed.), Engineering safety: 186-201. London: McGraw Hill.

Underhill, E., & Quinlan, M. 2011. How precarious employment affects health and safety at work: The case of temporary agency workers. Relations Industrielles, 66: 397-421.

Walby, S. 2007. Complexity theory, systems theory, and multiple intersecting social inequalities. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 37: 449-470.

Walker, G. W. 2010. A safety counterculture challenge to a "safety climate." Safety Science, 48: 333-341.