Risk-Taking and Compliance

The HSW Act, 1974, has tried to tackle the problem of assigning responsibility within organizations by the introduction of safety policies which identify responsible individuals (see Ch. 6). But as we have seen this has not removed the controversy about the extent to which individuals can be held responsible for what some regard as a lack of systemic safeguards.  

Different theoretical traditions have identified different reasons for compliance (Olsen, 1992). Let us begin by considering the literature on corporate compliance. 

There are a number of explanations of corporate compliance and non-compliance which to varying extents relate to the classical model of business in its assumption that businesses will pursue their self-interest above all else. The most clearly related explanation is that profitability is a pressure against compliance (Sigler and Murphy, 1988 56). In its most extreme forms, this argument holds that profitability is the dominant overriding concern of business to the 

The most common explanation of workplace deviance is ignorance or a lack of awareness of the law (Brittan, 1984 Clay, 1984 Dawson et al., 1988 Genn, 1993). Sigler and Murphy (1988 139) claim that ignorance is widespread. A related explanation of non-compliance is a lack of awareness of the risks associated with non-compliance (Sigler and Murphy, 1988 80 ch. 8 this volume). 

Some explanations of non-compliance focus on the workplace. For instance, non-compliance may be associated with a negative corporate culture where compliance is not encouraged and where there may be peer pressure not to comply (Massey, 1979 Sigler and Murphy, 1988 Whitehurst, 1977). Low worker morale was a major reason for non-compliance identified by occupational health and safety inspectors in Britain (Hutter, 1997). Low morale could result for a variety of reasons. For instance, it could be a consequence of low pay or industrial action such as a work to rule or strike. Often, of course, these factors were related. A positive corporate culture, however, could encourage compliance and lead to intra-organizational pressures to comply (Bardach and Kagan, 1982). 

---