The Temporal Dependencies of Formal Rules for Occupational Safety and Health

Abstract

What the author sets out to achieve here is simple, namely, to provide a descriptive account of the temporal dependencies of occupational safety and health (OSH) rules in terms of the time-bound conditions inherent in these formal rules. And also temporal dependencies in terms of the temporally interdependent characters of formal OSH rules, or the fact that certain formal OSH rules possess variant temporal dependent meanings. The article considers the significance of temporality to statutory rules and judicial decisions concerning the safety and health protections accorded to workers in law. It presents the temporality of OSH law and policy proclamations in three ways: in terms of time of the past, that is, presenting workers OSH entitlements in law as formal protection that are determined by historical interpretations or meanings; in terms of time as the present, that is, explaining the rights of workers based on the existing positive rules of OSH law; and, in terms of time in view of the future, in which case OSH law and policy are presented in view of futuristic OSH rules, yet to be established OSH rules and the preventative paradigm for regulating the health and safety entitlements of workers. The ways in which time bend formal OSH rules are further presented in view of how recent European case laws and regulations influence: the jurisprudence of the preventative paradigm, statutory time-bar, the principle of direct effect in Francovich liability, and (quantum of) OSH liability. The article concludes that i) looking at temporality from these three canons of regulation is crucial for better forms of OSH regulation, and ii) that time is central to most OSH rules which are declared by formal authorities.