Occupational safety and health as a global challenge: From transnational social movements to a world social policy

Abstract This article examines the development of occupational safety and health (OSH) at the transnational and global level, including work-accident insurance and protection against occupational diseases. Through delving into documents and treaties of major international organizations and other secondary literature, I conclude that a transnational labor regime has emerged in the early twentieth century, evolving gradually into a system of global labor protection since the establishment of the International Labour Organization (ILO). This conceptual discovery confirms the thesis of “global institutionalization” and “global isomorphism” raised by neo-institutionalist “world-society” theorists. Moreover, by adding the theoretical angles and methods of transnationalism to the global social policy study, I demonstrate how historical transnational interactions and linkages and Western European advocacy networks have contributed to the global institutionalization of labor protection. The major finding is that the peer-groups of Western European countries, and in particular Germany, have played a key role in global discourses, while the clout of the Bretton Woods institutions and the US in this arena is surprisingly minimal. Finally, this article calls for integrating transnational horizontal ties and interactions into the neo-institutionalist sociological theory.