Comparative study on the strands of research on the governance model of international occupational safety and health issues

Safety and health have become important cornerstones of social development. However, occupational safety and health problems in developing countries, such as China, remain serious. How to effectively manage occupational safety and health problems has become an important question. Based on the perspectives of accidents, the economy, law, society, medical service, and macro governance, this study analyzed the various strands of the research undertaken by domestic and foreign scholars on occupational safety and health issues. Further, this study adopted the method of comparative analysis and inductive interpretation, in which the evolutionary trends of occupational safety and health governance in major developed countries, such as Australia, Germany, the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, are analyzed and compared in respect of the various countries' occupational safety and health management stages, the main events, the governance subjects, and the differences between the governance model and governance characteristics. It was found that "multiple + differential governance" had become the mainstream governance mode adopted by the major developed countries in occupational safety and health governance. This involves a diversity of the main administrative subjects and differences in the administrative systems and mechanisms. Among the developed countries, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other countries presented occupational safety and health governance characteristics of "government-led, multi-subject participation and collaboration." Germany adopted a cooperative governance model involving a dual management system between the government and the Federation of Industry and Commerce (Trade Council). Australia adopted a typical government-employer-employee tripartite mechanism and a self-regulatory model of equal cooperative governance. This study made a comparative analysis of the international occupational safety and health governance models and their development paths and learnt from the models adopted in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other countries. We then put forward a government-led and multi-subject collaborative governance model under the condition of "low-trust cost" suitable for China's national conditions in order to promote the improvement of China's occupational safety and health governance.