Worker representation in health and safety in Britain hasreceived statutory support since the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977. Subsequent developments have, however, acted to undermine the effectiveness of these regulations. The paper consequently discusses a range of reforms that could be introduced to strengthen the present regulatory regime.

This article sheds light on the role that the regulation of primarily domestic, rather than global, supply chains could play in protecting and enhancing standards of workplace health and safety, as well as employment standards more generally. The analysis presented confirms the potential relevance of such regulation in these regards. However, it also reinforces existing evidence pointing to the fact that only very rarely will marketrelated considerations on their own prompt purchasers to seek to directly influence the employment practices of their suppliers. The article ends therefore by highlighting a number of key issues relating to the design of regulatory initiatives aimed at protecting and enhancing employment conditions within supply chains.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The aim of the study is to examine the feasibility of comparing hospitals internationally and to highlight some of the barriers. Design/methodology/approach -Comparative analysis of anonymised patient-level data from hospitals in New Zealand and the UK. Findings -Comparisons were made of aggregate statistics. For example, it was found that average length of stay and death rates in New Zealand were lower than in the UK, although average severity was higher. Adverse reactions were higher in the New Zealand sample than in that of the UK. Research limitations/implications -There were data limitations associated with different coding conventions in the two countries. There may also be different coding conventions used when classifying data. The research attempted to correct for this, but some may remain. Originality/value -There are few cross-national comparisons of hospital performance. This paper shows that such analysis is possible. It is hoped that further effort can be put into addressing some of the data issues described above to further refine the results.

This article uses a survey of RCN safety representatives to examine the operation of the Safety Representatives andSafety Committees Regulations 1977. The survey's findings indicate that while NHS employers have become more supportive of such representatives, many are still failing to comply with their statutory obligations.

This article is based on a recent study of attempts by a range of British trade unions to access and engage with Polish migrant workers at the community or labour market level, rather than workplace level. The findings suggest that migrant workers can indeed be recruited at this level. Doubts are expressed, however, about the sustainability of new membership gained in this way. These doubts are linked to a marked absence of clear union strategies to create a longer-term nexus of interest with those who are recruited, of the type advocated in, for example, the North American ‘new labor movement’ literature. This absence – it is argued – may be less a reflection of a lack of strategic leadership than a product of the difficulties unions face in identifying viable strategies relating to the representation and organization of workers above the workplace level.