Employment and work: an unhealthy, unsafe Faustian deal

Each industrial revolution brought with it the promise of a better society, but each one included collateral damage for the workforce: the destruction of skills and jobs and the undermining of basic occupational health and safety. Many of us are now experiencing the 4th industrial revolution. For the first time since the 1st Industrial Revolution, the concepts of work and employment are becoming disengaged. Employment requires the employer to take responsibility for the health and safety of the employee. This has raised important questions: if employment is reducing, what will the effects on the health and security of the workforce be? Trading employment for work leaves the issue of health and safety up in the air; what does that trade look like? This chapter explores the development of work and health, safety and risk through to the 4th industrial revolutions, providing an assessment of future directions.