Safety and health in agri-food sector supply chains: the power of combining contractual and relational governance

Introduction

Occupational safety and health (OSH) has a natural focus on the workplaces where humans work. Yet, the development of international supply chains during the last decades is challenging the traditional approach. Contemporary production – both material and immaterial – is organised in extensive supply chain networks where the individual producer controls only a limited part of the complete production process and is very dependent on buyer requirements. Furthermore, downstream multinationals often have the power to govern upstream suppliers. The consequence is that the specification of a product to a considerable extent is decided by – not the producer – but…