This oral history project forms part of a doctoral thesis exploring the historical development of the British system of occupational health and safety regulation. Engaging with recent historical scholarship on occupational health and safety, the thesis explores the social, cultural, political and economic conditions that shaped the development of the British system of occupational health and safety regulation between 1961 and 2001, including the origins and work of two regulatory bodies: the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE). To understand the factors that contributed to key policy decisions in health and safety regulation, including new regulations, voluntary standards, and codes of practice, the grant holder/principal investigator interviewed eight senior former members of the HSC and HSE, including trade union and employer representatives. All contributors provided consent for their interviews to be audio recorded and made accessible in a public archive. The oral history component of the doctoral research project received ethical approval from the LSHTM Observational Research Ethics Committee.Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at www.rcuk.ac.uk/StudentshipTerminology. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

A semi-structured interview format was used to elicit the experiences and memories of eight senior former members of the HSC and HSE. Interviewees were free to guide the conversations into areas they found interesting or useful, as opposed to relying on prompts from the interviewer. The interviews ranged in duration, with interviewees free to stop the conversation at any time. Comfort breaks were taken when convenient; this is signified by a break in the recording and the creation of a new audio file in the same series.