This book investigates how legal frameworks can effectively influence internal organizational self-regulation to improve occupational health and safety outcomes. Authors Neil Gunningham and Richard Johnstone, both established scholars in socio-legal studies, analyze the limitations of traditional command-and-control regulation. They propose a dual-track regulatory model that incentivizes enterprises to adopt safety management systems while maintaining traditional oversight as a baseline for compliance.

Experts in the field of socio-legal studies recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the complexities of regulatory design in corporate environments. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of how law interacts with internal organizational management.