Cooperation about safety and joint responsibility between managers and workers is one of the cornerstones of health and safety work. Drawing on an understanding of safety as practice, this study attempts to empirically unpack the difference between cooperation as engaging with local knowledge and the disciplining of unsafe behaviour.

As our more recent work has shown, ethnographic engagements in the construction industry reveal social, experiential and often unspoken ways of knowing. It is vital to understand these aspects in order to address any of the industry’s enduring challenges, such as worker training and safety, as well as to engage with the possibilities and opportunities...