My Expertise
Industrial relations; occupational health & safety (OHS). Outsourcing & subcontracting effects on OHS; jobs; precarious employment; workers' compensation; executive remuneration.
Biography
Michael Quinlan is emeritus professor in the School of Management and Governance and Director of the Industrial Relations Research Centre. His major expertise is the field of occupational health and safety (OHS) and risk, particularly aspects related to work organisation, management and regulation. In addition to publishing widely on OHS he has undertaken inquiries, investigations and audits for governments in Australia and New Zealand...view more
Michael Quinlan is emeritus professor in the School of Management and Governance and Director of the Industrial Relations Research Centre. His major expertise is the field of occupational health and safety (OHS) and risk, particularly aspects related to work organisation, management and regulation. In addition to publishing widely on OHS he has undertaken inquiries, investigations and audits for governments in Australia and New Zealand on safety in the trucking industry, mining and OHS regulatory regimes. He has also served as an expert on a number of government advisory bodies in Australia and New Zealand as well as helping to prepare reports on OHS for the World Health Organisation, European Commission, European Agency on Safety and Health at Work and International Labour Organisation. He currently serves on the editorial board of six academic journals based in Australia and the UK.
Research Interests:
- Occupational health & safety
- Precarious employment
- Immigrant/foreign and vulnerable workers
- Industrial relations/labour history
Research Grants:
- 2001-2005: Grant from National Heart Foundation for research project on occupational stress and health behaviours in low status workers (with Anthony LaMontagne, Rosalie A Aroni, John McNeil and Rory Wolfe)
- 2003-2005: Large Australian Research Council Discovery grant to explore the Implementation of Process Regulation in Occupational Health and Safety: A Comparative Study of Policy and Practice (with Richard Johnstone)
- 2005-2006: International Consultant to research grant on employment strain funded by Ontario Workers
My Grants
1979 Callus, R. Quinlan, M. & Rimmer, M. Ethnic Affairs Commission, New South Wales research grant to investigate working lives of migrants in public sector instrumentalities
1983 Quinlan, M. Professor T. Hanami/Ford Foundation travel grant to visit Japan to take part in preparation of book on Comparative Industrial Relations.
1985 Quinlan, M. Littler, C. Gardner, M. & Palmer, G. Federal Department of Employment and Industrial Relations grant for research into Management Attitudes to Industrial Democracy
1986 Quinlan, M. & Gardner, M. Griffith University Research Grant
1987-89 Gardner, M. & Quinlan, M. ARGS/ARC research grant on trade union growth, structure and strategy
1988-89 Quinlan, M. Member Queensland academic design group. Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Study (entailing research grants from the federal government)
1991 Quinlan, M. Awarded ACIRRT grant to convene conference on Research and Education in Occupational Health and Safety at the University of Sydney (and to edit book based on conference proceedings). Worksafe Australia made a matching grant for both the conference and the publication.
1994 Bohle, P. & Quinlan, M. National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) grant to develop postgraduate teaching module on occupational health and safety for management students.
1994 Mayhew, C. Quinlan, M. & Bennett, L. NOHSC grant to research OHS implications of subcontracting.
1996 Mayhew, C. & Quinlan, M. NOHSC grant to research OHS implications of clothing outwork.
2000 Quinlan, M. Grant from the Motor Accidents Authority of New South Wales to undertake inquiry into safety in the long haul trucking industry $35,000
2001-3 Bohle, P. Quinlan, M. & Williamson, A. Large Australian Research Council Discovery grant to explore OHS effects of precarious employment, $141,381.
2001 Quinlan, M. & Mayhew C. Grant for commissioned research brief from WorkCover New South Wales on developing strategies to address OHS and workers’ compensation responsibilities arising from changing employment relationships. $25,000
2001-5 LaMontagne, A. Aroni, R. McNeil, J. Quinlan, M. Wolfe, R. Grant from National Heart Foundation for research project on occupational stress and health behaviours in low status workers
2003-6 Johnstone, R. & Quinlan, M. Large Australian Research Council Discovery grant on the Implementation of Process Regulation in Occupational Health and Safety: A Comparative Study of Policy and Practice. $163,000
2005-6 Quinlan, M. International Consultant to research grant on employment strain funded by Ontario Workers’ Compensation Board, Canada (Wayne Lewchuk, Alice deWolf, Andy King, Leah Vosko and Emile Tompa).
2007 Bohle, P. & Quinlan, M. UNSW Goldstar grant ($30,000) Aging, Flexibility and OHS
2008 Quinlan, M. & Bohle, P. UNSW Goldstar grant ($30,000) Aging, Flexibility and OHS
2010-15 Employment precarity and poverty in Southern Ontario, Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada CURA Award (multiple investigators), $CAN1,000,000.
2011-13 Quinlan, M. Junor, A. Hampson, I. Barrett, G. Australian Research Council Linkage Grant on the Skill and Safety Effects of Outsourcing Heavy Aircraft Maintenance, $226,000.
2011-13 Bohle P. Quinlan, M. Mavromaras, K. Rawlings-Way, O. Caring for the carers: Occupational health and safety in homecare Australian Research Linkage Grant, $680,205.
2012-14 Bohle P, Quinlan M, Precarious employment: New knowledge, new solutions, ARC Discovery Grant, $345,000.
2012-14 Bohle, P. Matthews, L. Quinlan, M. Traumatic work-related death: Assessing and improving institutional responses to the needs of surviving families, ARC Discovery Grant, $356,430.
2020-2022 ARC Linkage Grant Conviction Politics: The convict roots of Australian democracy, with Professor Tony Moore, Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, Emeritus Professor Michael Quinlan et al, $757,205.
My Awards
Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, since 2015
My Engagement
Submissions to Government, Inquiries and unpublished reports and associated appointments/activities
Quinlan, M. (1977) Civil Service Unions and Staff Relations in Hong Kong, Report to British Foreign and Commonwealth Office February (component research report).
Quinlan, M. (1997), Submission to Joint Standing Committee on Law and Justice, Legislative Council of New South Wales, Inquiry into Workplace Safety, May. (2 citations)
Quinlan, M. (1999) Submission to Australian Senate Inquiry into Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment Bill 1999, September.
Quinlan, M. (2002) Gave formal evidence to Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria Inquiry into the conditions of clothing outworkers in Victoria, 15 July.
Quinlan, M. (2020) Engaged by Queensland Independent Board of Inquiry into mine explosion at Grosvenor mine and related matters to prepare expert report on matters pertinent to the inquiry including the use of labour hire workers along with expert statement and giving evidence to hearings of the Inquiry, July-August.
Published Reports
Matthews, L. Bohle, P. Quinlan M. & Rawlings-Way, O. (2011), Traumatic Work-Related Death in the Construction Industry: Experiences of Victims’ Families A Report prepared for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, Work and Health Research Team Ageing, Work and Health Research Unit The University of Sydney.
Croucher, R. Stumblitz, B. Quinlan, M. & Vickers. I. (2013) Can better working conditions improve the performance of SMEs? An international literature review, International Labour Organisation, Geneva.
Walters, D. Wadsworth, E. & Quinlan, M. (2013) Analysis of the determinants of workplace occupational safety and health practice in a selection of EU Member States, (plus Annexe) European Risk Observatory, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Luxembourg.
Appointments to government advisory bodies, directorships etc
Member, the steering committee Standards Development Standing Committee (SDSC) of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (Worksafe Australia) 1995-7.
Expert member, Queensland Metals Manufacturing Industry Workplace Health and Safety Committee, 1994-2000 (prior to this I was an expert member, Warehouse and Retail Industry Workplace Health and Safety Committee, Queensland, 1990 - 1993).
Member, Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Inter Industry Sub-Committee Reviewing Government Materials and Programmes 1993.
Member, Working Party for Review of Workplace Health Safety Program in the Department of Training and Industrial Relations, 1996.
Member, Taskforce on the Prevention and Management of Violence in the Health Workplace, NSW Department of Health, 2001-2.
Member, WorkCover NSW Year 2000 OHS Best Practice Committee, 1997-2000.
Member Expert Reference Group, Pike River Tragedy Implementation for Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand, 2012-2013
Member, Extractives Industry Advisory Group of Worksafe NZ Board, 2014 onwards.
Fellow, Safety Institute of Australia (1992-2018)
Patron, Workplace Tragedy Support Group, 2008-2019.
Director on the Board of the Transport Education Audit Compliance Health Organisation (TEACHO) since 2010.
Director, Mates in Construction, NSW Branch/Division since 2013
Member of the Industrial Relations Society, 1973-2018
Member of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, 1975 to present.
Secretary, Griffith University Faculty Staff Association (Registered Industrial Union of Employees), 1982-1984, 1985-1986
Member, Queensland Trades and Labor Council Occupational Health and Safety Committee, 1986-1994 & delegate, Queensland Trades and Labor Council, 1986
Member, Queensland Workers' Health Centre Co-operative 1981 to 1986
Member, Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand 1983 to present.
Member of Tasmanian History Research Association, 1985 to present.
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7877-1188
