Richard Johnstone was the foundation Director of the National Research Centre for OHS Regulation (NRCOHSR), in the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet). He is now a Professor in the Law School (Queensland University of Technology) and continues his involvement as a Director of NRCOHSR. He is also an honorary Professor with the Work and Health Research Team at the University of Sydney.  Richard is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a member of the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) Standards Committee, and an editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Law.

Research interests: Labour law; Law and society; Environmental and occupational health and safety; Legal education

Research projects: Richard’s empirical research into work health and safety regulation has focused principally on inspection and enforcement. Past research includes a major study on work health and safety prosecution in Victoria, (Occupational Health and Safety, Courts and Crime, Federation Press, 2003); a major Australian Research Council funded research project on how the work health and safety inspectorates in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania have responded to the evolution of work health and safety process standard regulation; and smaller studies on enforcement in New South Wales, enforceable undertakings in work health and safety in Queensland, and health and safety work plans in the construction industry in Queensland.

Richard’s work health and safety books include Work Health and Safety Law and Policy (1st ed 1997; 2nd ed 2004; and third ed 2012, with Liz Bluff and Alan Clayton); Regulating Workplace Risks (2011, with David Walters et al); Occupational Health and Safety, Courts and Crime: The Legal Construction of Occupational Health and Safety Offences in Victoria (2003); Regulating Workplace Safety: Systems and Sanctions (with N Gunningham, 1999); OHS Regulation for a Changing World of Work (with E Bluff and N Gunningham (eds) 2004); and Regulating Workplace Risks: A Comparative Study of Inspection Regimes in Times of Change, (with D Walters, K Frick, M Quinlan, G Baril-Gingras and A Thébaud-Mony, 2011).

Richard’s current research is on the model Work Health and Safety Act 2011, and on work health and safety regulation and precarious work. The latter includes an Australian Research Council-funded project ‘Australian supply chain regulation: practical operation and regulatory effectiveness’.

Richard has authored or co-authored research reports and papers for government agencies, including the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, the Industry Commission, work health and safety regulators in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the Commonwealth and the ACT, the Department of Minerals and Energy NSW, Long Haul Trucking Safety Inquiry in NSW, the Queensland Mining Inspectorate, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, and the School for Social and Economic Policy Research in the Netherlands.