OSH & Poverty, what's the connection?

The general consensus is that a sure way to beat poverty is to find meaningful work. I have come to question this notion due to the various cases of occupational accidents I have investigated. For many, employment not only fails to ensure an effective conduit out of poverty but also further contributes to it. Occupational Safety and Health is often mentioned as a fundamental right of every worker, as stated in the ILO Convention (1919) and locally, the Occupational Safety & Health Act (2007). However, the state of occupational health and safety in developing countries like Kenya is especially problematic, with a majority of workers bound to work in unsafe environments with little or no concern for safety issues.

?The ILO estimates that some 2.3 million workers around the world succumb to work-related accidents or diseases every year; this corresponds to over 6000 deaths every single day.?However, developing countries’ population bear more than 80 percent of the global burden of occupational disease and injury. Therefore, it is no coincidence that approximately 80 percent of the poor live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia according to World Vision. This paints a direct relationship between poverty and poor occupational safety and health standards if numbers are anything to go by.

Why then does the working population opt for high risk non skilled jobs? The answer is universal, these high risk jobs pay better. ?Due to the minimal qualifications required, there is usually no shortage of people willing to risk their lives to make ends meet. Also family dynamics play a part in that families living below the poverty line are on average twice as large as those in middle to high income households. This pushes the able members to seek these work opportunities to cater to immediate needs of food and shelter.

With this steady supply of labour, employers show little or no responsibility to protect workers. As long as a worker gives their consent to work, it is assumed that they are willing to risk their lives without any compensation. Due to the limited job opportunities impoverished, uneducated and unskilled persons have, a majority of them end up doing the risky jobs with some working to a point of exhaustion. There is evidence that workers who work long hours show poorer performance and suffer an increased rate of accidents. This is due to the strong connection between working time and fatigue.

Occupational accidents and ill health have a serious economic burden. The out-of-pocket expenses for treatment can spawn disastrous household expenditure, acute debt and a higher level of poverty amongst the poor. Fortunate workers who receive compensation are often left with permanent disabilities which in turn affect their future earning potential and can also have to bare increased medical expenses. Occupational hazards thus increase the risk of extreme poverty, by severely impacting on the income capacity of the family, as a result of debilitating injury or even death of key earning members.

Such scenarios are far too common and has long term consequences, for example when children are taken out of school to provide care for the injured or sick. In this way, a vicious cycle begins marked by poverty and disability, which can be replicated from one generation to another. This goes to show that the cost of occupational injury has a high socio-economic impact on the injured workers, their families, society and the country as a whole. Therefore in the quest to eradicate poverty, focus should be equally placed on improving the working conditions of the majority population employed in the informal sector.

Good work environments are known to enhance productivity and as a result, profitability. Although we already have occupational safety and health legislation, employers lack motivation to comply with these laws due, in part, to poor visibility of enforcement agencies. Also the laws do not adequately address the non traditional work environments. According to the ILO, only 10% of the population in developing countries are covered by occupational health and safety laws.

Furthermore, health and safety ranks poorly amongst workers because the urgency to earn a living takes precedence over other concerns. There is a lack of awareness of the close relationship between work and health. Therefore workers fail to internalize the negative impact of poor health on productivity.

?My intention with this article is to highlight the link between poverty and occupational safety & health in order to illicit buy in from a wider spectrum of stakeholders. With more stakeholders participating in the promotion and regulation of OHS, we increase the potential for innovative and creative OHS strategies from a range of new and different perspectives.

As safety practitioners, our role is at the very least to create awareness on the poverty - OSH link to all stakeholders to help formulate localised interventions which can be incrementally improved over time.

How else does poor Occupational Safety & Health promote poverty? Comment below.

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References

Akram, O. (2014). Occupational Health, Safety and Extreme Poverty: A Qualitative Perspective from Bangladesh . IJOSH, 41-50.

DCP2. (2007, October). Developing Countries Can Reduce Occupational Hazards. Retrieved from Disease Control Priorities Project: https://pria-academy.org/pdf/OHS/DCPP-OccupationalHealth.pdf

ILO. (2021, January 1). World Statistic. Retrieved from ILO: https://www.ilo.org/moscow/areas-of-work/occupational-safety-and-health/WCMS_249278/lang--en/index.htm

Marriott, F. L. (2011). Occupational Health & Safety and the poorest. Durban: University of KwaZulu-Natal .

Peer, A. (2021, August 23). Global poverty: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. Retrieved from World Vision: https://www.worldvision.org/sponsorship-news-stories/global-poverty-facts#facts