Time to get serious about tackling occupational accidents and diseases

The business case for occupational safety and health has never been clearer. This follows the recent landmark resolution on the inclusion of a safe and healthy working environment in the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) framework of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

At this year’s International Labour Conference in the iconic Palais des Nations in Geneva, the right to safe and healthy work environment was given the long-demanded parity to other existing fundamental rights (the right of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of forced labour, the abolition of child labour, and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation). Key occupational safety and health international instruments, Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981 (No. 155) and the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention 2006 (No. 187) were also considered as fundamental conventions.

This decision comes at a time when staggering figures on the cost of inaction continue to alert, with up-to-date estimates evidencing that more than three million workers die each year because of a workplace accident or work-related illness. Meanwhile, many others suffer from workplace injuries, health problems and work-related illnesses, often severely restricting their ability to live a normal life.

Despite this tipping point, raising occupational safety and health standards globally is just the just the beginning of a long process ahead. While it is of upmost importance to tackle unsafe and unhealthy working conditions through legislative action, promoting a greater level of accountability for governments and stronger obligations on organisations has proven to be anything but straightforward.

For decades, a significant number of states remain sceptical about their willingness to ratify and implement ILO conventions on occupational safety and health matters, with many others being reluctant to draw up improvements on their national systems.

It is true that the ratification of occupational safety and health conventions tells only one side of a story – as enforcement and capacity building are needed together with sustainable business practices – but it is a critical aspect, as engaging in the ratification process indicates their political appetite for legislative changes to be considered. An example of this can be seen in the low levels of uptake in ratifications of the recent C190 – Convention on Violence and Harassment or with more traditional conventions on issues such as occupational health services, asbestos, occupational cancer, chemicals or major industrial accidents.

For that reason, the consensus that was achieved by representatives from 187 governments in Geneva, together with employers’ and workers’ representatives, for adding a new fundamental human principle and right does need to shift from its declaratory nature to a constitutive instrument that needs to be sustained over time.

This development should build on a human-centred approach to the world of work that uplifts the need for safe and healthy working conditions as fundamental to decent work and a key contributor towards employment growth, dignified work, and more resilient societies.

Other anticipated issues that governments might want to address can come from how decent work aspects are included in future trade and investment agreements. Revisiting existing deficits will help to ensure that occupational health and safety standards are properly considered as part of binding commitments on labour and social standards. This is important in the current economic context, as it will help to ensure compliance in a traditionally challenging area, as the demand for improved protections and provisions are increasingly present in trade and investment agreements and in global supply chains’ due diligence practices.

Whether we should expect states to proactively engage in this agenda is yet to be determined but this is, without any doubt, a good place to start.

This article was published on the 30th of June 2022 on the IOSH website?https://iosh.com/news/time-to-get-serious-about-tackling-occupational-accidents-and-diseases/