Occupational Safety and Health as Fundamental Right at Work: The Facts, The Challenges

    


    


    Figure 1: National system for OSH according to C187.

    

Implementation of OSH fundamental convention cannot be dissociated from the provisions of other conventions on OSH. The whole ILO OSH standards system offers an integral framework to build a strong OSH system as specified on the annex of R197 - Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation, 2006 (No. 197) [7]. As examples, C161 - Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985 (No. 161) [8] focuses on occupational health services, providing guidance on the establishment and maintenance of services that contribute to the health of workers. This complements C155 by emphasizing the health aspect of OSH. Together, they ensure a holistic approach to both safety and health in the workplace. Construction sites present specific risks and hazards. C167 - Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167) [9] focuses on safety and health in the construction industry, providing guidelines on risk prevention, training, and safety measures. When integrated with Conventions 155 and 187, it ensures a targeted approach to addressing construction-related OSH challenges.

Main Challenges in Term of OSH

OSH continues to pose a global challenge worldwide. The national dialogues on the future of work conducted during the ILO centenary initiatives conclude to the need for good health [10]. The ILO Centenary declaration on the future of work highlights the fundamental place safety and health working conditions to insure decent work [11].

Only 80 countries (42% of Member-States) ratified C155 and 61 (32% of Member-States) ratified C187 (Table 1). Several countries who haven’t yet ratified one or the other of OSH fundamental conventions have implement number of measures included in the conventions. Nearly all ILO Member-States have an authority or body responsible for OSH. 79% have a national tripartite body and 73% have provisions in national legislature for the establishment of workplace OSH committees. 47% of ILO Member-States have a national OSH policy and 34% have a national OSH programme. 171 countries have developed recording and notification systems for occupational injuries and diseases Overall, workers in 68% of Member-States are protected from undue consequences if they remove themselves from dangerous situations [12]. However these averages mask disparities between countries and within the same country. For example, even 47% of countries developed an OSH policy, this percentage falls to 26% in low-income countries. According to the ILO, it was estimated that only about 14% of workers globally have access to effective OSH services. Some sectors (public sector, health, mining...) or specific workers (apprentices, subcontractors, self-employed…) in some countries are not covered by OSH regulations. In other countries, penalties for violating safety regulations are relatively low, which contribute to a lack of deterrence and a decreased incentive for employers to prioritize safety measures. Barriers to effective OSH enforcement can include inadequate resources, a lack of skilled personnel, and challenges in implementing and monitoring safety measures.

Continued transformations in the world of work, especially those arising from new technologies, are both offering new opportunities to improve workplace safety and creating new risks. On the one hand, new technologies are making working environments safer as advanced robotics are keeping workers out of harm’s way in some traditional (often dangerous) machine processes. On the other hand, there is a large and growing array of hazardous chemicals, notably new and potentially hazardous materials related to nanotechnologies and new work processes [13].

Inadequate training and education on OSH contribute to a lack of awareness. The ESENER-2 survey (Second European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks) conducted by the EU-OSHA (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work), reveals that only 36% of establishments across the EU-28 provide training to their workers on psychosocial issues with over half of establishments (56%) with more than 250 workers [14].

Emerging and re-emerging risks constitute a major OSH challenge. Globally 15% of working-age adults live with amental disorder [15]. A number of studies have shown that a lack of job security, caused by restructuring, and contractual arrangements such as temporary and third-party contracts, may also give rise to psychosocial risks [16]. For example, while recent technological advances, such as telework and ICT-mobile work (T/ICTM), create greater autonomy, they also appear to be associated with higher levels of work intensity, as they blur the boundaries between workplace and home, as well as between time spent on and off the job [17]. Given that temporary workers are often ineligible to join the trade union at their workplace, they tend to be in a weaker position to safeguard their own health and well-being [18]. Global health crisis and their impacts on the world of work should be taken in account when modelling OSH for the future. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the impact of health crises on OSH, leading to the loss of millions of jobs globally. ILO estimated decline in working hours of around 10.7 per cent on the second quarter of 2020 compared to the last quarter of 2019, which is equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs (assuming a 48-hour working week). Healthcare workers faced heightened risks due to exposure to the virus and shortages of protective equipment, underscoring the need for resilient OSH measures during global health emergencies. Climate change-related factors introduce new risks to workers (heat stress, vector-borne diseases, air pollution, major industrial accidents…). According to ILO estimates, 1.2 billion jobs or 40 per cent of the global labour force are at risk because of environmental degradation [19]. Between 2000 and 2015, 23 million working-life years were lost annually because of various environment-related hazards, caused, or exacerbated by human activity [20]. Outdoor workers particularly in agriculture, construction, fishing and transport are more vulnerable to climate-induced risks emphasizing the importance of integrating climate change considerations into OSH policies.

Young workers, migrants, women, workers in informal economy and persons with disabilities constitutes vulnerable groups and are more affected by occupational risks. Young workers are a vulnerable group, at higher risk of occupational injury and exposure to substances and working conditions that can cause occupational disease and health problems later in life. In the United States, the risk that young workers aged 15-24 will suffer occupational injury is approximately twice as high as it is for workers aged 25 or older [21]. In Europe, the rate of non-fatal work accidents is more than 40 per cent higher among young workers aged 18–24 as compared to older workers [22]. The informal economy comprises more than half of the global labour force and more than 90% of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) worldwide [23]. Workers in informal sectors, such as construction, lack legal protections and safety measures, leading to higher rates of workplace accidents and health risks. In developing countries, construction workers often face hazardous conditions without proper safety standards, illustrating the critical need for extending OSH measures to the informal economy.

The ILO global strategy on OSH: A response to the challenges

To face these different challenges and guarantee safe and healthy working environment to all workers, ILO Governing Body adopted in October 2023 the ILO Global Strategy on OSH (GS-OSH) 2024-2030 and the action plan for its implementation (Figure 2) [24]. This new strategy builds on the 2003 Global Strategy on OSH [25]. The goal of the strategy is to support ILO constituents in accelerating progress towards the promotion, respect, and progressive realization of the fundamental right to a safe and healthy working environment worldwide and, ultimately, to contribute to a global decrease in the number of occupational fatalities, injuries and diseases, along with a reduction in the associated socio-economic costs. The strategy calls upon ILO constituents to accelerate action towards continuous improvement in building a preventative safety and health culture, as defined in C187, with the support of the Office. The strategy confirms the commitment of the ILO and its constituents to advancing social justice [26], by protecting the health and lives of workers and promoting decent work for all.

    


    


    Figure 2: ILO Global Strategy on OSH [21].