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Ahead of Human Rights Day next week, Richard Jones CFIOSH, former head of policy at IOSH, highlights key public policy developments.
The right to safety and health at work has been recognised as a human right by most countries since the 1970s and, many stakeholders advocate, should also be listed among fundamental principles and rights at work. Yet, tragically, around two million people are killed by work annually and many front-line workers have contracted COVID-19. So, as the world tackles deadly threats – from the pandemic to climate change – and Amnesty International flags migrant worker abuse in the run-up to next year’s World Cup in Qatar, how can policy protect lives and livelihoods and ensure inclusivity and decent work?
Lifting standards
International standards, influenced by OSH professionals, can act as life-, planet- and business-saving springboards to public good and ‘social licence 2022’.
Encouragingly, ISO 45001 (OSH management systems) has been adopted by around 200,000 organisations, helping protect workers worldwide. And the ‘social licence’ toolbox is growing, including ISO 45001 tools on psychosocial risk and safe work during COVID-19, and further guides to come on implementation, performance evaluation and infectious diseases. Other OSH-related standards have been published, on climate change, travel risk, governance, social value and lab biorisk for example, and the British Standards Institute (BSI) is developing a new social management system specification and guide on modern slavery risk management.
Tackling vulnerability
Increasing global impetus for sectoral reforms in the aftermath of the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster has seen a new international accord for OSH in the textile and garment sector, and an International Labour Organization (ILO) draft code of practice on OSH. In addition, transparency on corporate performance is being bolstered with a revised corporate human rights benchmark and a new UK government registry for modern slavery statements.
Protecting people’s rights
With a proposed EU due diligence law recognising the need to protect people’s basic rights, public opinion endorses more effective regulation. More than 80% of EU citizens polled support EU laws holding companies accountable for human rights violations and environmental harms, and businesses and investors in the UK are calling for a new human rights due diligence law.
Recently, the UN Council on Human Rights passed a resolution recognising a healthy environment as a human right, potentially benefiting communities and workers worldwide. Such international consensus can help drive national policies, trade and investment to prioritise access to clean air and water. And ISO’s ground-breaking London Declaration now pledges that climate science will be factored into all standards.
Social sustainability
The multiple occupational gains from healthy environments are clear, as highlighted by the World Health Organization’s 2019 air pollution and health conference. OSH professionals welcomed this and once again urged action to prevent global work-related disease, protect vulnerable workers and help those with ill health or disability at work, supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Today’s leading organisations see not only that OSH professionals inform OSH public policy (see ILO paper), but that they are also solution-driven enablers. This vital role helps decision-makers translate policy into practice, aims into actions and resolutions into results – thereby lifting standards, saving lives and supporting ‘social licence 2022’. For more on social sustainability, see IOSH’s campaign, Catch the Wave.