Opinion - Editorials   

Premium on preventive measures

The International Labour Organisation's (ILO) 17th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, representing over 110 countries and held in Orlando, has urged governments to incorporate preventive measures in their Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) policies. The call is significant in the light of the estimate, made in a preliminary report released at the Congress, that 2.2 million people die annually on account of work-related accidents and diseases. Men are said to be at particular risk of dying at working age and women suffer from work-related communicable diseases, psycho-social factors, and long-term musculo-skeletal disorders. The numbers are of particular concern to developing countries, where injuries and illnesses relating to the workplace are on the increase, according to the report. The preponderance of hazardous occupations, especially in high-risk sectors such as mining, construction, and agriculture in developing countries — in contrast to the relatively safer service industries of banking and commerce in their Western counterparts — exposes workers to fatal injuries. The rapid development of the emerging economies and the pressures for greater competitiveness in terms of costs compound this challenge. Culture shock owing to transfers to other countries or from rural to urban settings, isolation among outsourced workers, and displacement on account of downsizing and mergers are said to have as much adverse impact on productivity as the more traditional factors such as chemical and biological hazards. Enhanced labour participation in decisions in the workplace has been cited in the Orlando Congress as a key to improving worker morale, which in turn eliminates stress and leads to reduction of costs.

Besides the humanitarian consequences to families, there is growing recognition among enterprises of the economic fallout of accidents and illnesses in the form of worker absenteeism which impacts negatively on productivity and efficiency. Trade unions should take advantage of this growing awareness to put pressure for better compliance with the ILO's OSH standards by governments at all levels and businesses. There is currently a wide divergence in the recording and reporting of injuries and illnesses in different countries, which is subject to administrative decisions and results in their under-reporting. A more comprehensive promotion of ILO safety standards, rather than exclusive focus on compensation for injuries and fatalities, is necessary to address some of these issues. This is surely a more direct response to emerging challenges than the demand to enhance the existing OSH Conventions to the status of core ILO conventions, or proposals for a new OSH Convention at the International Labour Conference 2006. The failure of developing countries to address problems of occupational health and safety might rebound on them in the form of international pressure to link these standards with trade negotiations.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Making speed with broadband
Premium on preventive measures
School reform: learning from Iqbal
Bird flu: how far and fast can it spread?
Public figures and private lives
Election Commission must be a fair umpire
Centre's stand
Apt cartoon
Laudable
BJP victory
AMU ruling
Voice of majority

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu