Decent work = Safe work · action to improve social protection and conditions of life and work throughout the world. The International Labour Office, in Geneva, is the permanent Secretariat

No. 63, August 2008

In this issue

Decent work = Safe workOccupational and at worksafety health

Promoting safe and healthy jobs: The ILO Global Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment •A dynamic vision of prevention: The International Social Security Association (ISSA) • Saving lives, protectingjobs: HIV/AIDS and the world of work • New hazards in call centres • Photo report: Working at 1700º C

WORLD OF WORK, NO. 63, AUGUST 2008

World of Work magazine is published threetimes a year by the Department ofCommunication and Public Informationof the ILO in Geneva. Also published in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Finnish,French, Hindi, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanishand Swedish.

EDITOR

May Hofman ÖjermarkSPANISH EDITION

In collaboration with the ILO Office, MadridPRODUCTION MANAGER

Kiran Mehra-KerpelmanPRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Corine LuchiniPHOTO EDITOR

Marcel CrozetART DIRECTION

MDP, ILO TurinCOVER DESIGN

M. Montesano, ILO Turin,Cover Photo by M. CrozetEDITORIAL BOARD

Thomas Netter (Chair), Charlotte Beauchamp,May Hofman Öjermark, Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman, Corinne Perthuis, Hans vonRohland

This magazine is not an official document ofthe International Labour Organization. Theopinions expressed do not necessarily reflectthe views of the ILO. The designationsemployed do not imply the expression of anyopinion whatsoever on the part of the ILOconcerning the legal status of any country, areaor territory, or of its authorities, or concerningthe delimitation of its frontiers.Reference to names of firms and commercialproducts and processes does not imply theirendorsement by the ILO, and any failure tomention a particular firm, commercial prod-uct or process is not a sign of disapproval.Texts and photographs may be freely repro-duced with mention of source (except photoagency photographs). Written notification isappreciated.

All correspondence should be addressed tothe ILO Department of Communication andPublic Information, CH-1211 Geneva 22,Switzerland.Tel: +4122/799-7912Fax: +4122/799-8577Email: [email protected]/communication

Printed by ILO TurinISSN 1020-0010

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This year marks the tenth anniversary of the

adoption of the ILO Declaration on Fundamen-

tal Principles and Rights and Work and the 60th

anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom of

Association and Protection of the Right to

Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87). This Con-

vention and the Right to Organise and Collec-

tive Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) are

the main international instruments on the sub-

ject. The promotion of these Conventions across

the globe and the deliberations by the ILO

supervisory bodies on their implementation

have influenced much national legislation and

practice over the last six decades.

The freedoms to associate and to bargain col-

lectively are fundamental rights, rooted in the

ILO Constitution and the 1944 Declaration of

Philadelphia. They may also be classified as

“civic rights”, an integral element of civil liber-

ties and democracy – studies show a strong rela-

tionship between democracy and respect for

freedom of association and collective bargaining

rights. But the exercise of these rights requires a

conducive and enabling environment.

Convention No. 87 has been ratified by 148

of the ILO’s 182 member States. Observance and

implementation in all ILO member States,

whether or not they have ratified the relevant

Conventions, are subject to the supervisory pro-

cedure of the ILO Governing Body’s Committee

on Freedom of Association.

Globalization has profoundly affected the

world of work, bringing with it structural and

technological changes and intensified global

competition. Collective bargaining systems face

new challenges, even when their importance as a

means of cooperation between workers and

employers for economic prosperity and job

security is fully recognized. These challenges are

examined in this year’s Global Report Freedom

of association in practice: Lessons learned, which

details new initiatives that promote freedom of

association, ranging from company codes of

conduct to labour clauses in regional economic

integration arrangements or in bilateral and

multilateral trade agreements. International

workers’ and employers’ organizations have

been more effective, international framework

agreements have grown in number.

Whatever the future holds, it’s clear that Con-

vention No. 87 will continue to inform and

inspire the ILO response to the challenges of

globalization. Indeed, the ILO Declaration on

Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, adopted

by the International Labour Conference in June

2008, specifically underlined that “freedom of

association and the effective recognition of the

right to collective bargaining are particularly

important to enable the attainment of the four

strategic objectives”.

ILO Freedom of Association Convention, 60 years on

1948: conferring in San Francisco at the 31st InternationalLabour Conference where Convention No. 87 was adopt-ed. Left to right: Assistant Director-General G. A. John-ston; Director-General Edward Phelan; Legal AdviserC.W. Jenks (later to become Director-General), andAssistant Director-General Jef Rens

1962: as the total number of ratifications of internationallabour Conventions tops the 2,500 mark, Angelos Vlachos,Permanent Delegate of the Greek Government, signs theformal instruments of ratification of Convention No. 87 inthe presence of Deputy Director-General Jef Rens, observedby Nicolas Valticos, internationally renowned lawyer andresponsible for standards activities of the ILO

WORLD OF WORK, NO. 63, AUGUST 2008 3

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A dynamic vision of prevention:The International Social Security Association (ISSA)

Shining a light of hope:Social security for health in the informal economy

Saving lives, protecting jobs:New horizons in the fight against HIV/AIDS at work

Calling up new hazards

Photo report: Working at 1700°C

C O V E R S T O R Y

Promoting safe and healthy jobs:The ILO Global Programme on Safety,Health and the Environment (SafeWork)

Created in 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) brings together governments, employers and workers of its 182 member States in commonaction to improve social protection and conditions of life and work throughout the world. The International Labour Office, in Geneva, is the permanentSecretariat of the Organization.

G E N E R A L A R T I C L E S

F E A T U R E S

Safety and health at work

Planet Work

• Making work safer

News

• 97th International Labour Conference

• Tuvalu becomes 182nd ILO member State

• ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a

Fair Globalization

• World Day Against Child Labour 2008 focuses

on education as the “right response”

• ILO launches year-long campaign

“Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work”

• XVIIIth World Congress on Safety and Health

concludes with call for new global partnership

to improve work safety

Around the Continents

Media Shelf

Safety and health at work has been a major aimof the ILO since its founding in 1919. This issueof World of Work focuses on the work beingdone around the world to improve occupation-al safety and health (OSH) in the context ofglobalization.

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ILO codes of practice

Occupational injuries statistics:

An ILO manual on methods

Fundamental principles of occupational

health and safety

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Promoting safe and healtThe ILO Global Programme on Safety,

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The adoption in 2006 of a far-reaching ILOConvention (No. 187) and Recommenda-tion (No. 197) concerning the Promotion-al Framework for Occupational Safety and

Health provides a key tool in the struggle to meetthe challenges of OSH in today’s fast-paced, glob-alized economy. In this article Dr. Sameera Al-Tuwaijri, Director of the ILO Safework Pro-gramme, describes these challenges and how theILO is responding to them.

GENEVA – The ILO estimates that 337 millionaccidents occur on the job annually, while thenumber of people suffering from work-related dis-eases is close to 2 million. These mistakes amountto approximately 2.3 million deaths each year, with650,000 of them due to hazardous substances –double the number of a few years ago.

The economic burden of poor OSH practices isstaggering. Roughly 1.25 trillion US dollars is

siphoned off annually by costs such as lost workingtime, workers’ compensation, the interruption ofproduction, and medical expenses. Beyond the eco-nomic issues, we have a moral obligation: thehuman costs are far beyond unacceptable.Although work should not be a dangerous under-taking, in reality it kills more people than wars do.

Why is this, when there is an unprecedented vol-ume of research and knowledge about risk man-agement, and large numbers of legal instruments,technical standards, guidelines, training manuals,and practical information available?

A closer look at the statistics shows that,although industrialized countries have seen steadydecreases in the numbers of occupational accidentsand diseases, this is not the case in countries cur-rently experiencing rapid industrialization or thosetoo poor to maintain effective national OSH sys-tems, including proper enforcement of legislation.

In developing countries, standards and practices

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hy jobs:Health and the Environment (Safework)

are often far below acceptable levels and the rate ofaccidents has been increasing rather than decreas-ing. Rapid globalization has led to technologicalchange and competitive pressures in the scramblefor capital that often induce employers in theseregions to regard occupational safety and health asan afterthought. The potential for institutions withthe capacity to act on a worldwide level to mobilizethe forces of globalization for positive change mustbe realized to reverse these trends.

This is where the ILO can really make a differ-ence. Its tripartite organizational structure ofworkers, employers, and governments is well suitedto the initiation and facilitation of far-reachingprogrammes. It also possesses the resources andthe global mandate to coordinate the exchange ofknowledge and ideas on OSH. This is why we haveevery reason for optimism as we push for decentwork for all in the 21st century through the Pro-motional Framework for Occupational Safety andHealth, 2006 – part of the ILO’s Global Strategy onOccupational Safety and Health (see sidebar).

ChallengesFour major challenges must be overcome if we

are to realize the promise of the ILO’s Global Strat-egy on OSH:

●● The need for a stronger political will to improveOSH standards. While legislation often exists,many nations fail to give “teeth” to the law inthat they do not provide adequate implementa-tion and enforcement mechanisms. Both ade-quate resources and the willingness to follow upon progress are required for effective enforce-ment to take place. If OSH is high on the list ofpolitical priorities, it will be continually exam-ined, reviewed, and refined.

●● Better opportunities for education and on-the-jobtraining. The importance of education will onlyincrease as the pace of technological advance-ment accelerates. The technical safety trainingthat is required in most industries can be very

complex. For example, a truck driver must knowhow to handle his vehicle in a wide variety of sit-uations and weather conditions. But safety canalso be as simple as understanding the impor-tance of wearing safety goggles or turning offmachines before cleaning them. Vocationaltraining centres, governments, and enterprisesthemselves must all take part in educating work-ers on avoiding unnecessary accidents and thecontraction of diseases.

For ILO SafeWork, the best way to reach as manyworkers as possible is through a “training the train-ers” approach. This means that we gather together asmany officials that are responsible for OSH in vari-ous industries or geographic regions as we can, andtrain them on the latest best practices in the appro-priate fields. ILO Training Centres have been espe-cially helpful in this aim. We also strive to apply thisapproach to those who need OSH education themost, for example workers in devel-oping countries and/or vulnerableworkers in the informal economy.One example of this is the WorkImprovements in Small EnterprisesProgramme (WISE), which has beenused to great success in several coun-tries such as Mongolia. This focuseson the particular challenges facingsmall or family-owned businesses.

●● Improved awareness of OSH issues,closely related to the concern overeducation. A culture of preven-tion must be established withinthe workplace for OSH measuresto make significant headway. Evenif governments, businesses, andunions do everything correctly,accidents will still occur if workersshow little regard for their ownsafety. The process of training andeducation, in addition to effectivedisciplinary measures, can go along way in alerting workers to

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threats to their well-being. And if a noticeablechange in the regard for safety is shown withinthe general workforce, this can in turn influencebusinesses and governments to take moreproactive stances.

●● Wider partnerships that integrate many layers ofsociety. No one entity can tackle all the chal-lenges that must be addressed. Governments canlegislate, enforce, and advise. Businesses caneducate and perform self-compliance. Workerscan push for their rights and strictly observe allsafety regulations. If all these moving parts worktogether in a synergistic manner, the potential

for progress is boundless. International organi-zations such as the ILO have a large role to playin coordinating and facilitating the partnershipsnecessary to achieve these aims. The GlobalStrategy on Occupational Safety and Health wasformulated with this in mind.

An important aspect of the Plan of Action forthe ILO’s Global Strategy on OSH is technical assis-tance and cooperation. One example is the ILO-Volkswagen-GTZ project. GTZ is a German inter-national cooperation agency for sustainabledevelopment with worldwide operations. Volkswa-gen, in line with its corporate social responsibilityinitiatives, would also like to see better labourstandards applied to its suppliers, many of whomare in South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil. VW andGTZ are funding an ILO project through SafeWorkto strengthen the labour inspectorates of thesethree countries, especially in relation to VW sup-pliers. Joint inspections between the company andthe government, with an emphasis on advisory ini-tiatives to assist the suppliers in pursuing saferpractices, have experienced great success. The ILO,through public/private partnerships such as thisone, has the capacity to foster growth in many areasof the OSH field, especially education and theestablishment of a preventative culture.

National OSH systemsIn recent years, governments, enterprises and

international organizations have all been givinggreater attention to the need to adopt systematicmodels for managing OSH. A major aim of the ILOGlobal Strategy on OSH is the development ofnational OSH policies, systems, programmes, andprofiles through a management systems approach.OSH is a complex subject, involving a large num-ber of specific disciplines and a wide range ofworkplace and environmental hazards. NationalOSH systems need somehow to capture thesecomplexities if they are to function coherently andeffectively.

While national policies will vary greatly basedon regional cultures, customs, and political situ-ations, they should all operate within the relativelybroad framework set out in the new PromotionalFramework for Occupational Safety and HealthConvention, 2006 (No.187) and in accordance withthe Occupational Safety and Health Convention,1981 (No. 155).

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A GLOBAL STRATEGY ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

The ILO has developed a number ofcomprehensive instruments to furtherits work in the field of OSH. The mostrecent of these are the Convention (No.187) and Recommendation (No. 197)concerning the Promotional Frameworkfor Occupational Safety and Health,2006. These instruments are best seenin the context of the Global Strategy onOccupational Safety and Health adoptedby the International Labour Conferencein 2003, which confirms the role of ILOinstruments as a central pillar for thepromotion of OSH. At the same time theStrategy calls for integrated action thatbetter connects the ILO standards withother means of action such as advocacy,awareness raising, knowledge develop-ment, management, information dissem-ination and technical cooperation.

ILO instruments include 19 Conventions,26 Recommendations, 2 Protocols, and37 codes of practice and guidelines (seethe book feature on page 31 for adescription of some of these). Some ofthe Conventions, such as the Safety andHealth in Construction Convention, 1988(No.167), or the Safety and Health inMines Convention, 1995 (No.176), arevery industry specific. However, theirscope can also be quite broad. One ofthe most notable of these is ConventionNo.155, the Occupational Safety andHealth Convention, 1981, with its accom-panying Protocol of 2002. This relates tothe need for the formulation and imple-mentation of national OSH policies thatfocus on preventing injuries and dis-eases at work. It also calls for periodicreviews of national policies and pro-grams in recognition of the fact thattechnological and social changes areoccurring at an incredibly rapid pace.

Two other Conventions of note are Con-vention No. 81, the Labour InspectionConvention, 1947, one of the most wide-ly ratified of all ILO instruments, andConvention No. 129, the Labour Inspec-tion in Agriculture Convention, 1969.These two Conventions provide a back-ground for the development of labourinspectorates throughout the world. TheILO has also developed training materi-als such as the Integrated LabourInspection Training System, and hasheld training workshops for inspectorsin many countries, such as Croatia,Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Lao People’sDemocratic Republic, Mexico, theRepublic of Moldova, Montenegro,Romania, the Former Yugoslav Republicof Macedonia, South Africa, Uzbekistan,Ukraine and Viet Nam.

The relevancy of inspection continuesto increase as developing countries invarious regions begin to address theirOSH situations. Proactive national laws,especially related to accident and dis-ease prevention, are an important firststep on the path of progress. However,without effective implementation, enter-prise-level advisors, and enforcement,this legislation is in danger of becominglittle more than ink and paper. Thelabour inspection Conventions reinforcethe right of inspectors to enter work-places and take appropriate enforce-ment action. As such, inspectionremains a key component of the ILO’sGlobal Strategy on OSH. Its importantrole in implementation and practical-level advancement in the field cannot beoverstated.

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Convention No. 187 sets out the essential ele-ments of a national OSH system:●● Legislation and any other relevant OSH instru-

ments●● One or more authorities or bodies responsible

for OSH●● Regulatory compliance mechanisms, including

systems of inspection●● A national tripartite advisory mechanism

addressing OSH issues●● Arrangements to promote at the enterprise

level, cooperation between employers andworkers

●● OSH information and advisory services●● Systems for the provision of OSH training●● Occupational health services●● Research on OSH●● A mechanism for the collection and analysis of

data on occupational injuries and diseases●● Provisions for collaboration with relevant

insurance or social security schemes coveringoccupational injuries and diseases

●● Support mechanisms for a progressive improve-ment of OSH conditions in micro, small andmedium-sized enterprises, and in the informaleconomy

The preparation of a national OSH profile is anessential initial step in building a good nationalOSH programme. Twenty-nine countries havedeveloped national profiles or are currently in theprocess of doing so. The profile is a summary ofthe OSH situation including data on occupationalaccidents and diseases and an inventory of all thetools and resources available in a country to imple-ment and manage OSH. Once completed, the pro-file can be used not only as a basis for identifyingpriorities for action, but also as a tool for measur-ing progress over time through periodic updating.

Forecasting the futureWith the pace of change in patterns of employ-

ment and in developing technologies over recentyears, it has become ever more important to an-ticipate different, often new, risks if they are to beeffectively managed. And many long-standing con-cerns are been reconsidered in the light of chang-ing patterns of work and technologies.

OSH experts are forecasting an increase in dif-ferent kinds of risk:

Physical risks, including lack of physical activity,

poor awareness of heat and cold (particularlyamong agriculture and construction workers),exposure to heavy physical work, vibration or UVradiation.

Biological risks such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis,tuberculosis, SARS, avian flu, dengue fever, and soon. It is estimated that 320,000 workers worldwidedie every year from exposure to viral, bacterial,insect- or animal-related biological risks. Globaltrading has increased the risk of infection and thedifficulty of developing effective responses.

Chemical risks from hazardous substances suchas heavy metals, oxides, carcinogens, endocrinedisrupting chemicals such as someinsecticides, and toxic dusts andfumes when workers are exposed tothem over a long period.

New categories of exposures such asthe potential harms from nanomater-ials in the workplace. The worldwideimpact of nanotechnology-relatedproducts has been predicted to exceedUS$1 trillion by 2015. A nanometre-sized particle is smaller than a livingcell and can be seen only with themost powerful microscopes. A singlenanometre is one-billionth of ameter, compared to human hair,which is approximately 80,000nanometres in diameter. At nano lev-els, materials begin to exhibit uniqueproperties that affect physical, chemi-

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BUILDING A NATIONAL OSH SYSTEM IN KAZAKHSTAN

ASTANA, Republic of Kazakhstan – Kaza-khstan has pioneered the new

approaches to occupational safety andhealth and become a model for other coun-tries of Central Asia. Recent economic trans-formation has brought a stunning 10 per centgrowth, but the country still faces formidablechallenges inherited from Soviet times. Anoutdated OSH legislation and managementsystem was one of them.

The situation became acute in the 1990s,when working conditions deteriorated drasti-cally and the annual number of victims ofaccidents and work-related diseases ran intothousands. It was obvious that a radicalupgrading and modernizing of the country’sOSH system was required.

Kazakhstan started by adopting a set ofnew laws, first a law on OSH, which later wastransformed into a labour code with a chap-ter on OSH, as well as a law on social part-nership.

Kazakhstan has ratified key OSH Conven-tions, such as Convention No. 81 on LabourInspection, and Convention No. 167 on Occu-pational Safety and Health in Construction,and is considering ratifying the new Promo-tional Framework for Occupational Safetyand Health Convention (No. 187) adopted in2006. To implement the latter, the country issystematically building a modern occupation-al safety and health system by means of anational OSH programme, following the logi-cal steps described in Convention No. 187.

The initial step was to prepare a nationalOSH profile that contained all basic datarelated to occupational safety and health:current legislative framework; implementa-tion mechanisms; information and training;enforcement and infrastructure; human andfinancial resources available; OSH initiativesat the enterprise level, and so on.

The second phase of the Korean projectwill assist these countries to draft thesenational OSH programmes. In Kazakhstan,the Ministry of Labour and Social Protectionhas requested the regions to prepare region-al OSH programmes, which will be the basefor the updated national OSH programmefrom the year 2008 onwards, replacing theprevious programme.

“Kazakhstan is certainly a good exampleof the systematic and effective implementa-tion of OSH requirements at the national andenterprise level with the full involvement ofthe social partners,” says Wiking Husberg,senior OSH specialist at the ILO SubregionalOffice for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.“Some issues still need to be addressed; butwe have an agreement with the trade unionsnow to establish safety committees at theenterprise level. The issue of restrictions onlabour inspections, which was pointed out bya recent labour inspection audit, still needsto be resolved. However, what is most impor-tant is that a process of continuous action,review and improvement is under way in thiscountry.”

An important development was the adop-tion by Kazakhstan of a new inter-state GOSTstandard identical to the ILO-OSH 2001 Guide-lines for occupational safety and health man-agement systems, based on risk assessment,workers’ participation and prevention, aimedat reaching a safety culture. The introductionof systematic OSH management systems atenterprises was strongly endorsed by majorcorporations in a seminar on risk assessmentlast April.

Imstalkon, one of the biggest building andconstruction companies in Kazakhstan, hasalready introduced the new OSH manage-ment system at dozens of its enterprisesthroughout the country. The company nowemploys more than 9,000 workers. Over themore than 50 years of its existence, it hasbuilt hundreds of projects, including the 372-metre Kok Tjube TV tower, Almaty Interna-tional Airport, the 26-storey Kazakhstan Hoteland many industrial enterprises.

“Construction works are connected withmany risks, that is why we pay special atten-tion to occupational safety,” says MikhailRezunov, Imstalkon chief engineer. “Our taskwas to create a completely new managementsystem, oriented towards risk assessmentand prevention, addressing occupationalrisks at their source. And still the mainchange had to happen in people’s minds –they had to realize that it is much easier andless costly to prevent an accident than todeal with its consequences. Now, with thenew system in place, we can say that ourefforts pay back – not only in financial terms,but also in terms of our company’s image,which is equally important.”

Berdybek Saparbayev, Kazakhstan’s minis-ter of labour and social protection, agrees:“Using the ILO methodology, we have com-pared the cost of prevention and that of theconsequences from an accident in two of themost dangerous industries in our country –mining and construction. And we found thatprevention costs dozens times less! ILO-OSH2001 has proved to be a very efficient tool andwe have to introduce it throughout Kaza-khstan. Of course much is still to be done, butwe will continue to move forward.”

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cal, and biological behaviour. Nanoscale materialsare increasingly being used in optoelectronic, elec-tronic, magnetic, medical imaging, drug delivery,cosmetic, catalytic, and materials applications.Potential health issues, including occupationalhealth risks associated with nanomaterials, are notyet clearly understood.

Stress. Changes in work design and organiza-tion, and the introduction of new technologies ornew forms of employment contract (includingprecarious employment) can all result in increasedstress levels. When HIV/AIDS, abuse of alcohol,drugs and tobacco, violence or harassment areadded to the mix, a serious deterioration of mentaland physical health can ensue.

Changing patterns in the workforce●● Migration. International migration of workers

will most likely accelerate in the 21st century.Yet migrant workers continue to be particularlyvulnerable, tending to be employed in “3-D”work (dirty, dangerous and demanding), withlong hours, inadequately covered by socialsecurity and with language and cultural barriersthat make communication on OSH difficult.

●● Ageing, particularly in industrialized countries.Increasing numbers of older workers are optingto stay at work. In Europe, the 45-64 age groupis expected to represent almost half the workingpopulation by 2020. Although ageing is an indi-vidual process related to genetics and lifestyle,older workers frequently have one or morechronic medical diseases or disorders. Rates of

hypertension, chronic pulmonary or cardiacdisease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, neurologicaldisorders, renal and liver disease are increased.But on the other hand, older workers have muchto offer their employers as a result of their ex-perience, knowledge and skills, and can contin-ue to be valuable assets if due attention is paidto their safety and health.

●● Gender. The increasing proportion of women inthe workforce raises a range of questions aboutthe different effects of work-related risks onmen and women, including exposure to haz-ardous substances, the effects of biologicalagents on reproductive health, the physicaldemands of heavy work, the ergonomic designof workplaces and the length of the workingday. The emergence of nanotechnology and pre- >>

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viously unexplored health effects of prolongedexposure to nanoparticles will doubtless haveimpacts on safety and health, but will thosehealth effects be the same for women as formen, who face the same exposures?

●● The informal economy. At the dawn of the 21stcentury most of the world’s working populationearns its livelihood under the vulnerable andinsecure conditions of the informal economy.The ILO Resolution on Decent Work and theInformal Economy adopted by the Internation-al Labour Conference in 2002 highlights the factthat workers in the informal economy experi-ence the most severe decent work deficits.Among these are unsafe and unhealthy workingconditions. The extension of OSH to informalworkers and economic units is a major chal-lenge that participatory training methodologiessuch as the WISE (Work Improvement in SmallEnterprises) and WIND (Work Improvement inNeighbourhood Development) programmeshave successfully addressed in Asia, Africa andLatin America.

Raising awareness and knowledge sharingILO SafeWork is committed to taking a leader-

ship role in raising awareness of OSH issues and bestpractices in the field. Much of this relates directly tothe dissemination of available information.

The International Occupational Safety andHealth Information Centre (CIS), a specializedunit within the SafeWork Programme, plays animportant role in the collection, organization and

dissemination of high-quality OSH information atan international level. It is helped in its tasks by itsnetwork of regional, national and collaborationcentres, which includes all the major OSH infor-mation centres around the world. The CIS biblio-graphic database, with 70,000 records, is the pri-mary guide to the world literature on OSH, whilethe CIS website is available free of charge andreceives about 1.2 million page hits per month.

The “SafeWork Bookshelf” is a CD-ROM (inEnglish and French) that includes the ILO En-cyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety aswell as the International Chemical Safety Cards.Guides, codes of practice and training materials areavailable in printed as well as electronic formats.

In keeping up with the rate of change in theworld today, ILO SafeWork designs to be on thecutting edge of progress. Collaboration with otherorganizations, and particularly universities andvocational training institutions in high-impactresearch projects, is pursued.

One particularly successful collaboration hasbeen the ILO/WHO Global Programme for theElimination of Silicosis: in 2003 the JointILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Healthconcluded that decades of effort were paying offand decided to push for the elimination of silicosisand asbestos-related diseases as a priority. A majortool in this is the ILO Classification of Radiographs– now in existence for over 50 years and still theinternational standard for early detection of silicosis.

Other important partnerships include the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Manage-ment of Chemicals, the International Associationof Labour Inspection, the International AtomicEnergy Agency, the International Maritime Or-ganization, and UNEP.

The men and women who go to work every dayand whose efforts there drive the global economydeserve the highest degree of safety and health thatcan be provided to them. 2.3 million deaths andhundreds of millions of accidents suffered and dis-eases contracted annually does not reflect an ade-quate degree of protection. The new Declarationon Safety and Health adopted in July in Seoul,Korea at the XVIIIth World Congress on Safety andHealth (see page 43) raises new hope of revitalizedpolitical will, increased awareness, continuous edu-cation, and the engagement of partnerships at alllevels of society to strengthen and improve thestate of occupational safety and health locally,nationally, regionally, and globally.©

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Signing of the agreement

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EXTENDING OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH TO THE INFORMAL ECONOMY

Over a billion people, more than 60 percent of Asia’s workforce, are still work-

ing in the informal economy, with little or nosocial protection. Experience shows thatworkers and small businesses in the infor-mal economy are usually motivated toimprove safety and health conditions out oftheir own initiative, but they still need prac-tical support. World of Work spoke withTsuyoshi Kawakami, ILO specialist onoccupational safety and health in Bangkok.

What are the safety and health conditionsof workers in the informal economy in Asia?

Asia’s informal economy cuts across alleconomic sectors – agriculture, industryand services. They all need practical sup-port measures to improve the safety andhealth problems they face. Workers and theself-employed often work in substandardconditions, being exposed to various haz-ards in the workplace without having appro-

priate safety and health train-ing and information. As far asnational labour laws are con-cerned, they do not alwayscover the informal economy.

What are the immediate prior-ities for occupational safetyand health (OSH) pro-grammes?

We need measures that arepractical, easy-to-apply, andwork at the local level. Just togive you an example: low-costapproaches based on goodpractices have overcomecost barriers in small work-places in Asia and have alsoallowed the active participa-tion of many workers, result-ing in concrete improve-ments. We found that thingsthat may appear obvious haveactually helped us kick-startour programmes: I think of

practical training tools such as illustratedchecklists and photographs showing goodOSH practices.

Can you give us examples of successfulprogrammes?

In Cambodia, four Training-Of-Trainer (TOT)courses were held in four different cities tocover all the regions. These participatoryOSH training networks have constantlyincreased nation-wide coverage. Thisexpansion was possible because of thepractical orientation of the training pro-grammes providing workers with low-costsolutions to their OSH problems. As of April2008, more than 3,000 workers in the infor-mal economy were trained through theestablished participatory trainer networks. These participatory training approacheswill be part of the first Occupational Safetyand Health Master Plan (2008-2012) of Cam-bodia that will be launched this year. The

positive experiences and achievementshave been widely shared with other ASEANcountries and publicized in internationalOSH conferences and journals.

How can we reach workers and the self-employed in the informal economy?

Local workplaces and communities havevaried peoples’ networks. It is common forlocal small business owners to form associ-ations for exchanging ideas and informationto upgrade their businesses. Local tradeunion leaders and members often havegood access to grassroots workers andknow the way to support informal economyworkplaces to improve their working condi-tions. Often self-employed workers havetheir own cooperation system to improvetheir work environments.

You stress the importance of a localapproach to OSH in the informal economy…

Local intervention teams are a good option,as they include a variety of local resourcepersons, including government officials,inspectors, health personnel, trade associa-tions, workers’ organizations, communityleaders and local NGOs. They can carry outrapid assessments of the target groups in agiven region. This is done by workplacewalkthroughs using relevant safety andhealth action-checklists and direct inter-views with workers and employers.

The next step is to design participatorytraining programmes adjusted to specificneeds of the target groups. The ILO Train-ing Centre in Turin helps us to organizeactivities at all levels. Obviously, support atthe national policy level is also key to thesuccess of OSH programmes in the infor-mal economy. The Promotional Frameworkfor Occupational Safety and Health Con-vention, 2006 (No. 187) calls for the estab-lishment of support mechanisms for a pro-gressive improvement of occupationalsafety and health conditions in the informaleconomy.

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A dynamic vision of preventionThe International Social Security Association (ISSA)

Scial security is everybody’s business. Itaffects our daily life by protecting us againstwork and life risks – health care needs, dis-ability, old age and unemployment. ISSA

Secretary General Hans-Horst Konkolewskyexplains how social security and the prevention ofoccupational accidents and diseases go hand-in-hand.

GENEVA – Headquartered in Geneva, the Inter-national Social Security Association (ISSA) is amember-based international organization fornational social security administrations and agen-cies. Bringing together social security and preven-tion experts from around 350 social security insti-tutions in more than 150 countries, the ISSA offersa unique platform and network for the sharing ofgood practice developments, including those con-cerned about improving workers’ health.

Prevention: A success story for social securitySafety and health at work lie at the heart of

social security. Every day, investment in preventionhelps to avoid occupational accidents and diseases.Prevention saves lives and protects the well being ofindividuals and families.

Moreover, investments in prevention make eco-nomic sense. Safer workplaces support increasedproductivity. Prevention pays.

Reaching out further than the traditional focuson occupational safety and health, the ISSA sup-ports preventive approaches protecting and pro-moting workers’ health in all social securitybranches. It provides good practice information,research, expert advice and platforms for membersand other stakeholders to exchange on innovationin workplace health promotion, active employ-ment policies, rehabilitation and reintegration.


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Preventive approaches broaden the nature ofsocial security policies. They are a cornerstone ofwhat the ISSA calls a dynamic social security sys-tem.

The challenges are getting tougherWork-related fatalities are increasing. According

to the ILO, 2.3 million people die each year becauseof work-related accidents and diseases and 337million people are involved in non-fatal workplaceaccidents.

The annual cost of financing cash benefits,health care and rehabilitation for work-related dis-abilities is colossal: a sum equivalent to 4 per centof global gross domestic product (GDP) for workinjuries alone. And for some developing countriesthe cost equates to 10 per cent of national GDP.

The current phase of globalization bears witnessto rising levels of informal employment, increasedmigration flows and profound social shifts, posingnew challenges to prevention especially in coun-tries with less developed prevention cultures.Meanwhile, new technologies and working pat-terns, and the challenges of workplace stress andpsychosocial risks, increase the complexity of pre-vention even more.

New technologies, new risksReports from the World Health Organization

(WHO) indicate that the world’s workforce isincreasingly exposed to epidemics, industrial acci-dents, natural disasters and other health emergen-cies, and that only 10-15 per cent of them haveaccess to a basic standard of occupational healthservice.

And a recent ISSA study shows that, comparedwith work injuries, occupational diseases are actu-ally rising in some countries. The cause appears tobe the growing number of so-called “new occupa-tional diseases”, many of them with long latencyperiods, which may become a much more pressingproblem than occupational accidents in the future.

Prevention paysThe good news is that statistics, both for devel-

oped and emerging economies, show that whereinvestments in prevention measures have takenplace over a period of time, a significant decrease inwork accidents and occupational diseases and thusconsiderable cost-reductions can be achieved.

ISSA can point to examples where targeted acci-dent prevention policies by social security institu-tions have reduced the number of work accidents

by between 25 and 50 per cent – and not just in theindustrialized countries: in Côte d’Ivoire, forexample, the social security institutions estimatethat the number of declared accidents has beenreduced by 50 per cent since the 1980s, while in thesame period Niger has experienced a decrease ofalmost 25 per cent in work accidents, thanks to aprogramme of prevention education for workers.

80 years of preventionThe concept of accident and illness prevention

in the workplace was already in the minds of theISSA pioneers when they included it in the funda-mental policy principles adopted by their Con-stituent Assembly as far back as 1928, while a yearlater the relationship between sickness insuranceand industrial hygiene was already on the agenda.But it was only in 1957, with the establishment ofthe Permanent Committee on the Prevention ofOccupational Risks, that the ISSA became formallyinvolved in occupational safety and health.

In 1969, under the umbrella of the Special Com-mission on Prevention, the International Sectionon the Prevention of Occupational Risks in Agri-culture was formed, and over the next decades 10other international sections were established, six ofwhich represent an area of occupational risk likeagriculture – chemistry, construction, mining,electricity, machine and system safety and iron andmetal. Another three international sections coverhorizontal issues, of interest to all OSH practition-ers – education and training, research and infor-mation.

The intersection of the ISSA and preventiondoes not stop with the Special Commission and itsInternational Sections. Many of the ISSA’s 11 Tech-nical Commissions including those on work acci-dent, health care or employment policies, whichwere set up as early as 1947 to provide networks forspecialists to collaborate in advancing discussionon technical social security issues, have been

“Proactive and comprehensive prevention poli-cies carried out by social security and occupa-tional health and safety institutions can substan-tially reduce work-related accidents and illnesslevels, diminish the related human suffering andavoid the resulting economic losses,” says ISSASecretary General Hans-Horst Konkolewsky. “InGermany, for example, experts estimate that acci-dent prevention since the 1960s has saved indus-try up to 10 billion euros annually.”

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focused on issues related to protecting and pro-moting workers’ health.

Cooperation with the ILOCooperation between the ISSA and the ILO on

occupational safety and health (OSH) started inpractice during the 1955 First World Congress forthe Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Dis-eases in Rome. Since then, the World Congress, thebiggest international event on OSH, has beenorganized jointly by the ISSA and the ILO everythree years. Once established, the Prevention Com-

mission implemented several joint projects in col-laboration with the ILO Occupational Safety andHealth Service. Among them was the InternationalOccupational Safety and Health Information Cen-tre (CIS), which complements the various nationalCIS centres, such as those in France, Italy and theUnited Kingdom.

To maintain close cooperation between the ILOand the ISSA in OSH, members of the ISSA Com-mission and its technical sections were included invarious ILO technical advisory groups. Similarly,ILO’s OSH specialists joined their ISSA colleaguesin drafting programmes of the technical sections ofthe Permanent Committee. In recent years theISSA has supported the promotional activities forthe International Day for Safety and Health atWork, launched by the ILO in 2003.

The cooperation between the ISSA and the ILOin the field of workers’ health has contributed tothe achievement of mutual goals and is as fruitfuland important as 50 years ago. Most recently, theISSA and the ILO co-sponsored the XVIII WorldCongress in Seoul in July this year, hosted by theKorea Occupational Safety and Health Agency(KOSHA). They also organized just prior to theopening of the World Congress a Safety and HealthSummit which has led to the Seoul Declarationadopted by some 50 high-level decision-makersfrom around the world as a major new blueprintfor constructing a global culture of safety andhealth at work. Recognizing that improving safetyand health at work has a positive impact on work-ing conditions, productivity and economic andsocial development, the Declaration also empha-sizes that the right to a safe and healthy workingenvironment should be recognized as a fundamen-tal human right (see page 43).

The Declaration recognizes the important roleof social security organizations in promoting pre-vention and in providing treatment, support andrehabilitation services. The prevention of occupa-tional risks and the promotion of workers’ healthconstitute an essential part of the ISSA’s mandate.

The ISSA clearly recognizes the need for betterinternational cooperation to make good practice

Since its inception, ISSA has always sought andfostered international cooperation with otheragencies, including those involved in the field ofprevention of occupational risks.

ISSA: 80 YEARS OLD AND STRONGER THAN EVER

Founded in Brussels in 1927, the begin-nings of the International Social Secur-ity Association were directly linked tosteps then being taken by the Interna-tional Labour Organization to introduceinternational regulations for the health ofworkers through social insuranceschemes. At the 10th InternationalLabour Conference held in the spring of1927 two Conventions on sickness insur-ance were adopted. Albert Thomas, thefirst Director General of the ILO, neededpopular support to secure the ratifica-tion of these, and welcomed the sug-gestion of leading personalities ofmutual benefit societies and sicknessinsurance institutions to set up an inter-national conference whose purposewould be to extend and strengthen sick-ness insurance worldwide. As a result,the International Conference of Nation-al Unions of Mutual Benefit Societiesand Sickness Insurance Funds was cre-ated in Brussels in October 1927. TheConstituent Assembly was attended bydelegates of 17 organizations, repre-senting some 20 million insured personsfrom Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia,France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland,Switzerland and the United Kingdom.The objective of the Conference was tocoordinate internationally and tostrengthen efforts to protect, developand improve social insurance and sick-ness insurance.

ISSA’s foundations are laidIt was the hardships created by twoworld wars that demonstrated the needfor public social security and occupation-al protection, and it was quickly realizedthat only through extensive internationalcooperation could the very concept ofsocial security and its practical applica-tion be perfected and developed.

At the International Labour Conferencein Philadelphia, the real foundations ofthe ISSA were laid through the passageof a resolution that became its pro-gramme of action: to promote, on aninternational or regional basis, system-atic and direct cooperation amongsocial security institutions to further theregular interchange of information andthe study of common problems.

International cooperationToday, the objective of the Associationis “to cooperate, at the internationallevel, in the promotion and developmentof social security throughout the world,primarily through its technical andadministrative improvement, in order toadvance the social and economic con-ditions of the population on the basis ofsocial justice”.

For the international community, ISSA isthe main international focal point forideas and debate on social security,providing platforms for the exchange ofinformation and discussion and aunique knowledge centre for the collec-tion and dissemination of research andinformation on social security, includingthe prevention of employment injuriesand occupational diseases. For the2008 – 2010 triennium the ISSA is focus-ing on the following priority areas thatwere identified by its members:

• Governance and social security• Risk management and leadership• Extension of coverage• Information and communications

technology as a strategic manage-ment tool

• Compliance and contribution collec-tion

• Responding to demographic changes

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information on OSH simple, applicable and acces-sible to both professionals and workers; to securegovernment and employers’ commitment to safetyand health; and to build a closer link between pre-vention, compensation and rehabilitation. Towardsthis end, the ILO’s Promotional Framework forOccupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006(No.187) and its accompanying Recommendation(No.197) as well as the 2007 WHO Global Plan ofAction on Workers’ Health 2008 – 2017 providesound guidelines for future efforts.

Demographic changes, globalization anddemands for greater social justice confirm that theprotection of workers’ health is vital for economicand social progress. Health may be determined byoccupational and non-occupational factors, buthealthy individuals, and especially healthy workers,make for healthier and more just societies. And asthe ISSA is fully aware, healthy societies contributeto making social security programmes healthyfinancially too.

To face today’s immense challenges and in linewith the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda and its newDeclaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globaliza-tion, adopted by the International Labour Confer-ence in June 2008, and the Seoul Declaration, theISSA is committed to strengthen its long-standingrelation for the benefit of the health of workersaround the world.

Promoting investment in workers’ healthInvesting in workers’ health is at the core of

social security’s mission and an important factorfor its future sustainability.

ISSA is involved in OSH mainly through one ofits eleven Technical Commissions – the SpecialCommission on Prevention. Building on a uniquehistory of activities, the Special Commission onPrevention is ISSA’s flagship in prevention today: itinitiates, coordinates and conducts internationalactivities to promote occupational safety andhealth and specific activities are carried out by theeleven International Sections.

Each of these sections organizes, often togetherwith other sections, international seminars, round-tables and workshops. They also publish topicaldocumentation on relevant prevention issues, pro-vide technical support, and run joint projects.Working groups within the sections devise practi-cal tools and solutions for training, informationand communications. All sections are activelyinvolved in the organization of the World Con-gresses on Safety and Health at Work.

A typical example is that of the InternationalSection for the Prevention of Occupational Risks inthe Chemistry Industry, which has held sometwenty international symposia since it was estab-lished in 1970. It has set up expert working groupson Dangerous Substances, Explosion Protection

ISSA: RESPONDING TO PRIORITY CHALLENGES IN WORKERS' HEALTH

Asbestos, an enduring evilAlthough its dangers have been wellknown for decades, the menace ofasbestos is still very much with us. TheISSA’s Special Commission on Preven-tion has been campaigning hard for itsban. In 2004 it adopted a declarationwhich urged all countries to ban themanufacture, trade and use of all typesof asbestos as quickly as possible. Otheranti-asbestos efforts include a series ofreports on the prevention of and com-pensation for asbestos-related occupa-tional diseases and an information leaflet“Asbestos: Towards a Worldwide Ban”in eight languages. It is available free ofcharge on the ISSA Website atwww.issa.int.Dangerous chemicalsSince 2005, the Special Commission onPrevention and the eleven InternationalSections have organized some 30 inter-national and regional technical seminars,including one organized in February 2008by the International Chemical Section atwhich 350 participants from 16 African,American and European countries hadan in-depth exchange on the new global-ly harmonized system of classificationand labelling of chemicals. Skin disease protectionThere has been a reported increase inthe number of irritative, allergic anddegenerative skin diseases in a numberof European countries. In response tothis the ISSA Health Services Sectionheld a Workshop on Prevention of SkinDiseases in the Health Services Sectorin April 2008 in Dresden, Germany. It pro-vided a forum for skin disease preventionexperts to exchange ideas, share prob-lems and best practices and discuss pre-vention strategies.

Safe electricityA recent seminar, hosted by the ISSAElectricity Section and held in Santiago,Chile, allowed more than 160 electricalsafety and prevention experts from LatinAmerica, the United States, Canada andEurope to discuss the latest safety andhealth issues, trends and breakthroughsin the electrical industry.Occupational disease preventionOver the past three years, the TechnicalCommission on Insurance againstEmployment Accidents and Occupation-al Diseases organized a cycle of sem-inars on occupational diseases (ODs) inLatin America, Africa and Asia. At thesea number of shared challenges havebeen identified, including the problem ofunderreporting of ODs, the shortage ofwell-trained practitioners and resourcesfor effective prevention, the low aware-ness among workers and employers ofthese diseases and their reporting mech-anisms, and the non-update of the list ofODs in some countries. The TechnicalCommission is planning seminars on dis-ability management and the impact ofdemographic changes on the health ofboth older and young workers; it will alsocontribute to regional forums as well asto the ISSA’s World Social SecurityForum to be held in South Africa in 2010.

* * *In the next two years ISSA’s preventionsections will organize at least ten inter-national meetings, symposia and work-shops on a variety of workplace healthand safety problems areas, including therisks faced by elderly workers, a con-tinuation of the campaign on the ban ofasbestos, and a meeting focusing onprevention in French-speaking sub-Saharan African countries.

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>> and Biotechnology respectively, as well as other adhoc working groups. The Section has also pro-duced a series of illustrated brochures, some ofwhich are available in several languages.

The International Section on Agriculture pro-duced in 2007 a DVD to promote safety for chil-dren growing up on a farm. The DVD features aseries of easy-to-understand stories which depictpotential risks for these children. As there is nospoken language involved, this is a must see forchildren around the world who live on a workingfarm.

The Electricity Section, on top of its activemeetings and publication programme organizeswith the Information Section the prestigious Inter-national Multi-Media and Film Festival, a key com-ponent of the World Congress. In 2008 the compe-tition was stiff with over 100 entries from aroundthe world.

The future: Dynamic Social Security The key role of social security in building more

equitable societies demands a broader, moredynamic concept of social security that embracesthe proactive and preventive approaches pioneeredin the field of occupational health and safety.

To assist social security institutions to meet thecurrent socio-economic challenges, the ISSA hasdeveloped the strategic concept of Dynamic SocialSecurity, which calls for sustainable and accessiblesocial security systems that are based on integrated,proactive and innovative responses.

Occupational safety and health is at the heart ofDynamic Social Security. Dynamic safety andhealth strategies can substantially reduce work-related accidents and illness levels, avoid needlesshuman suffering, and contribute to economic andsocial progress.

Today’s more complex health risks call for thesemore innovative measures. For example, a sharpincrease in chronic diseases shows that workplaceprevention should engage in broader health pro-motion activities. Going forward, the followingcardinal points should guide the delivery of inte-grated dynamic social security that has the healthof working populations at its centre.

1. Workers’ health must be recognized as a strategicasset for companies and for society

Workers’ health is central to human capital for-mation and fosters competitiveness and innovativecapacities.

2. Workers’ health is a societal responsibility andincreased investment by society is needed

Workers’ health is increasingly determined byboth occupational and non-occupational factors.In view of the enormous challenges, companiesand societies must scale up their investment inworkers’ health.

3. Workers’ health must be addressed by all socialsecurity branches

Innovative preventive approaches that invest inworkers’ health need to be developed and imple-mented widely in the different social securitybranches and efforts to create integrated approach-es involving several social security actors should beintensified.

4. Workers’ health must count – for all workersAll workers must be given a right to benefit from

measures to protect their health, also and in partic-ular those in the growing informal sector, in smalland micro businesses, and the self-employedshould be covered and have access to preventionprogrammes.

5. Workers’ health requires partnerships and innovation

Today’s more complex health risks call for moreinnovative measures and for partnerships of allactors involved in promoting workers’ health. Thisis not the time for uncoordinated action – cooper-ation and partnerships will boost the impact ofinvestments in workers’ health.

Only through change and innovation can socialsecurity meet the challenges of globalization andcontribute to social justice and equitable economicdevelopment. It must be dynamic, integrated andproactive – an alignment that is the core of theISSA’s new strategic vision of Dynamic SocialSecurity.

ISSA will spare no effort to collaborate with itsmember social security organizations and work inpartnership with other international organizationsto make the world’s workplaces safer and healthierfor the millions of people who risk their lives sim-ply by doing their jobs.

Dynamic Social Security:key to the new ISSAThe strategic concept ofDynamic Social Securityarticulates ISSA’s vision ofsocial security geared tobetter ensure accessibleand sustainable socialprotection systems, whichnot only provide protec-tion, but also adopt pre-ventive approaches, sup-port rehabilitation andreintegration and con-tribute to better realizingsocially inclusive and eco-nomically productive soci-eties.

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SHINING A LIGHT OF HOPESOCIAL SECURITY FOR HEALTH IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY

PUNE, India – Sunita’s world came crash-ing down the day her auto rickshaw

driver husband suffered a paralytic stroke.Still recovering from the shock of losing

her 15-year-old son in a road accident, shewas totally unprepared for this bolt from theblue. Gathering her wits, she somehowmanaged to get her husband to a privatehospital, where she was promptly told thatthe treatment would cost 20,000 Rupees(about US$500) – a huge sum for Sunita whobarely earns Rs. 2,000 a month through hertailoring work.

People like Sunita’s husband representmillions of informal economy workers inIndia and around the world falling ill fromoverwork, stress and an unhealthy workenvironment.

45-year-old watchman Vasant Narvekar,who suffers from asthma, is another exam-ple. The nature of Vasant’s work entailsbeing out in the open, doing rounds of thearea on his beat in a dusty environment forclose to 12 hours each day. With a family offour to support, he has no choice but to con-

tinue working. Recently he suffered severeasthmatic attacks and needed hospitaliza-tion. The treatment estimate was INR 1,600,well over half of his meagre monthly earn-ings of INR3,000.

Sunita’s husband had been working dou-ble shifts to pay back the mortgage on hisrickshaw. The stress of working long hoursat his age (57) led to a paralytic stroke.

At this point what came in handy for bothSunita and Vasant was their membership ofthe Health Insurance Scheme. This scheme,set up in 2003 under the aegis of the Com-munity Based Health Mutual Fund (HMF),initiated by Uplift India Association,responds to the healthcare needs of womenmembers of self-help groups in the slums ofPune. The objective of the scheme is to cre-ate a health fund through mutual contribu-tions and create a network of healthcareservices which provide quality treatment ataffordable rates to the poor through a net-work of doctors and private hospitals.

Sunita consulted the doctor at the HMFbranch office of her area. The doctor’s

referral letter helped her shift her husbandto another private network hospital, wherehe was given immediate treatment. This notonly helped save his life but also preventedfurther complications to his condition.

While the actual cost of treatment wasRs. 20,000, the network hospital chargedonly Rs.9,000, a saving of Rs.11,000 in thefirst instance. Being a HMF member, Sunitareceived a further discount of Rs. 900 fromthe hospital. Thanks to his HMF member-ship, Vasant only had to pay INR1,000 for histreatment at the hospital.

Building on solidarity and ownership, therisk management of HMF is carried by thelocal community. The plan is open to allworkers in the informal sector. Besidesmedical coverage this unique insuranceplan provides for wage loss for the bread-winner at the rate of Rs. 50 per day for 15days.

For over a year, Uplift Health has beenorganizing a broad Communities-Led Asso-ciation for Social Security (CLASS), aimedat promoting the social security rights ofdisadvantaged groups. Supported by theGerman Agency for Technical Cooperation(GTZ) and the ILO’S Programme on Strat-egies and Tools against Social Exclusionand Poverty (STEP), CLASS groups compris-ing cooperatives, self-help groups, tradeunions are now spread across India.

“The ILO programme shows that, with theappropriate support, informal sector work-ers can move from a situation of mere sur-vival to a stronger economic positionenhancing their contribution to economicgrowth and social integration, as well asparticipating in the improvement of theirown working and living conditions,” con-cludes Assane Diop, ILO Executive Director,Social Protection Sector.

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Saving lives, protecting jobsNew horizons in the fight against HIV/AIDS at work

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HIV is having a devastating effect on theworld of work. The majority of the 33.2million people worldwide living withHIV/AIDS are working and have skills

and experience their families, workplaces andcountries can ill afford to lose. As the UN’s leadagency in HIV/AIDS workplace interventions, theILO launched a new report1 in March 2008 high-lighting strategic responses to HIV/AIDS in enter-prises worldwide. Here are some of the storiesfrom the SHARE report.

Shielding young workers in Accra’s informaleconomy

When a car needs attention in downtown Accra,the Odawna Light Industrial area is the place to go.One of the biggest garage communities in thecountry, literally thousands of operators live andwork in a maze of small plots at Odawna, employ-ing large numbers of young apprentices and keep-ing an extensive support economy of food vendors

and other suppliers in business.The various garages at Odawna have organized

themselves into a consortium belonging to theGhana National Association of Garages (GNAG),which has 40,000 members nationwide and 4,000in Odawna itself.

A growing concern has been how to protect theworkforce from the risk of HIV. Drug dealers andcommercial sex workers operate in the area and alco-hol is easily available. Most of the workers are youngand poor, often living away from their families.

“When we first heard of HIV we practicallybelieved it was a monster coming to swallow us up.Our population is overwhelmingly youthful andwe believe this increases their vulnerability and the

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“Nine out of every ten people with HIV will get up today

and go to work.”Juan Somavia

ILO Director-General

1 Saving lives, protecting

jobs. International

HIV/AIDS Workplace

Education Programme.

SHARE: Strategic

HIV/AIDS Responses in

Enterprises. Second

Report. Geneva, ILO,

2008.


© ILO photo

risk of contracting HIV,” says Alhaji Dakpo, AccraRegional Chairman of the GNAG. “Informationand education was not reaching our garages and itwas badly needed for our members.”

The garages’ consortium at Odawna linked upwith SHARE, providing the project with an effec-tive channel to reach the informal economy. Itstarted in 2004 by running a survey among thegarage workers, which confirmed a general lack ofknowledge about HIV and its transmission. WithILO support, the GNAG identified 50 peer educa-tors who went through extensive education andtraining on HIV issues. To encourage participation,workers received an allowance to cover the incomethey lost while carrying out HIV activities.

A network of focal points and peer educatorsnow operates in 36 garage plots, targeting garageworkers and other small businesses such as foodvendors. The key aim is to raise workers’ percep-tions of their own risk of contracting HIV by cre-ating an understanding of the connection betweenalcohol, multiple partners, casual sex and infection.The peer educators work early in the morning andin the evenings, when people have more time totalk, and they have so far covered about 2,000workers. Many have also been carrying out HIVeducation in their churches and local communities.

Sarah is a food vendor and peer educator at plot10, Odawna garages. She believes strongly that theproject has been highly beneficial to her and hercolleagues. “Before this programme I did not carewhether people had sex with a condom or not, butnow I believe in the use of a condom. The infor-mation I learnt about HIV is burning inside meand I feel a need to share it.”

“In the past we could barely raise the issue ofsafer sex, condom use and VCT (voluntary andconfidential testing) with our apprentices andworkers because we felt uncomfortable,” explainsMr. John K. Nimo, Acting National Secretary forthe GNAG. “We believe the ILO programme hasraised awareness of the risk involved and now peo-ple know they must look out for each other.”

Protecting young workers from HIV/AIDS inCambodia

Twenty-one-year-old Huong Vuthy could notfind a job in the rural province of Cambodia whereshe lived so she decided to come and work in thecapital city, Phnom Penh. She had heard about HIVbefore she came, but thought it was only somethingthat “bad people” got and wasn’t her problem.

Since the first case of HIV was reported in the

country in 1991, 94,000 people have died of HIV-related causes. Remarkably, Cambodia has man-aged to reverse the trend and has seen a fall in adultprevalence rates from 1.3 per cent in 2003 to 0.9per cent in 2006 (UNAIDS, 2006); this is quite anachievement in a country that has emerged fromover 20 years of violent conflict and which is still inthe process of reconstruction. However, despite thissuccess the Cambodian government is concernedto sustain and accelerate the national response toprevent a resurgent epidemic. Almost half of newinfections are among married women.

Huong works in Cambodia’s booming garmentindustry which expanded rapidly in the mid-1990sand now employs an estimated 280,000 workers inover 200 factories. One out of five Cambodianwomen aged between 18 and 24 works in a garmentfactory; they are often single with low literacylevels, living away from their families and com-munities. Some supplement their income with sec-ond jobs at karaoke bars and restaurants.

On arrival in Phnom Penh many young womendiscover that they cannot be considered for a job inone of the garment factories without a medicalcheck-up. Their first port of call is a governmenthealth clinic where all workers must be examinedbefore being given a health certificate attesting thatthey are fit to work. Concerned about the vulner-ability of the young workers entering the labourmarket, the Department of Occupational Safetyand Health (DoSH) decided to set up the FriendlyEducation Centre which aims to provide HIVinformation while future workers are waiting tohave their medical check-up.

Two educators from the DoSH visit the centrethree times a week to provide information andadvice about HIV prevention. There are plenty ofvisual and written materials available from the ILOand other organizations. The centre also showsvideo on HIV while workers are waiting.

The centre provides a valuable space for theyoung women to learn about HIV and the risksthey may face. “I am here for a medical check-up sothat I can apply for a job in a garment factory,” saysone hopeful rural migrant. “I have learnt moreabout HIV now by coming to this centre. I realizethat it is important for me to learn about HIV sothat I can protect myself. I also know now where Ican go for other health services.”

This initiative from the Ministry of SocialAffairs, Labour, Vocational Training was supportedby the ILO SHARE Programme, which ran fromMay 2003 to August 2007 with a budget of >>

Peer educator kit developedby SHARE in Ghana

Apprentices from the OdawnaGarages Association at work

Young women working in agarment factory, Cambodia



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Seven years after the adoption of the Codeof Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World ofWork by the ILO Governing Body, much hasbeen done to implement it. The SHARE(Strategic HIV/AIDS Responses in Enter-prises) programme is in full swing. What isSHARE and how does it work?

Dr. Sophia Kisting: The workplace offers dis-tinct opportunities and advantages as a keydelivery point for HIV prevention, treatmentand care programmes on an ongoing basis.Using a combination of dialogue, trainingand facilitation methods, the SHARE pro-gramme aims to increase the capacity ofgovernment, employers’ and workers’organizations in participating countries toprotect working people from HIV and help toreduce its impact on the world of work. Themain thrust of the SHARE programme isaction at the enterprise level. The pro-gramme financed by the United StatesDepartment of Labor is now reaching morethan a million workers.

What are its key components?

Dr. Sophia Kisting: SHARE aims at reducingemployment-related discrimination againstHIV; maintaining employment for workers liv-

ing with HIV; reducing high-risk behaviour;and facilitating access to voluntary and con-fidential testing, treatment, care and sup-port.National ownership of the SHARE initiative isessential to the project’s success and sus-tainability. While there is a genericapproach, this is adapted to be country spe-cific on the basis of dialogue and collabora-tion with key stakeholders. Most countriesnow have national HIV initiatives in place,and SHARE’s role is to strengthen the worldof work component at national level andintroduce programmes at the enterpriselevel.We work in the framework of the DecentWork Agenda, which is threatened in manyways by HIV.

Where does SHARE work?

Dr. Sophia Kisting: Five years after its incep-tion, the SHARE programme is now collabo-rating with 650 enterprises, reaching an esti-mated one million workers in 24 countries.The first programmes set up under SHARE inBelize, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Guyana,India and Togo, are now well establishedand turning into sustainable national pro-grammes.

SHARE projects are attracting increasingattention and their scope is expanding withadditional funding becoming available. Chiefamong the new donors is the President’sEmergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),which has funded extensions to SHARE proj-ects in Botswana, Guyana, India, Lesothoand Swaziland.

What impact has SHARE had?

Dr. Sophia Kisting: During the last fouryears, SHARE has been systematically gath-ering data from its first six country projectsto measure the impact of its interventions. InBelize, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Guyanaand Togo, workers demonstrated aninformed attitude towards people living withHIV over the project implementation period.In Cambodia, for example, the proportion ofworkers who reported having a positive atti-tude towards condom use increased from 34per cent to 68 per cent. In Ghana, the per-centage of workers who reported a support-ive attitude towards co-workers living withHIV increased from 33 per cent to 63 percent. What’s more, only 14 per cent of thepartner enterprises in the six countries hadwritten HIV policies when the programmestarted. The figure rose to an average 76 percent when final surveys were conducted. Overall, 16 of the 24 countries where SHAREis implementing projects have adopted anational tripartite policy or declaration onHIV and the world of work. A total of 3,978government officials, 1,238 employers’organization representatives and 5,077 rep-resentatives of trade unions have beentrained on HIV in the workplace. These datashow that SHARE has made a significantcontribution to the creation of an enablingand supportive workplace environment, andto a change in attitudes and behaviour.

Is changing attitudes and behaviour key tosuccessful workplace interventions?

Dr. Sophia Kisting: Behaviour change pro-grammes are an essential and central ele-ment in enterprise-level initiatives within

THE SHARE PROGRAMME: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. SOPHIA KISTING, DIRECTOR OF ILO/AIDS.


SHARE. Many workers do not know enoughabout HIV to protect themselves, whileothers do know but still don’t change theirbehaviour to reduce the risk of infection. Behaviour change is a form of participatoryeducation that encourages people to under-stand their own attitudes to HIV, assess theirown risks, and motivate them to changebehaviour. The programme uses targetedmessages and approaches and is imple-mented through a system of peer education.This is based on the idea that individuals aremost likely to change their behaviourthrough the support of people they know andtrust. Positive individual behaviour changein turn encourages and motivates more col-lective behaviour change.

What are the next steps in the fight againstHIV/AIDS at the workplace?

Dr. Sophia Kisting: Some countries offer out-standing examples of how they addressHIV/AIDS using the workplace for preven-tion, care and support, and to tackle stigmaand discrimination. It is time to look at whathas already been done in pioneer countriesand build on good practices. We hope thatthe stories in the new ILO report will con-vince and inspire more ministries of labour,employers, and trade unions to intensifytheir efforts in addressing HIV.Following wide demand for a new inter-national labour standard to expand andstrengthen AIDS responses in the world ofwork, the ILO Governing Body decided inMarch 2007 to develop an “autonomousRecommendation” on HIV/AIDS. In prepar-ation, the Office assembled information foran overview “law and practice” report,including the most comprehensive compila-tion to date of national laws and policies onHIV/AIDS, covering 170 countries. The draftRecommendation will be discussed at theInternational Labour Conference in June2009 and if adopted will provide a frameworkfor national policy development and action.

US$483,883. It operated in the capital cityPhnom Penh and Siem Reap province.SHARE worked with the garment fac-tories, the hospitality industry and theinformal construction sector where maleworkers often spend long periods of timebased in camps away from home. In total892 peer educators have been trained and11,770 workers involved in a range ofproject activities in 15 workplaces.

Building on strong occupational safetyand health habits to address HIV/AIDSin Belize

Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) is thenation’s main power supplier employing250 workers in 10 different locationsaround the country. The company alreadyhad a well-established occupationalhealth and safety programme in placewhen approached by the ILO, and wasopen to integrating HIV education andrisk reduction in its ongoing activities.Being part of a broader health and safetyapproach makes HIV work more eco-nomically viable for the company, andmay make it easier to encourage workerinvolvement.

Employees from BEL took part in theILO project’s baseline survey in 2004 andthis exposed HIV risk behaviours amongits staff. The most significant were regularalcohol consumption among maleemployees; a highly mobile workforceaway from home for long periods; and anegative attitude towards using condoms.

Using this information BEL tookaction to protect its staff. The companyinstigated a “no tolerance” policy towardsalcohol consumption on the premises andlimited alcohol availability at companysocial gatherings. It also moved away fromgiving workers long assignments in thefield by building institutional capacitybeyond head office, and developing shortstint rotation systems. Finally, condoms arenow readily available at the workplace andthere is a back-up information campaign.

BEL has a network of peer educatorsand a wide range of HIV information andeducational activities. The company offersfinancial incentives such as end-of-yearbonus payments to boost staff participa-

tion in occupational health and safetyprogrammes and events. BEL feels theHIV workplace education programmebenefits everyone as the companyachieves its productivity targets throughlower staff turnover, less absenteeism anda return on capacity investment in staff.At the same time employees stay healthyand productive to the benefit of them-selves and their families.

In 2003 the ILO and the United StatesDepartment of Labor set up the first pro-ject to systematically target the country’sworking population to protect it from theimpact of HIV with a three-year budget ofUS$452,518. BEL is one of 18 workplacesto become involved in the HIV workplaceeducation programme which is active infive targeted sectors and reaches 4,614workers.

Four years on, the foundations for asustainable national workplace pro-gramme on HIV have been put in place,and the project is now being run by theBelize Ministry of Labour as the ILO’sinvolvement has ended. There is stillmuch to be done – including a need forlegislation to support national HIV poli-cies – but the project’s interventions haveshown that there is potential for action,and HIV is now widely recognized as acritical workplace issue in Belize.

Poster targeting BEL technicians



H I V/A I D S AT W O R K

Malawi: Behaviour change in the workplace Satemwa Tea Estate is one of the oldest and

biggest tea factories in the southern region ofMalawi with a workforce of 2,900 people. Withhigh levels of absenteeism management was verykeen to do something about HIV, but didn’t knowhow to make a start. The ILO began discussionswith the company and ran a training programmefor staff identified to be focal points in each divi-sion. Many issues came up in the workshops and asa result HIV committees have been set up and thefirst draft of an HIV policy has been developed forthe company.

Management is already using this draft to startimplementing HIV programmes and staff are get-ting information about the importance of preven-tion, particularly the use of condoms. Supervisorspass on messages about HIV during workinghours; either while they are monitoring the teapicking or before work when employees gather forthe distribution of tasks for the day.

Satemwa has developed a condom strategycalled tolani nokha (help yourself); condom sup-plies are left at the reception and staff help them-selves. “Now we don’t need to go to the clinic andrequest a condom, we just pass through the recep-tion and help ourselves and we are not ashamed,”explains one of the many workers who are benefit-ing. The company has also developed a list of HIVservices available locally in response to requestsfrom workers.

Covering the supply chain: ILO HIV/AIDS pro-gramme in India

Apollo Tyres Limited (ATL) is a young, dynam-ic organization with manufacturing and sales oper-ations in India and South Africa. Apollo started itsHIV programme working with truck drivers, andthen initiated a comprehensive workplace pro-gramme in partnership with the ILO India projectthat covers its 7,000 employees in four locations.

The company uses a net-work of volunteers who aretrained as HIV peer educa-tors and master trainers toroll out the programme withcolleagues. In recognition oftheir contribution, they areknown as “champions of thecause”.

Apollo is now helping toinitiate HIV programmesamong companies in its sup-

ply chain, targeting small and medium-sized busi-ness partners. It began by setting up a sensitizationworkshop for all its suppliers, letting them know ithad included issues related to HIV in its code ofethics. Compliance with the code is a key criterionfor Apollo when selecting supply chain companies.As a follow-up to the advocacy event, it is targetingeight companies a year to set up workplace pro-grammes, with the help of its master trainers.Apollo plans to expand its HIV initiatives toinvolve 4,500 retailers across India through its 120sales offices.

THE ILO CODE OF PRACTICE ON HIV/AIDS AND THE WORLD OF WORK: KEY PRINCIPLES

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• Recognition of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue• Non-discrimination• Gender equality• Healthy work environment• Dialogue between employers, workers and gov-

ernment, including workers with HIV• No screening for purposes of exclusion from

employment or work process• Confidentiality• Continuation of employment relationship for

employees with HIV and AIDS• Importance of prevention• Need for care and support, including access or

referral to treatment and services

Apollo Tyres is one of thepartner enterprises workingwith SHARE in India

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Calling up new hazards

Millions of people worldwide earn theirliving working in call centres. AndrewBibby focuses on one small area in theUnited Kingdom where the work has

changed, to report on new health and safety issues inthe worldwide rush to outsource customer informa-tion.

DEARNE VALLEY, ENGLAND – Yorkshire isknown as one of the most beautiful regions of Eng-land, but the small towns of the Dearne valley donot normally feature in the tourist guides. Theworking-class communities here were for genera-tions dependent on the hazardous work involved inextracting coal from the high-grade coal seams.The dangers of coal mining were brought home interrible fashion in the mid-nineteenth century,when an explosion underground in a nearby col-liery killed 189 men and boys.

Mining has disappeared from the Dearne valleynow, and instead the area has become a focus for avery modern occupation. Men and women herestaff the bright new contact centres which have

sprung up on former industrial land, taking tele-phone calls from customers about their bankingneeds, their electricity bills and their mail ordershopping requests.

Contact centres (also known as call centres) area phenomenon of recent years. Many millions ofpeople worldwide earn their living working inthese establishments, handling telephone callsrepeatedly fed to them by automated call distribu-tion (ACD) technology as they sit, headphones on,at their consoles. In the United States, for example,the percentage of the working population workingin contact centres has now reached 3.7 per cent.

Compared with the dirty and dangerous task ofworking underground wielding heavy equipmentto extract coal, call centres like those in the Dearnevalley in England are a haven of safe working. Buteven in clean modern workplaces, it’s becomingclear that there can be significant occupationalsafety and health issues. Indeed, whilst new tech-nology has helped eliminate the need for many ofthe dangerous jobs of the past, it brings with it newrisks to health. >>

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It has been the arrival of contact centres whichhas led to the syndrome known as acoustic shockreceiving attention, for example. It was in the early1990s that word first began to emerge of a possiblenew risk of this kind. In Denmark, the telecommu-nications union reported that staff at call centreswere complaining about very loud noises comingthrough their headsets when taking customer calls.The noises, the union reported, came suddenly andwithout warning, but nobody seemed to be able totrack down exactly what it was that was causing theproblem.

It was a similar story in the United Kingdom Asearly as 1991, the Communication Workers Unionfirst instructed their legal advisors to investigatetwo cases of apparent injuries sustained by tele-phone operators, the first of over 100 cases ofacoustic shock which the CWU has now taken upon behalf of its members (it claims in total to haveobtained more than a million pounds in damagesfor them). In 1999, the UK Trades Union Congresscollaborated on a survey with the Royal NationalInstitute for Deaf People which found that more

than a quarter of contact centre staff reportedbeing at the receiving end of sudden loud bursts ofnoise. More generally, 39 per cent were worriedabout their hearing being damaged.

At the other side of the globe, similar problemswere emerging in Australia. Following some earlyhigh-profile incidents, over a hundred cases havenow been recognized in Australia and indeed it wasin Australia that one of the most dramatic cases ofacoustic shock occurred. According to pressreports, in March 2006 as many as fifteen workerswere injured by an acoustic shock incident perhapscaused by a power surge. One worker wasstretchered out of the building and had to be takento hospital, whilst others complained of dizziness,nausea, numbness and ringing in the ears.

If some in the industry were initially sceptical ofthese stories, it is partly because the headsets usedin contact centres seemed to be adequate to controlthe volume levels of calls coming in. There wasconfusion about exactly what the issue was – was itis the loudness or the suddenness of the noisewhich was causing difficulties? Finally there wasalso, of course, the problem of proof: there were novisible physical injuries caused to sufferers.

More recently, thanks partly to further research,things have become clearer. The first ever interna-tional seminar on the syndrome was held in west-ern Australia in September 2001 and anothermajor conference was held in Scotland in Novem-ber 2006. The Scottish event was the initiative ofthe Acoustic Safety Programme, a broadly basedUK initiative in which both the employers and theunions have been collaborating. The Acoustic Safe-ty Programme claims to be the world’s leadingpublic – private health and safety initiative aroundnoise-related sickness in office environments andas well as receiving government, industry andunion support in Britain it has also been warmlyendorsed by the European Confederation of Con-tact Centre Organisations. The Acoustic SafetyProgramme researchers have come up with one ofthe first attempts at a definition of the syndrome.Acoustic shock, they say, is “an adverse response toan acoustic incident resulting in alteration of audi-tory function”. An acoustic incident in turn is “asudden, unexpected noise event which is perceivedas loud, transmitted through a telephone or head-set”. It is the unexpectedness, not just the volume,of the noise which is a significant factor.

Acoustic shock is one of a number of occupa-tional safety and health issues identified in the con-text of call centre working. Another is the risk of

Employers and unions in Europe agreed a set of Guidelines for customer contactcentres in 2004 which, they said, were aimed at promoting a positive future forcontact centres and their workers. The Guidelines, agreed between the Euro-pean Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association and Union NetworkInternational, acknowledge the need for flexibility in contact centres but alsostress the importance of call quality, rather than simply quantitative measures oncall control and handling time.

The Guidelines aim at bringing advantages for both the workers and the busi-nesses.

For customer service professionals:• Gain job satisfaction from providing good service• Receive appropriate training• Receive appropriate career development• Work in a comfortable and safe environment

For the customer contact centre:• Gains a reputation as a provider of reliable and quality service• Has access to a pool of well-trained and professional employees• Retains experienced employees due to reduced staff turnover

The Guidelines are available athttp://tinyurl.com/4f49ok

CALL CENTRES IN THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR

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developing voice loss, a condition experts suggestcan be avoided through appropriate air condition-ing (the office climate should not be too dry); athird is the risk of infection if headsets are shared.Call centre workers are also in the same situation asall whose work involves computer screens and key-boards, where there can be risks of developingmuscular-skeletal complaints such as repetitivestrain injuries (RSI), and eye strain. Goodergonomic design and regular screen breaks areamong the recommended solutions here.

Perhaps the greatest health issue for call centreworkers, however, is that of stress, a subject whichhas been widely discussed in recent years. TheFrench Institut National de Recherche et de Sécu-rité, for example, suggests that both the high levelof control in a call centre environment and the lackof a real career path can contribute towards caus-ing stress, leading in turn to increased rates ofabsenteeism and staff turnover. The INRS adds thatthe use of scripts (forms of words which staff areobliged to use when talking to customers) may addto the pressure.

Call centres have been referred to as the white-collar equivalents of the car assembly line plants,and certainly the degree of control over the work-ing day which is imposed by automated call distri-bution technology is a very new phenomenon foroffice workers. Generally, calls are passed to callhandlers automatically when the system detectsthat they are free. Pressure can be particularlyintense in a sales-orientated environment wheresales targets are imposed, and where staff arepenalized when calls last longer than the target calltime.

The physical and psychological health of over2,000 call handlers in contact centres in the Lyonarea of France was the focus of a recent researchproject funded by the French government. In theirreport published last year, the researchers foundsome evidence of muscular-skeletal problems, eyestrain and hearing problems among the workersstudied, but they particularly emphasized the highlevel of stress they encountered. Using the interna-tionally used Karasek job content questionnaire,they reported that 36 per cent of workers showedmoderate or high levels of stress. Medium-sizedcall centres, with between 50 to 200 staff, appearedto be significantly more stressful workplaces.

What could be done? The researchers acceptedthat some aspects of the working environmentwere intrinsic to the very nature of contact centres,though they called for attention to be paid to orga-

nizational factors which could be changed, such asinvolving workers more in the way their work wasstructured and removing time limits on calls.

Work-related stress has been described as themajor occupational health issue of the twenty-firstcentury and it is one which was the subject of suc-cessful negotiations in the European Union in thecontext of European social dialogue. The 2004framework agreement signed between the Euro-pean employers’ organizations and the EuropeanTrade Union Confederation was a landmark docu-ment, acknowledging the issue and calling foraction. As it pointed out, “Tackling stress at workcan lead to greater efficiency and improved occu-pational health and safety, with consequently eco-nomic and social benefits for companies, workersand society as a whole.”

While designed to cover all work situations, theagreement seems particularly relevant to workingenvironments like contact centres which dependon the utilization of new technology. It states,“Identifying whether there is a problem of work-related stress can involve an analysis of factors suchas work organization and processes (working timearrangements, degree of autonomy, match betweenworkers skills and job requirements, workload,etc), working conditions and environment (expo-sure to abusive behaviour, noise, heat, dangeroussubstances, etc), communication (uncertainlyabout what is expected at work, employmentprospects, or forthcoming change, etc) and subjec-tive factors (emotional and social pressures, feelingunable to cope, perceived lack of support, etc).”

Miners in coal mines like those of Yorkshire’sDearne valley used to keep canaries with them as away of detecting if methane gas was building up.Today we have other health risks at work and otherways of tackling them, but when it comes to stressperhaps a canary or two in the workplace mighthelp relieve the pressure. Metaphorically speaking,of course.

ILO information on work-related stress can befound at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/stress/index.htm.

Information on the Lyon contact centre study is athttp://tinyurl.com/4p4cal

The Acoustic Safety Programme website ishttp://www.acousticshock.org

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P H O T O R E P O R T


Working at 1700° CN

early seven million people areemployed in basic metal productionworldwide. The iron and steel sectoralone accounts for about 75 per cent

of the total. But the sector is vulnerable tocyclical fluctuations, recent mergers and acqui-sitions, and overproduction. Despite the rise incommodity prices and the upturn for theindustry since 2001/02 (largely fuelled by

demand in Asia, particularly China), employ-ment in the major steel-producing countriescontinues to stagnate.

ILO photographer Marcel Crozet recentlyvisited a traditional steel plant in Alexandria,Egypt. The plant produces high-quality longand flat steel for use in a wide range of endapplications and employs more than 2,000skilled workers.

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Steel workers are proud of their profession.The industry is one of the backbones of mod-ern industrial society despite criticism relatedto its high consumption of energy and carbondioxide emissions.

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Temperature extremes, hostile environments and aglowing hot product are only a few of the challenges facingworkers in steel-making. Methods of production have con-siderably improved over the years, but even in modernplants, the challenge of handling an incredibly hot andheavy fluid in a controlled way demands a lot frommachinery and workers.

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The plant has its own fire brigade allowingfast intervention in case of an emergency.




Occupational safety and health remainsone of the main challenges in the sector. Incomparison to other manufacturingindustries, risk of severe injury is generallyhigher in basic metal production, due tothe presence of molten metal, toxic chem-icals and by-products. For this reason, theILO has paid particular attention to assist-ing all those involved in the industry toimprove their safety and health records bydeveloping codes of practice on safety andhealth for non-ferrous metals as well asiron and steel production.

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O C C U PAT I O N A L S A F E T Y A N D H E A LT H

F E A T U R E D B O O K S

Spotlight on OSH guides and manualsILO publications on the various aspects of OSH cover a vast range. In this feature World of Worklooks at two recent books, and dips into the series of ILO codes of practice and guides.

ILO codes of practice

The ILO has been publishing codes of practice and guidesfor over fifty years. Some – such as HIV/AIDS and the worldof work – have been translated into many languages; othershave been revised or reprinted several times over thedecades. Their scope is huge, covering either different sectorssuch as mines, agriculture, forestry, construction, iron andsteel, ports, accidents on board ship, dock work, shipbreak-ing; or particular risks such as ionizing radiations, noise andvibration, exposure to airborne substances, or the use of syn-thetic vitreous fibre insulation wools, as well as cross-cuttingissues such as transfer of technology, managing disability inthe workplace, the protection of workers’ personal data,workplace violence, or the management of alcohol- anddrug-related issues.

Presented in small format – just right for a back pocket –and in the form of detailed technical specifications, theyindicate “what should be done”. They are not legally bindingand are not intended to replace the provisions of nationallaws or regulations. They aim to serve as practical guides forpublic authorities and services, employers and workers con-cerned, specialized protection and prevention bodies, enter-prises and safety and health committees. They are preparedby tripartite meetings of experts and approved for publica-tion by the ILO Governing Body.

A list of selected codes and guides since 1990 reveals theastonishing range of these popular technical tools forimproving the health and safety of workers. Many of themare available online at www.ilo.org.

●● Safety and health in underground coalmines (2008)●● Safety and health in the iron and steel industry (2005)●● Guidelines for labour inspection in forestry (2005)●● Safety and health in ports (2005)●● Security in ports (2005, with IMO)●● Safety and health in shipbreaking: Guidelines for Asian

countries and Turkey (2004)●● Workplace violence in services sectors and measures to

combat this phenomenon (2003)●● Safety and health in the non-ferrous metals industries

(2003)●● Managing disability in the workplace (2002)●● Guidelines on occupational safety and health manage-

ment systems (2001)●● Ambient factors in the workplace (2001)●● HIV/AIDS and the world of work (2001)●● Use of synthetic vitreous fibre insulation wools (glass wool,

rock wool, slag wool) (2000)●● Safety and health in forestry work (1998)●● Technical and ethical guidelines for workers’ health sur-

veillance (1998)●● Safety in the use of radiofrequency dielectric heaters and

sealers (1998)●● Protection of workers’ personal data (1997)●● Accident prevention on board ship at sea and in port

(1996)●● Management of alcohol- and drug-related issues in the

workplace (1996)●● Recording and notification of occupational accidents and

diseases (1995)●● Safety in the use of chemicals at work (1993)●● Safety and health in construction (1992)●● Safety and health in opencast mines (1991)●● Prevention of major industrial accidents (1990)




Statistics of occupa-tional injuries areessential for accidentprevention. The ILO’sglobal strategy on occu-pational safety andhealth adopted in 2003recognizes the impor-tance of targets andindicators in nationalOHS programmes. Theyare a “tool for the evalu-ation of progress byconstituents, as well as a

basis for periodic review and identification of futurepriorities for action”.

While most countries have some statistics of occupa-tional injuries, in many their coverage is limited, withcertain industries, groups of workers or types of injurynot included. Statistics are lacking in about one-third ofcountries around the world. The principal data sourcesin most countries are the administrative records ofcompensation schemes and the systems for notifyingoccupational injuries to labour inspectorates, healthand safety organizations and other relevant authorities.These reflect the requirements of national labour legis-lation, and many have restricted coverage in terms ofworkers’ activities or types of injuries. Typically, theycover paid employees engaged in some or all privatesector activities. The coverage of the self-employed isusually far from complete, and some activities, such aspublic administration, agriculture or those in the infor-mal sector, are often excluded altogether. Even wherecoverage is broad, many occupational injuries gounrecorded because of inadequacies in reporting andnotification systems.

The main purpose of this recently published manualis therefore to provide guidance to national labour stat-isticians engaged in or proposing to start compilingstatistics of occupational injuries through householdsurveys or establishment surveys. The methods pro-posed are not to be seen as replacing or duplicatingexisting methods for collecting data: the ILO Protocolof 2002 to the Occupational Safety and Health Conven-tion, 1981 (P. 155), recommends notification systems asthe major source of statistics in this field, but it will besome time before all national notification systems haveachieved the coverage and efficiency required.

Occupational injuries statistics provides

●● Practical guidance for the production of statistics onoccupational injuries through household surveys andestablishment surveys

●● In-depth explanation of the concepts underlying thestatistics, as well as types of data, classificationschemes, calculation of indicators and other importantaspects, including international standards

●● A step-by-step approach for developing household andestablishment surveys and processing and disseminatingthe data

●● Model questionnaires and training materials

A secondary aim of the manual is to improve thecomparability of data between countries, by promotingthe application of the internationally recognizedstandards in this field. While the methodologiesdescribed in the book may need to be adapted to thespecial conditions prevailing in some countries,nonetheless, by basing their methodologies on theseguidelines, countries will be in a better position to pro-duce statistics that are more comparable with those ofother countries.

Occupational injuries statistics from household surveys and establishment surveys: An ILO manual on methodsBy Karen Taswell and Peter Wingfield Digby

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Why are thereconstant shifts inthe nature of haz-ards, affected popu-lation and people’sperception of occu-pational health andsafety? Are theredifferent ways inwhich the topic ofOSH is being per-ceived by nationaland internationalbodies and differentmechanisms and

methods of prevention? How is the ILO addressingthese changes? Fundamental principles of occupa-tional health and safety brings together compre-hensive knowledge and facts about occupationalsafety and health from national, enterprise andglobal levels. The first edition, a bestseller andwidely regarded as the definitive ILO work onOSH, has been expanded and updated to includespecifically recent workplace concerns. This secondedition introduces new ILO instruments promot-ing OSH, details national OSH policies and theirimplementation and operational methods includ-ing legislation and collective bargaining. Writtenwith the goal of addressing cutting-edge issues andconcerns in the field, it highlights many importantdevelopments in the field of OSH, both within andoutside the ILO.

Globalization and OSHThe repercussions of globalization have been

perceived as the greatest force for change in theworld of work, and consequently in the scope ofoccupational safety and health, in both positiveand negative ways. Liberalization of world trade,rapid technological progress, significant develop-ments in transport and communication, shiftingpatterns of employment, changes in work organ-ization practices, the different employment pat-terns of men and women, and the size, structureand life cycles of enterprises and of new technolo-gies can all generate new types and patterns of haz-ards, exposures and risks. Demographic changesand population movements and the consequentpressures on the global environment can also affectsafety and health in the world of work.

Promotional framework for OSH ConventionA recent development in the field of OSH is the

adoption of the Promotional Framework for Occu-pational Safety and Health Convention (No. 187)and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 197)by the International Labour Conference in 2006.This book recognizes as the purpose of this Con-vention the integration of the ILO’s fundamentalstrategies to better OSH. The content of the Con-vention, promotional rather than prescriptive,highlights the two strategies: the development andmaintenance of a preventive safety and health cul-ture, and the application at the national level of asystems management approach to occupationalsafety and health.

National policy frameworksAnother development presented in the book is

the changing focus of national policy frameworksthat countries design and implement to preventoccupational accidents and diseases. In the past,many of these frameworks were hampered by frag-mented ideals and organization and could not keepup with shifting demands of the world of work,therefore having little impact. The traditionalstrategies and methods for prevention and controlneed radical updating to respond effectively to thefast and continuous changes in the workplace. Inaddition, there is a perpetual need to train newgenerations of workers as they replace retiringones. Mechanisms and strategies must therefore bedeveloped to always keep occupational safety andhealth at the forefront of national and enterprisepriorities. Convention No. 187’s focus on not onlythe development but also the maintenance of OSHculture addresses this need.

OSH management systemsThe book also expands on the OSH manage-

ment systems which help companies accept andadminister the culture of health and safety as theirprime responsibility. The new edition offers sam-ples of how a comprehensive evaluation systemwould include baseline evaluations, auditing, self-inspection and self-correction, incident investiga-tion, medical surveillance and management reviewactivities. The OSH management cycle diagramcaptures the main elements of how such a systemwould work.

Fundamental principles of occupational health and safetyBy Benjamin O. AlliSecond edition




HIV/AIDS and the world of workThe second edition has a section on HIV/AIDS in the

world of work and how the ILO has responded to the epi-demic. It is crucial to realize that the workplace plays animportant role in national and global efforts to combatHIV/AIDS. Around 36 million people around the world liv-ing with the disease are of working age and 70 per cent ofthem are involved in formal or informal employment. Howcan the workplace help workers and workers’ families andfriends living with HIV/AIDS and improve their lives? Thisbook introduces and expands on many concepts, includingorganizational and capacity building ideas and methodssuch as training and support in the workplace; ways of howto deal with discrimination and maintain confidentiality;encouraging voluntary testing of employees; and workerassistant programmes.

There have been several ILO standards relevant toHIV/AIDS, yet the ILO code of practice is so far the only ILOinstrument devoted exclusively to the subject and is writtenas a model regulation. However, in 2009 the InternationalLabour Conference will discuss “the development of anautonomous Recommendation on HIV and AIDS in theworld of work on the basis of a double discussion.”

Chemical safetyThis edition also includes a section on international

chemical health safety. Amid growing concerns for human

and environmental health, the prevention of exposure tohazardous chemicals in the workplace is a major focus ofoccupational safety and health. The safe production,handling, use and disposal of hazardous chemicals havebeen developed over the past two decades and the ILO hastaken part in the development of hazard communicationand management tools, such as the International ChemicalSafety Cards (ICSCs) project developed in 1984. The ICSCs,designed to serve as an international reference source forchemical safety information, summarize essential safety andhealth information on chemical substances in a clear wayand are intended for use at the shop-floor level by workers,and by those responsible for workplace safety and health.

Small and medium-sized enterprises especially in emerg-ing economies are increasingly relying on chemical produc-tion and use. In these settings, the access to people with expe-rience in assessing and controlling exposure to chemicals islimited. Therefore, a new approach to the control of chemi-cals, control banding, has been developed. It is a complemen-tary approach to protecting worker health by focusingresources on exposure controls and bands chemicals in dif-ferent groups according to their dustiness/volatility. Thismethod forms the basis of the ILO’s International ChemicalControl Toolkit (ICCT).

The OSH management cycle


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P L A N E T W O R K

P L A N E T W O R K A REVIEW OF TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN LABOUR ISSUES

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■ Seoul, Republic of Korea – TheIndustrial Accident PreventionAssociation (IAPA) won first placeat the 7th International Film andMultimedia Festival during the XVIIIthWorld Congress on Safety andHealth in Seoul, Republic of Korea.An international jury awardedIAPA’s First 4 Weeks programmefirst place in the Multimedia Train-ing category at the Festival. IAPA, anon-profit organization based inOntario, Canada, developed theirFirst 4 Weeks programme – a com-prehensive, job-specific health andsafety orientation programme thataims to train the supervisor, as wellas the new and young worker, toreduce their risk of injuries on thejob especially during the first monthof work. This year’s InternationalFilm and Multimedia Festival sawmore than 150 entries from 24 dif-ferent countries. The InternationalFilm and Multimedia Festival is rec-ognized as an integral part of theWorld Congress on Safety andHealth at Work, the largest healthand safety event in the world. (CNWTelbec, 10 July 2008)

■ United States – The deadliest job inthe United States is tower climbing forthe maintenance of mobile-phone and

other communications towers. Becauseof the relatively small number ofemployees in the business compared toother industry sectors, tower climbing– which suffered five fatalities during a12-day span this spring and sevendeaths overall this year so far – may bethe most overlooked, deadly job in thecountry. In 2006, 18 tower workers losttheir lives. The tower fatalities comeduring growth and expansion in thewireless industry, yet it remains unclear

whether any association can be drawnbetween the rise in tower industrydeaths and the current era of 3G net-works. According to Edwin Foulke Jr.,head of the Occupational Safety andHealth Administration, most fatalitiesoccur as a result of climbers not beingtied to a safe anchorage point at alltimes or relying upon faulty personalprotection equipment. Foulke said,“Many fatalities have occurred duringthe erection, retrofitting or dismantling

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P L A N E T W O R K A R O U N D T H E C O N T I N E N T S M E D I A S H E L FN E W S

of a tower. ‘Tie or Die!’ has become syn-onymous with the requirement for 100per cent fall protection.” (RCR WirelessNews, 9 July 2008)

■ Qatar – Some construction firms inQatar are continuing to ignore safetyand health precautions for their work-ers on site. Workers perch precariouslyin cradles cleaning high-rise buildings’windows, walking on makeshift scaf-folds with no safety gear or carryingout simple brick-and-mortar workwith bare hands. Most workers areexposed to dust above the acceptablelevel, making them vulnerable toserious respiratory complications. Inworkshops and garages, vehiclemechanics are rarely observed follow-ing the occupational health and safetystandards. According to an environ-mental, safety and health manager ofan international company with majoroperations in Qatar, the practice mustbe “reversed through education and

awareness. It is the job of supervisors,other managerial staff and the com-pany’s owners to provide both precau-tionary information and material.”(Gulf Times, 11 July 2008) WARMING

■ Sydney, Australia – Occupationalsafety measures are taking into accountemployer responsibilities of the mentalhealth of workers. Bosses should sup-port a national “stress down” day, toboost worker productivity and improvemental health, former NSW liberalleader John Brogden says. Lifeline NSWis a telephone counselling service.Speaking from his own experience,Brogden says that the high stress levelsinduced by problems in the workplaceare incredibly harmful for health. “Iftheir workforce has got the balanceright between work and their privatelife then that’s better for them, it’s bet-ter for the individual, but it’s also betterfor the business,” he says. National“stress down” day is important to set agood example to workers by employerslooking after their own mental health.(Sydney Morning Herald, 9 July 2008)

■ New Brunswick, Canada – Work-place Health, Safety and CompensationCommission (WHSCC) has charged aspeciality pulp producer a 10,000

Canadian dollar fine for failing to pro-vide a safe working environment. Thecharges stem from an accident last yearinvolving an employee, whose hand gotcaught between two rollers inside amachine used in the mill’s pulp-mak-ing process. The man’s hand wasseverely damaged and had to be ampu-tated. After an extensive investigationby the WHSCC, the company wascharged under the OccupationalHealth and Safety Act for failing to haveadequate safeguards on the machine, aswell as failing to establish a code ofpractice for the neutralization, clear-ance, release and start-up of themachine when it needed repairs. (BugleObserver, 11 July 2008)

■ Scotland – One of the most impor-tant and even fatal occupational hazardfacing paramedics in the Lothiansregion in Scotland is violence. Para-medics face attacks and even deaththreats as they respond to emergencies,with at least one incident being record-ed every month. In one instance, aparamedic based at Livingston wasattacked so badly she was off work forsix months. The service now refuses tosend crew into certain situations, suchas pub brawls, without police assis-tance. However, thanks to the Emer-

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gency Workers Act, figures are declin-ing. The Act, introduced in Scotland in2005, makes it an offence to impede afire fighter, police officer or paramedicin an emergency situation. Shona Robi-son, Minister for Public Health, said:“Attacks on our emergency workers arecompletely unacceptable and the Emer-gency Workers Act gives vital addition-al legal protection to people who oftenhave to work in difficult or dangeroussituations.”(New Scotsman, 30 June2008)FORMS OF WORK

■ Johannesburg, South Africa –South African former mine workerswith lung diseases had filed a lawsuitagainst Johannesburg-based AngloGoldAshanti. The lawsuit has failed in a casewhere Thembekile Mankayi, whoworked for the Vaal Reefs mine until1995, sued the company for 2.7 millionSA rand (US$342,000). Mankayi wasdischarged after contracting silicosis.The mine was owned at the time byAnglo American, which later set upAngloGold. Mankayi was awardedcompensation of 16,316 rand when heleft his job. “Employees who qualify forbenefits in respect of the OccupationalDiseases in Mines and Works Act may

not, in addition, lodge civil claims,”AngloGold said. Silicosis is caused byexposure to silica dust, which causesscar tissue in the lungs, and has beenlinked to lung cancer and tuberculosis.South Africa’s Chamber of Mines,

which represents mining companiesincluding AngloGold, has pledged toeradicate silicosis by 2013 by improvingworking conditions. (Bloomberg, 26June 2008)

■ Malaysia – The National Instituteof Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) has advised employers not tointroduce or implement cost-cuttingmeasures at the expense of the safetyand health of their employees. Chair-man Tan Sri Lee said companies mustmaintain safe machinery, provision ofpersonal protective equipment and aneven investment in occupational safetyand health. He said that employers,when cutting costs for their operationsarising from the hike in fuel prices,should not do so at the expense of theiremployees. When accidents occur,employers stand to endure great lossesin terms of work stoppage and medicalcompensation, adding that accidentscan be prevented. (The Star, 8 July2008)

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The 97th International Labour Con-ference held discussions on a widerange of issues, spanning new ways ofresponding to the growing challengesof globalization to rural poverty reduc-tion, enhancing skills development,and a number of issues regardingadherence to international labourstandards. In addition, it hosted a high-level panel discussion on the globalfood crisis and marked the annualWorld Day Against Child Labour. Theannual Conference also adopted alandmark Declaration designed tostrengthen the promotion of DecentWork and develop new ways ofresponding to the growing challengesof globalization.

GENEVA -The Conference hosted three emi-nent guest speakers: H.E. Mr. Danilo Türk, Pres-ident of the Republic of Slovenia, H.E. Mr. Mar-

tin Torrijos Espino, President of the Republic ofPanama, and the Right Honourable Mr.Pakalitha Mosisili, Prime Minister of the King-dom of Lesotho.

The Conference was presided over by Mr.Edwin Salamín Jaén, Minister of Labour andLabour Development of Panama. ConferenceVice-Presidents were Mr. Tayeb Louh, Ministerof Labour, Employment and Social Security ofAlgeria, Mr. Ashraf W. Tabani, President of theEmployers’ Federation of Pakistan and Ms. Rabi-atou Sérah Diallo, Secretary General of theNational Confederation of Workers (CNTG) ofGuinea.

At the conclusion of the Conference, ILODirector-General Juan Somavia said the Confer-ence had “placed decent work at the heart of theILO’s institutional system” through the adoptionof the Declaration on Social Justice for a FairGlobalization (see pp.40-41).

During the closing plenary, Dr. Carlos Toma-da, Minister of Work, Employment and SocialSecurity, Republic of Argentina, announced for-mally the recipients of the ILO’s second annualDecent Work Research Prize as Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and leadingCanadian labour researcher Harry Arthurs (forfurther details see press release ILO/08/22).

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97th International Labour ConferenceDelegates highlight new ways to promotethe ILO’s Decent Work Agenda

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“This Conference demonstrated

again the vitality of tripartism at

the heart of the Organization, now

re-energized to fully discharge its

mandate in the context of the chal-

lenges of today.”

Juan SomaviaILO Director-General

H. E. Mr. Danilo Türk,

President of the Republic of

Slovenia, is welcomed to the

Conference by ILO Director-

General Juan Somavia


On 6 June, the Conference Plenary discussedthe ILO’s new Global Report on freedom ofassociation. During the last 10 years, the ILO hasachieved a 50 per cent increase in ratifications ofits eight fundamental Conventions on forcedlabour, child labour, discrimination, and free-dom of association and collective bargaining,bringing universal ratification within reach.

On 2 June, the Conference elected new mem-bers to the ILO’s Governing Body for its nextthree-year term.

The Committee on Rural Employment heldan in-depth discussion on the promotion ofrural employment for poverty reduction. TheCommittee underscored the central role of agri-culture as an engine of growth and povertyreduction. A wide range of topics were analysed,including trends in rural employment anddecent work deficits, extending social protectioncoverage and the application of internationallabour standards in rural areas, as well as pro-moting better governance, empowerment andinstitutions.

The Committee on Skills adopted a set ofconclusions to guide governments and the socialpartners in strengthening the linkages betweenskills, productivity, employment, developmentand decent work. Improving the quality andavailability of education and training for womenand men can engender a virtuous circle in which

skills development fuels the innovation, invest-ment, technological change, enterprise develop-ment, economic diversification and competitive-ness that are needed to accelerate the creation ofmore and better jobs and improve social cohe-sion.

For more information on the Conference see pressrelease ILO/08/31 and others at www.ilo.org.

Tuvalu becomes 182nd ILO member StateGENEVA – Tuvalu has become the 182nd

member State of the International Labour Orga-nization (ILO) following receipt in Geneva of aletter from Mr. Apisai Ielemia, Prime Ministerand also Minister of Foreign Affairs and Labour,stating on behalf of the Government that Tuvalu

had formally accepted the obligations of the ILOConstitution. Tuvalu’s membership becameeffective on 27 May 2008. The country has beena member of the United Nations since 5 Sep-tember 2000.

H. E. Mr. Martin Torrijos Espino,

President of the Republic of Panama,

speaking at the International Labour

Conference on 10 June

The Right Honourable Mr. Pakalitha Mosisili,

Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, speak-

ing at the International Labour Conference, High-

Level Panel on the Food Crisis, Production,

Investment and Decent Work, on 11 June

Mr. Edwin Salamín Jaén presides over the International Labour Conference; Vice-Presidents Mr. Tayeb Louh, Ms. Rabiatou Sérah Diallo and

Mr. Ashraf W. Tabani

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ILO DECLARATION ON SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR A FAIR

GENEVA – Governments, workers and employers of the ILOhave adopted a landmark Declaration designed to strengthenthe ILO’s capacity to promote its Decent Work Agenda andforge an effective response to the growing challenges ofglobalization. The “Declaration on Social Justice for a FairGlobalization” and an accompanying resolution, were adopt-ed by acclamation of member States, workers and employersattending the 97th International Labour Conference followingmonths of negotiations among its tripartite constituents repre-senting its 182 member States.

“The demands of the modern world of work are changing andthis Declaration strengthens our effort to respond through theDecent Work Agenda,” said ILO Director-General JuanSomavia. “Not only does it signal a major change towards bal-anced economic and social policies, but it equips the ILO witha formidable tool to pursue the promotion of a fair globaliza-tion based on Decent Work.”

Through the Declaration governments, employers and work-ers from all member States call for a new strategy to sustainopen economies and open societies based on social justice,full and productive employment, sustainable enterprises andsocial cohesion. The Declaration acknowledges the benefitsof globalization but calls for renewed efforts to implementdecent work policies as the means to achieve improved andfair outcomes for all.

Specifically, the Declaration establishes a new foundation onwhich the ILO can effectively support the efforts of its con-

stituents to promote and achieve progress and social justicethrough the four strategic objectives of the ILO through theDecent Work Agenda – employment, social protection, socialdialogue and tripartism, and fundamental principles and rightsat work. What is more, the Declaration also underscores thefact that failure to promote any one of these objectives wouldhinder progress towards promoting the others by stressingtheir mutually supportive nature and interdependence.

At the same time, it gives ILO constituents a key responsibilityto contribute, through their social and economic policy, to therealization of a global and integrated strategy for the imple-mentation of the Decent Work Agenda. The Declaration alsoasks the ILO to invite other international and regional organi-zations to promote decent work, adding “as trade and finan-cial market policy both affect employment, it is the ILO’s roleto evaluate these employment effects to achieve its aim ofplacing employment at the heart of economic policies”.

The Declaration highlights that globalization is reshaping theworld of work in profound ways. It states that on the one handit has helped a number of countries to benefit from high ratesof economic growth and employment creation, to absorbmany of the rural poor into the modern urban economy, toadvance their developmental goals, and to foster innovation inproduct development and the circulation of ideas. On theother hand, it has caused many countries and sectors to facemajor challenges of income inequality, continuing high levelsof unemployment and poverty, vulnerability of economies toexternal shocks, and the growth of both unprotected work and

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GLOBALIZATION

the informal economy, which impact on the employment rela-tionship and the protections it can offer.

The Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalizationmarks the most important renewal of the Organization sinceadoption of the historic Declaration of Philadelphia in 1944.In addition, it marks a significant step forward in respecting,promoting and realizing the Declaration on FundamentalPrinciples and Rights at Work adopted by the ILO in 1998.

That Declaration stresses the fundamental principles of free-dom of association and the right to collective bargaining, theelimination of all forms of forced labour, the effective abolitionof child labour and the elimination of discrimination in employ-ment and occupation as the Organization’s bedrock principles.The Declaration adopted this year underscores the particularsignificance of these rights as enabling conditions for therealization of the ILO’s four strategic objectives.

“What we now have is a compass” for the ILO and its mem-bers, said Jean-Jacques Elmiger, chairperson of the Commit-tee on Strengthening the ILO’s Capacity, adding that “it is nowup to all of us to shape the future while the Declaration andthe Resolution show us the way to take”.

In his presentation to the plenary, the reporter of the Commit-tee, Mr. Sergio Paixao Pardo, said that the Declaration willhave “a direct impact on living and working conditions ofwomen and men in developed and developing countries”. Hecalled it a “guide for generations to come”.

Worker vice-chair Ebrahim Patel said the Declaration“addresses the big themes that will certainly resonate withthe contemporary concerns of societies, workers, entrepre-neurs and governments, and, we hope, also anticipate theemerging issues of the future”.

Employer vice-chair Emmanuel Julien said “with this Declara-tion, the Organization is equipped with the best tool it has everhad to change so as to meet the challenges of globalization”,adding that it would also lead to the ILO “delivering morewhilst adhering to our fundamental values”.

The Declaration includes a follow-up mechanism to ensurethe means by which the Organization will assist the Members

in their efforts to promote the Decent Work Agenda, includinga review of the ILO’s institutional practices and governance;regular discussion by the International Labour Conferenceresponding to realities and needs in member States andassessing the results of ILO activities; voluntary countryreviews, technical assistance and advisory services; andstrengthening research capacities, information collection andsharing.

ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization andResolution on strengthening the ILO’s capacity to assist itsMembers’ efforts to reach its objectives in the context of glob-alization. http://www.ilo.org/global/What_we_do/Officialmeetings/ilc/I L C S e s s i o n s / 9 7 t h S e s s i o n / p r / l a n g - - e n / d o c N a m e - -WCMS_094042/index.htm

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Hundreds of events took place on 12June 2008 in some 60 countries aroundthe world to mark the World Daywhich each year focuses attention onchild labour worldwide.

GENEVA – In a message distributed globally,ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said, “Wemust work for every child’s right to education sono child has to work for survival. The goal isquality education for children and decent workfor adults.”

The ILO’s International Programme on theElimination of Child Labour (IPEC) published anew technical report on child labour and educa-tion based on surveys of child labour in 34 coun-tries from all regions of the world. At the sametime, as part of a new year-long campaign on“Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work”,the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality also high-lighted combatting child labour through educa-tion with the slogan “Formula for progress: Edu-cate both girls and boys!”

Mr. Somavia called for an “educationaldimension” in the struggle against child labour,saying “let us pledge to work together for educa-tion for all children at least to the minimum age

of employment, education policies that reachout to child labourers and other excludedgroups, properly resourced quality educationand skills training and education for all children,and decent work for adults. I urge you to lendyour voice and action to the worldwide move-ment against child labour.”

As part of its efforts to strengthen action totackle child labour by boosting access to educa-tion, the ILO is coordinating the work of aninter-agency partnership, the Global Task Forceon Child Labour and Education for All, whichbrings together UN agencies, teachers, and civilsociety representatives, to strengthen measures tohelp child labourers. In addition, 12 UN agenciesthrough the UN Inter-Agency CoordinatingCommittee on Human Rights Education (UNI-ACC) have issued a joint Statement for WorldDay which can be found at:

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/educa-tion.Child labour and education: Evidence fromSIMPOC surveys, by F. Blanco Allais and F. Hage-mann. Geneva: IPEC/ILO, 2008(http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=8390).

For more information on the campaign, pleasesee: http://www.ilo.org/childlabour08.

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World Day Against Child Labour 2008focuses on education as the “right response”

The ILO is launching a one-yearglobal campaign to highlight the cen-tral role of gender equality in its DecentWork Agenda and in the work of itsconstituents – governments, employ-ers’ and workers’ organizations. Thecampaign is built around 12 different

Decent Work themes. These themeswill be looked at through a gender lensto illustrate how various issues in theworld of work may affect women andmen in different ways, particularly intheir accessing rights, employment,social protection and social dialogue.

ILO launches year-long campaign “GenderEquality at the Heart of Decent Work”

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GENEVA – “Mainstreaming gender equalityis central to the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda,” saidILO Director-General Juan Somavia. “Althoughprogress is being made, gender equality is stilllagging behind in the rapidly changing world ofwork. By increasing overall awareness andunderstanding of gender equality issues, we canactively contribute to securing Decent Work forall women and men.”

For the past decade the ILO has had an activegender mainstreaming strategy to redress gen-der-based inequalities in policies, programmesand projects, and to promote the empowermentof women so that they may participate in – andequally benefit from – development efforts.

The awareness-raising campaign will be effec-tive for one year and will lead into a general dis-cussion on gender equality at the heart of decentwork at the International Labour Conference in

June 2009. Delegates from governments,employers’ and workers’ organizations of theILO member States will then have the opportu-nity to study the issues and draft a roadmap topromote gender equality for the decade to come.

The campaign will produce an informationbrief for each theme, accompanied by a posterand postcard. A specific campaign website hasbeen developed and during the one-year cam-paign new materials on different themes will beuploaded regularly.

For more information on the campaign,please visit:http://www.ilo.org/gender/Events/Cam-paign2008-2009/lang--en/index.htm or contactthe ILO Bureau for Gender Equality at +41 22 799 6730, [email protected]

SEOUL – The XVIIIth World Congress onSafety and Health at Work took place in Seoul,Republic of Korea from 29 June to 2 July. TheCongress was preceded by a high-level Safetyand Health Summit. The 50 high-level partici-pants, including government ministers, CEOs ofmajor multinational companies, social securityleaders, senior safety and health experts, andrepresentatives of employers and workers,adopted an unprecedented Declaration on Safetyand Health aimed at reinforcing tripartite effortsto reduce workplace accidents and diseases.

The Congress concluded with a call for a newglobal partnership to strengthen safety and healthin the workplace and reinforce efforts to reducework-related fatalities and illnesses. The Congress,which is jointly organized by the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO) and the InternationalSocial Security Association (ISSA) every threeyears. It gathered some 4,500 occupational safetyand health professionals and other participantsfrom over 120 countries, making it the largest

gathering in the event’s 60-yearhistory.

During the Congress, partici-pants recognized that globaliza-tion, migration and pressure toincrease productivity posed newchallenges to the safety and healthof workers. They also underlinedthat investing in training, preven-tion and better working conditionsmakes economical sense.

During the closing plenary, Mr. Mustafa Konuk,Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labourand Social Security of Turkey, confirmed the invi-tation of his country to host the XIX World Con-gress on Safety and Health at Work, in Istanbul in2011, in collaboration with the ILO and the ISSA.

For further information, please contact theILO Programme on Safety and Health at Workand the Environment (SAFEWORK).phone: +41 22 799 6715 e-mail: [email protected]

XVIIIth World Congress on Safety andHealth concludes with call for new globalpartnership to improve work safety

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A REGULAR REVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOURORGANIZATION AND ILO-RELATED ACTIVITIES AND EVENTSTAKING PLACE AROUND THE WORLD

A R O U N D T H E C O N T I N E N T S

to 2007, the ILO has been workingwith provincial and local labouroffices on entrepreneurship develop-ment through the “Start andImprove Your Business” trainingpackages, composed of a suite oftraining products for business start-ups and business expansion. Thisproject, funded by DFID, has createdmore than one million jobs. It hasalso led to the establishment of a

Helping people to getback to work■ As part of a wider UN responseto the earthquake in the Chineseprovince of Sichuan, the ILO, withfinancial support by the UK Depart-ment for International Development(DFID), will provide targeted assist-ance to re-establishing at least 1,000destroyed small businesses and set-ting up 700 new ones for those wholost their jobs. The project will startin July 2008 for a period of 12months, focusing on rural town-ships in the cities of Mianyang,Deyang and Guangyuan. From 2004

network of trainers and businesscounsellors who can be mobilized atshort notice, including in the earth-quake-affected areas.

For further information, please con-tact the ILO office in Beijing phone: 0086 10 6532 5091e-mail: [email protected]

The European SocialModel andglobalization■ How can we renew the EuropeanSocial Model to make it sustainableand extend it to other regions of theworld? This was just one of theissues and the challenges discussedat an international conference heldat the ILO’s International TrainingCentre in Turin, Italy, from 1 to 3July. International experts and dele-gations from a range of Europeancountries attending the “High-leveltripartite dialogue on the EuropeanSocial Model in the context of glob-alization” discussed the linksbetween the ILO’s Decent WorkAgenda and the social dimension ofthe European model.

The conference was attended bythe Ministers of Labour of Brazil,Denmark, France, India, Italy,Poland and the United Republic ofTanzania, the Director-General ofthe ILO, Juan Somavia, the EuropeanCommissioner Vladimír Špidla, aswell as representatives of the socialpartners.

For further information, please con-tact the ILO Turin Centrephone: 0039 011 693 6111

e-mail: [email protected]

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High-level meeting on the European Social Model and globalization, Turin, 1-3 July

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Denmark extendspartnership with ILO■ The Danish Ministry of ForeignAffairs has significantly expanded itspartnership agreement with theInternational Labour Organization(ILO) with a new grant of DKK 60million (approximately US$12.5million) for 2008-09. The new infu-sion of funds will expand an alreadyexisting partnership allocation ofDKK 40 million that tackled povertyreduction, child labour, trafficking,and promotion of the rights ofindigenous peoples. The new pro-jects are to promote decent work andimprove job quality including inparticular the strengthening of tri-partism in a number of Africancountries, and to explore the possi-bility of learning from the Danishmodel of “flexicurity” in Viet Nam.An additional gender componentwill assure effective mainstreamingof the gender issues within the pro-jects of the partnership. The Govern-ment of Denmark was the first toenter into a partnership agreementwith the ILO and in the years 1997-2007 was the ninth largest donor,with a total extra-budgetary contri-bution to ILO programmes and proj-ects of more than US$50 million.

For more information, contact DonorRelations, Department of Partnershipsand Development Cooperation Secretariat +41 22 799 7309 Fax: +41 22 799 6872 e-mail: [email protected]

Freedom of associ-ation in Indonesia■ To mark the tenth anniversary ofthe ratification of ILO core Conven-tion No. 87 on Freedom of Associ-ation by Indonesia, the Governmentof Indonesia and the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO)launched a Photo Exhibition,“A Por-trait of the World of Work inIndonesia”, on 9 June 2008 at the ILOLibrary in Geneva. The IndonesianManpower Minister, in providingopening remarks, said that the ratifi-cation of Convention No. 87 byIndonesia was accomplished in 1998,a historic year for Indonesia. “It wasthe year that was also marked by therebirth of democracy, the beginningof the reform era and a new para-digm in industrial relations afterseveral decades of the discreditedNew Order regime,” he said. Heexplained that 1998 also marked thebeginning of the Indonesia’s labourlaw reform programme, aimed tomodernize the labour laws consis-tent with international labour stan-dards, in particular the fundamentalprinciples and rights at work. Thethree major labour acts, the Trade

Union Act, the Manpower Act andthe Industrial Relations DisputesSettlement Act enacted under thelabour law reform programme, arenow being implemented.

New ILO-FAO website■ The ILO and the Food andAgriculture Organization (FAO)have launched a new websitedesigned to highlight the many areasin which they already work togetherand others in which they arecontemplating joint activities. Thejoint FAO-ILO website: “Food,Agriculture and Decent Work”(www.fao-ilo.org) describes the jointwork of the two agencies in 10major fields, including decentemployment, child labour, youthemployment, cooperatives, smalland medium enterprises, ruralworkers, safety and health, crisismanagement, crops, fisheries andforestry, and labour statistics. It alsoprovides extensive links to relatedinformation sources. This cooperationderives in part from an action-oriented agreement between theorganizations signed in 2004.


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Launching “A Portrait of the World of Work in Indonesia” in the ILO Library, Geneva

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gglloobbaall iinndduussttrriiaall rreellaattiioonnss ffrraammee--

wwoorrkk??

Konstantinos Papadakis (ed.)

ISBN 978-92-9014-862-3. Inter-

national Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva, 2008.

US$29.95; £16.95; €23; 35 Swiss francsGlobalization has generated a mismatch

between the scope of the activities of global actorssuch as multinational enterprises and that of socialactors such as trade unions, NGOs and consumers’organizations, which remain largely embedded atthe national level. International framework agree-ments (IFAs) have been one response. This bookexamines various facets of IFAs and other efforts tointroduce a global “social floor”, bringing togethercontributions of 13 specialists in cross-border socialdialogue and agreements.

■ GGoovveerrnnaannccee,, iinntteerrnnaattiioonnaall llaawwaanndd ccoorrppoorraattee ssoocciiaall rreessppoonnssiibbiilliittyyISBN 978-92-9014-860-9. Interna-tional Institute for Labour StudiesResearch Series No. 116, Geneva,2008. US£20; £10; €13; 20 Swiss francs

To what extent does CSR con-tribute to the promotion of core workers’ rights asembodied in ILO Conventions or national law? Thisvolume contributes to the debate by discussing thelegal dimensions of the issue. Among the questionsaddressed are the definition of CSR from a legal per-spective; the relationship between “hard” and “soft”laws; and the impact of private appropriation of nor-mative capacity on the international judical system,including the link between ethics and sustainabledevelopment in the social domain.

■ DDrriivviinngg ffoorr cchhaannggee:: AA ttrraaiinniinngg

ttoooollkkiitt oonn HHIIVV//AAIIDDSS ffoorr tthhee rrooaadd

ttrraannssppoorrtt sseeccttoorr

ISBN 978-92-2-120806-8. ILO,

Geneva, 2008.Intended for instructors, man-

agers, drivers and other workers in the road trans-port industry, this toolkit has been produced as ajoint initiative of the International Road TransportUnion (IRU) Academy, the International TransportWorkers’ Federation (ITF) and the ILO. It includesmodules for instructors, drivers, managers and foruse in informal settings; Driving for change, a shortpromotional film on HIV/AIDS; PowerPoint presen-tations, the ILO Code of Practice HIV/AIDS and theworld of work; a CD-ROM containing key publica-tions such as the ILO Guidelines for the transportsector, and the leaflet Know your status.

■ HHuummaann ttrraaffffiicckkiinngg aanndd ffoorrcceeddllaabboouurr:: CCaassee ssttuuddiieess aanndd rreessppoonnss--eess ffrroomm PPoorrttuuggaall Sónia Pereira and João Vasconcelos

ISBN 978-92-2-120299-8. ILO,

Geneva, 2008.The result of research by the Portuguese Min-

istry for Labour and Social Solidarity and the ILO,this report improves understanding of human traf-ficking for the purpose of labour exploitation. In par-ticular, it contributes to a better understanding ofthe situation that migrant workers face in Europe aswell as of adequate responses to end their exploit-ation.

■ SSkkiillllss ddeevveellooppmmeenntt tthhrroouugghhccoommmmuunniittyy bbaasseedd rreehhaabbiilliittaattiioonn((CCBBRR)):: AA ggoooodd pprraaccttiiccee gguuiiddee ISBN 978-92-2-120108-3. ILO,

Geneva, 2008. US$27; £14; €20; 30

Swiss francsHow can CBR best be used as a strategy for

poverty reduction among disabled people? Thisguide describes the key steps required in the plan-ning and implementation of community approachesto skills development and access to work. Casestudies from Africa (Malawi, South Africa, Uganda,Zimbabwe), the Middle East (Lebanon, Jordan), andAsia (India, Cambodia and the Philippines) illustratehow CBR programmes can contribute to the eco-nomic well-being of disabled people living in differ-ent economic, political and cultural contexts.

■ WWoorrkkiinngg ccoonnddiittiioonnss llaawwss22000066--22000077:: AA gglloobbaall rreevviieewwISBN 978-92-2-120725-2. ILO,Geneva, 2008.

This report offers a conciseand accessible picture of workingconditions laws in the early years

of the 21st century. Part of the challenge of improv-ing conditions of work is the lack of reliable data onboth actual working conditions and the policieswhich have been designed to address them, espe-cially in countries beyond the industrialized world.This report aims to respond to this by comparing

national laws on three of the most significant con-ditions of work: wages, working hours and mater-nity protection.

■ IIPPEECC aaccttiioonn aaggaaiinnsstt cchhiilldd

llaabboouurr:: PPrrooggrreessss aanndd ffuuttuurree pprriioorrii--

ttiieess 22000066--22000077

ISBN 978-92-2-121011-5. Inter-

national Programme on the Elimi-

nation of Child Labour (IPEC). ILO,

Geneva, 2008This report reflects upon IPEC’s work during the

fifteen years of its existence and sets out a visionfor the next five years. It also examines three topicsof immediate importance: education and childlabour; the worldwide movement against childlabour; and experiences and opportunities in condi-tional cash transfers.

■ SSaavviinngg lliivveess,, pprrootteeccttiinngg jjoobbss::IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall HHIIVV//AAIIDDSS WWoorrkkppllaacceeEEdduuccaattiioonn PPrrooggrraammmmee.. SSeeccoonnddRReeppoorrttISBN 978-92-2-121062-7. ILO,

Geneva, March 2008.An insight into the SHARE programme (Strategic

HIV/AIDS Reponses in Enterprises), now five yearsold, this report captures major developments andinnovations in the fight agains HIV/AIDS, with spe-cial focus on the experiences and achievements ofthe pioneer country projects in Belize, Benin, Cam-bodia, Ghana, Guyana, India and Togo.

See stories from this report featured on pages18-22.

■ 22000077 LLaabboouurr OOvveerrvviieeww:: LLaattiinnAAmmeerriiccaa aanndd tthhee CCaarriibbbbeeaannISBN 978-92-2-120443-5. ILORegional Office for Latin Americaand the Caribbean, Lima, 2007.

Cautious optimism runsthrough the 2007 edition of this

annual publication. It demonstrates that LatinAmerica and the Caribbean have made progress inimproving key labour market indicators, especiallyin reducing unemployment. But greater progresstoward decent work is still needed: significant gapspersist that affect the most vulnerable populations,and respect for labour rights is still an issue. Thisedition focuses on the propects of economicgrowth in 2008 and on equal opportunity for indi-genous people and people of African descent in theregion. Includes a statistical annex.

M E D I A S H E L F

F E A T U R E S

A R O U N D T H E C O N T I N E N T S M E D I A S H E L FN E W SP L A N E T W O R K


■ HHaannddbbooookk oonn ccooooppeerraattiivveess

ffoorr uussee bbyy wwoorrkkeerrss’’ oorrggaanniizzaattiioonnss

Guy Tchami

ISBN 978-92-2-115655-0. ILO,

Geneva, 2007.

This book aims at improving the knowledge of

workers’ organizations about various aspects of

cooperative enterprise, including the characteristic

features of cooperatives; how they work; their rele-

vance to the goals of workers’ organizations in

defending their members’ rights and allowing them

to access economic and social services; and the

close ties existing between the ILO and coopera-

tives.

ILO publications for sale can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or directly from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211Geneva 22, Switzerland. Tel: +4122/799-7828, fax: +4122/799-6938, email: [email protected], web site: http://www.ilo.org/publns. Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from theabove address. The ILO Publications Center in North America can be contacted by phone: +613/745 2665, fax: +613/745 7660, email: [email protected]. Customers from developing countries canbenefit from special discounts on the regular prices indicated in this magazine and may be able to pay in local currency through an ILO field office. For more information, email us at [email protected].

■ IImmpprroovviinngg tthhee qquuaalliittyy ooff llooww--wwaaggee wwoorrkk:: TThhee

ccuurrrreenntt AAmmeerriiccaann eexxppeerriieennccee

Despite the recent strength of the United States

job market, about one fifth of the private-sector

workforce is in poor-quality employment, earn-

ing poverty-level wages or less, with scant

prospects for improvement. Against this back-

ground, the article focuses on demand-side pol-

icies, aimed at influencing firms’ decision-mak-

ing in the direction of better quality employment.

Describing and evaluating a variety of pro-

grammes pursued to that end, Paul Osterman

argues for more policy coherence and a bal-

anced approach combining training and eco-

nomic development programmes working

directly with employers, on the one hand, and

increased unionization and better wage and

working-time standards, on the other.

■ TThhee ssttaattee ooff wwoorrkkeerr pprrootteeccttiioonnss iinn tthhee UUnniitteedd

SSttaatteess:: UUnnrreegguullaatteedd wwoorrkk iinn NNeeww YYoorrkk CCiittyyUsing original data gathered in 2003-06,

Annette Bernhardt, Siobhán McGrath andJames DeFilippis examine the prevalence andtypes of non-compliance with labour law in NewYork City. Workplace violations – or “unregu-lated work” – are widespread across a range oflow-wage industries and have been driven by amix of economic factors as well as public policy.The solution, the authors argue, is to strengthenlaw enforcement and provide for the new typesof employment relationships that have resultedfrom changes in the organization of work andproduction.

■ MMoonniittoorriinngg qquuaalliittyy iinn wwoorrkk:: EEuurrooppeeaann EEmmppllooyy--

mmeenntt SSttrraatteeggyy iinnddiiccaattoorrss aanndd bbeeyyoonnddWithin the framework of the European

Employment Strategy, the European Union hasdefined a set of indicators to monitor employ-ment quality – the so-called Laeken indicators.This article, by Lucie Davoine, Christine Erheland Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, discusses andimplements these indicators. From a theoreticalperspective, it shows that the concept of workquality encompasses several dimensions, whichare likely to be related to national institutions,particularly industrial relations and welfare sys-tems. It then proceeds with a comparativeanalysis of quality in work across the 27 MemberStates, which confirms the existence of severalmodels in Europe and suggests that the Laekenindicators should be supplemented by addition-al measures.

■ PPrroommoottiinngg ssuussttaaiinnaabbllee ccoommpplliiaannccee:: SSttyylleess ooffllaabboouurr iinnssppeeccttiioonn aanndd ccoommpplliiaannccee oouuttccoommeess iinnBBrraazziill

Can workers’ rights and social protectionsbe reconciled with firms’ competitiveness andproductivity? In contrast to current developmentpolicy advice, which emphasizes the “flexibil-ization” of labour laws, this article, by RobertoPires, contributes to an ongoing debate aboutstyles of inspection by exploring the causal linksbetween different regulatory practices and eco-nomic development and compliance outcomes.Findings from subnational comparisons in Brazilchallenge established theories about the behav-iours of firms and regulatory agencies, and indi-cate that labour inspectors have been able topromote sustainable compliance (legal andtechnical solutions linking up workers’ rightswith firms’ performance) by combining punitiveand pedagogical inspection practices.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW - VOL. 146 (2007), NO. 3-4

■ OOffffsshhoorree eemmppllooyymmeenntt pprraaccttiicceess:: AAnn eemmppiirriiccaall

aannaallyyssiiss ooff rroouuttiinneess,, wwaaggeess aanndd llaabboouurr ttuurrnnoovveerrTheories of efficiency wage and human cap-

ital formation suggest that both should have asignificant influence on employee turnover inoffshore manufacturing. In the article by KurtLoess, Van V. Miller and David Yoskowitz, thisinfluence is explored and examined empiricallywith a stratified, random sample of northernMexican maquilas – the historical choice for off-shoring in that country and one of the world’searliest and most enduring offshore manufactur-ing sites. Statistical tests reveal the strong influ-ence on production-level turnover of directwages and human capital formation when thelatter variable is measured in terms of“maquiladora generations”. The distinctivehuman resource practices of maquiladora gen-erations are then presented and discussed.

■ TTrriippaarrttiittee ccoonnssuullttaattiioonn iinn CChhiinnaa:: AA ffiirrsstt sstteeppttoowwaarrddss ccoolllleeccttiivvee bbaarrggaaiinniinngg??

Tripartite consultation has become widelyestablished in China and is often referred to as“collective bargaining” by the Government andthe All-China Federation of Trade Unions. Thisarticle reviews its development and structure,and examines its role in dispute settlement,labour regulation and collective bargaining.China’s tripartite consultation system is found todiffer from that advocated by the ILO due to itslack of neutrality and independent workers’ rep-resentation, poor legal enforcement of consulta-tion outcomes, and restricted responsibilities.Notwithstanding these major deficiencies, JieShen and John Benson conclude, tripartite con-sultation is a first step towards more genuinecollective bargaining.

www.ilo.org

[email protected]

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GENDER EQUALITY AT THE HEART OF DECENT WORK

The year 2009 is signicant in many ways for gender equality in the ILO. It is the 10th anniversaryof its gender equality action plan and the year the International Labour Conference will hold a generaldiscussion on “Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work”.

The ILO has embarked on a year-long global public awareness-raising campaign “Gender Equalityat the Heart of Decent Work” aiming to:

• Increase the understanding of gender equality issues in the world of work;

• Highlight the specic linkages between gender equality and securing decent work for all womenand men;

• Promote the ratication and application of key ILO gender equality labour stan dards; and

• Advocate the importance of overcoming existing barriers to gender equality as benecial for all.

The campaign is built around Decent Work themes. The selected themes are looked at through a genderlens, showing how various issues may affect women and men differently in their access to rights,employment, social protection and social dialogue.

Visit the campaign website www.ilo.org/gender for information and materials on the themes alreadycovered such as maternity, paternity and work; gender, education and child labour; gender and youthemployment; equality and non-discrimination. Or contact us on [email protected]

Documents

Decent work = Safe work · action to improve social protection and conditions of life and work throughout the world. The International Labour Office, in Geneva, is the permanent Secretariat