Safe return to work

Bringing Back Jobs Safely: A presentation at the ILO, WHO and the Government of the Philippines Joint Meeting on Safe Return to Work for MSMEs

By Hideki Kagohashi, Enterprise Development Specialist, ILO Country Office for the Philippines at the ILO, WHO and the Government of the Philippines Joint Meeting on Safe Return to Work for MSMEs, 22 July 2020, Manila, Philippines

Meeting document | Makati City, Philippines | 22 July 2020
Safe workplace can be the win-win solution in protecting employment while containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing challenges for MSMEs and the informal sector.

The presentation focused on seven key areas for possible collaboration between the public health sector and the labour and employment sector based on the initial meeting between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Philippines held on held on 12 May 2020 regarding safe work and contact tracing:

1. Collaboration in promoting the guidelines on return to work from WHO and ILO.
2. Link the digital solutions on contact tracing to the workplace safety support.
3. Engage employers and workers in the contact tracing.
4. Support minimizing the stigma of testing so that businesses and workers would not hide the case or delay the reporting.
5. Making the safe workplace practices work in the MSME environment.
6. Communicating effectively the workplace prevention and control measures to the MSMEs including those in the informal sector.
7. Safe work environment at home for those in telework.

The presentation also includes a compilation of the ILO relevant technical resources.