Good Practices in Labour Administration

Health and safety at work (The WISE Programme)

Case of Philippines

This programme refers to the implementation by the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) of a policy of support for small and medium enterprises (WISE) directed specifically at improving productivity through the improvement of working conditions.

In the light of the notable shift towards a market economy and of the important role of SMEs (90% of all firms) in the country's economic wellbeing, the Philippine government has in recent years adopted a series of specific measures - including the passage of four new laws - to improve their performance, so as to propel them forward to the 21st Century. Since traditional approaches, such as opening up financing opportunities and new markets, or access to new technologies, have been more or less excluded by the uncertain economic climate, and since working conditions in the SMEs tend on the whole to be on rather poor, the State, in association with private organizations, has looked for new avenues of support for SMEs. The Department of Labour and Employment, as a government agency particularly concerned to promote both labour standards and employment in SMEs, decided to concentrate on the improvement of working conditions and participation at enterprise level, in the expectation that this would then translate into productivity gains.

The WISE Programme (Work Improvement in Small Enterprises) orchestrated by the Department of Labour and Employment has made it necessary to bring about a thoroughgoing change in the procedures and actions of the country's labour inspection system. The methods of intervention and the very culture of the profession of Labour Inspector had to be radically changed in order to shift from a service conceived as a straightforward labour-monitoring organization to a much more wide-ranging approach involving advice and promotion, integration of improved working conditions and a shared vision of enterprise development.

After a series of studies, carried out at both the local and the international level, had been carried out, had established the direct relationships between working conditions and improved productivity, this programme was adopted by the government. It also represents the culmination of a gradual evolution of the conception of labour inspection which got underway at the beginning of the decade, and of a growing awareness of the need to refocus the traditional labour inspection approach to the enterprise, especially as far as the health and safety of the workforce was concerned.

In the process the Department of Labour drew on the ILO's 'Higher Productivity and a Better Place to Work' methodology, which provided the groundwork for the implementation of the WISE Programme, namely the DOLE's Technical Assistance Visit (TAV), Project WISE, and the Statistical and Performance Rating System (SPRS). Similar early experiments had already been undertaken between 1976 and 1985, and they gave rise to the development of a completely new mechanism of intervention in small and medium enterprises (i.e. those employing less than 100 wage-earners), known as the Technical Assistant Visit (TAV). During such visits a full review should be undertaken, in the presence of the Labour Inspector, of all health and safety-related information and an action plan emerges which taken into account the enterprise's productivity problems.

However, despite an impressive training apparatus aimed at the Labour Inspectors, TAVs developed in too fragmented a manner: after several years, the methodology has yet to produce the appropriate documents for reporting the state of working conditions and for drawing up a list of improvements to be implemented. Nevertheless, , involving as it does 40% of the enterprises affected by labour inspections, it has opened the way within the Labour Inspectorate for a more all-embracing approach, which by combining the pursuit of higher productivity with a transformation in the working environment, brings about a broadening of the Labour Inspectorate's mission.

With financial support from UNDP and technical assistance from the ILO, the WISE Programme was tested in four pilot regions as from 1994. Subsequently, it was generalized to all the Department's 15 regional offices on the basis of internal funding from the Department's own budget. The funds were released in the light of the ambitious goals of the WISE Programme, namely its explicit strategy of bringing about fundamental changes in Labour Inspection and in its environment. The broadening of the programme was made possible by training a large number of trainers based within the organizations involved, who then took the information back and spread the message with their institutions. Other government institutions who became involved included the National Wages and Productivity Commission, the Conciliation and Mediation Bureau, the Rural Workers' Bureau, the Department of Trade and Industry and the University of the Philippines Institute for Small Scale Industries.

The Programme's Aims

The WISE Programme forms part of the Labour Department's wider policy, which is to pursue with perseverance and determination three clear objectives:

• to develop its institutional capacity to improve response to the expectations of the general public and, given the vastness of the tasks it has set itself, to do so in association with other partners;
• to achieve a continuous improvement in the workplace environment at low marginal cost;
• to establish a data bank of improvements in working conditions.

The achievement of these goals depends on the translation into practice of six guiding principles:

• build on local practices;
• capitalize on positive outcomes, even where these are based on highly localised; achievements
• relate improvements in working conditions to other management objectives;
• make use of learning by doing;
• encourage people to share their experiences;
• promote active participation by the workforce.

These new objectives reflect new challenges to the responsibilities and functions of the State in the labour sphere, and constitute in particular a response to:

• heightened expectations of worker involvement in enterprises;
• heightened awareness of the need to take greater account of health and safety issues especially as they concern small and medium enterprises in the industrial sector, where risks are considerably higher than elsewhere.

But they also constitute a call for the State to combine its ability to regulate and 'police' labour situations and relations with a capacity to advise and promote desirable or necessary changes, which means including raising awareness and promotion as a fully-fledged parts of the function of a Labour Inspector.

A further question also arises from the Department's ability to evaluate situations encountered within enterprises so as to document opportunities for improvement and the level of 'advice and assistance' required by the actors concerned.

This evaluation approach is fully taken on board by the WISE Programme framework, since it has set up an entire mechanism of indicators and monitoring procedures. Apart from helping to evaluate the performance of the Labour Inspectors themselves, these indicators must also show

• the number of establishments visited for the purpose of providing of 'advice and assistance';
• the number of safety and health committees that do not necessarily represent the enterprises in the WISE programme created to monitor the adoption of WISE procedures in enterprises;
• the participation of workers and managers in the process;
• the number of improvements brought about and of persons benefiting from those improvements.

These data have been included in the Department's Statistical and Performance Reporting System, which produces numerous quantitative and qualitative parameters concerning worker protection and safety, as well as the state of employment and industrial relations.

The role of the leading actors

The WISE Programme was originally conceived by the Department of Labour and Employment for its own internal use. The test bed is the Working Conditions Bureau, charged with drawing up and applying all norms relating to working conditions, especially where health and safety at work is concerned. The Bureau's theoretical and practical action framework has subsequently been applied in the 15 Regional Offices under the oversight of the Regional Directors. In every Region a Norm-Implementation Division is responsible for technical monitoring of the work of Labour Inspectors on the ground as they carry out their basic mission among workers and employers.

Begun as an experiment thanks to UNDP funding over three years and the ILO technical support, the programme was then taken over, enlarged and placed on a permanent basis with an earmarked allocation in the Department of Labour's budget. This covers both the awareness-raising and promotion activities through which the Labour Inspectors themselves are prepared for the WISE Programme, and also the Inspectors' subsequent actions to promote an appropriate culture within enterprises.

Between 20 and 50 per cent of the Regional Bureaus' budget is earmarked for Inspection. This therefore is the standard structure of a state institution, in which the central bodies draw up framework, objectives and strategy, while an implementing instance carries out the consequent actions, using for this purpose the instruments and methodology devised by the central bodies. Between the policy-making level and the implementing level, a regional instance plays an important role by conveying national strategy, adapting it to local conditions, and sustaining and stimulating its practical application.

The generalization of the Programme to the country as a whole was achieved through a network of partners (government, enterprises, teaching institutions, working groups). On account of the weakness of regional partners - especially trade unions - participation was opened up to other groups such as Rotary Clubs, and Industrial Associations such as PHILEXPORT (the Philippine Exporters Federation), principally so as to raise awareness among their members and to extend the provision of training.

If the WISE Programme confers on the Labour Inspector a quite specific role in relation to the legal provisions, forcing him or her to abandon a purely subordinate posture, it also confers on all the social actors involved the need to adopt an approach combining responsibility and active participation.

This combination of efforts and the acceptance by all the members of the social network of responsibility for the factors over which they have influence, are key determinants of the expected process of transformation.

However, although such a synergy can be observed at the national level, and even more in those enterprises where it has become an essential tool for the achievement of the desired outcomes, much still remains to be done at the regional level, especially in view of the lack in institutional capacity of trade unions and employers' organizations to take on their due role as full participants in the process

Implementation

The policy-making level - the Working Conditions Bureau - draws up guidelines for the Labour Inspectorate, but the articulation between this level and the implementing agencies is conceived not merely on a 'top-down' model, but also as a dialectic interaction: once the central body has drawn up the guidelines, the regional office is encouraged to take charge of its own objectives and to submit them to the central body, which in its turn takes on a supportive and coordinating role. At a later stage feedback based on information gathered on the ground by the implementing level leads to further adjustment of the objectives.

The various stages in the definition of objectives, of their adoption and of the allocation of responsibility for their fulfilment among the various actors, are laid down in a clear theoretical scheme which seems to improve efficiency.

The programme is conducted on a voluntary principle. Almost half of the country's 250 Labour Inspectors are involved in it already, but the report does not conceal strong resistance which arise from a contradiction between priorities which lend themselves to contrasting interpretations. For example, the emphasis on quantitative targets, and on monthly visits of a purely monitoring kind, can easily undermine the desire that the Labour Inspectors extend their involvement in enterprises beyond merely checking for deficient observance of legal or regulatory rules and prescriptions.

Overall, it is the value added at different levels of intervention to the positive fallout in terms of efficient results and the participatory management that give the strength to this special move specific to this mechanism.

The autonomy of the actors also has a role to play in achieving these outcomes, as witness the positioning of regional services in such a way as to correctly articulate central guidelines with the situation on the ground as grasped through a good knowledge of local conditions.

Some officials have even expressed the view that there is a tension between their monitoring tasks and the tasks relating to support and advice to enterprises, but this resistance has been effectively dealt with, not by an imposition from above of the new procedures, but rather by a combination of intensive training for those requesting it and spreading the news of good results from the programme. In this way emphasis is placed on client satisfaction and also on the more rewarding role for the Inspector as a facilitator in the emergence of new patterns of relationships.

Nevertheless the task ahead is very challenging, on account of the ratio of Inspectors to the enterprises to be visited (250 for 450,000 firms) and the number of inspection points which need to be 'checked out'. The budget does not provide for the recruitment of additional inspectors. The trend in terms of workplace improvement initiatives is to prefer self-regulation and self-evaluation. Furthermore it is hoped that quality will take precedence over quantity through a slight reduction of the number of visits to be made by each Labour Inspector.

The basic qualities demanded in the recruitment of Inspectors remain unchanged, though there has been a slight change of emphasis in the light of the new role demanded of the Inspectors:

• knowledge of examples of practical and familiar solutions;
• ability to intervene in support of actions undertaken;
• ability to bring workers and employers together in a common task;
• ability to plan monitoring and supporting actions;
• ability to give wise advice and to help people overcome obstacles;
• ability to encourage worker participation;
• ability to combine the improvement of working conditions with improvements in productivity.

The special kind of training offered in the framework of the WISE Programme is designed to bring about this change of attitude even if there is the usual resistance to change observed in such programmes.

The Computerized Database Management System (DBMS) is used to evaluate the direct effects of the WISE Programme and the Programme's own database is a source for information on methodology and of practical case studies for small and medium enterprises interested in joining.

The home page of the Bureau of Working Conditions which would be eventually linked to the ILO Website is still in development. All information on the component elements of WISE could be accessed. Training materials and cases of successful application of the programme to small and medium enterprises will also be included.

All these measures enable enterprises to see that the government takes this Programme extremely seriously.

Impacts of the Programme

Following the establishment of the Programme two external evaluations have been undertaken. The first, which centred on productivity, was carried out in 1996 on 14 participating enterprises, and found that after measures to improve working conditions had been introduced, production capacity rose by 23 per cent in quantity and 2 per cent in quality, while absenteeism declined by 4.73 per cent. The second evaluation, which centred on working conditions, also showed that the Programme produced conclusive results.

At the present, the impact of the WISE Programme is subject to regular monitoring and even evaluation thanks to the collection and processing of a battery of performance indicators. These indicators are included in a statistical feedback process which is part of the nation-wide statistical system (SPRS) managed by the Bureau of labour and Employment Statistics. The system has been devised so as to process a set of parameters which enable the Department to assess the state of working conditions and the degree of protection provided to workers in the framework of the labour relations system.

The Productivity Performance Assessment System (PPAS) and the Database Management System (DBMS) allow the effects of the Programme to be monitored and evaluated. In addition to a qualitative evaluation through checklists automated quantitative formulae have been devised for labour productivity, the productivity of materials used in production, of equipment and of energy use. A before-and-after evaluation is undertaken with these indicators over a period of weeks or months of low-cost measures and the results are compared with those of a qualitative evaluation. The results give indications as to the impact of an improvement or else point to areas suitable for further improvement. The more successful the use of this data collection and processing system, the more its maintenance is encouraged and the more users it attracts. At present a new project is under way to correct certain lacunae and improve the evaluation system.

As far as the role of evaluation in improving the efficacy of the structure itself is concerned, it seems that by including specific indicators from the WISE Programme in its nationwide statistical database, the Department has added a new dimension to the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Labour Inspectorate as a whole in all its spheres of activity. These indicators showing the allocation of Labour Inspectors' time and energies give rise to the outlines of a type of 'social accounting'. They enable the Inspectors themselves, through the fallout from their support and advisory activities, not only to have their efforts recognized, but also to defend the efficacy and impact of their initiatives. And they enable the Regional Directors to guide the programme with a good perception of the direction in the Programme is heading, through a clearer picture of the use of human resources in the light of pre-established priorities. As for the Department, the evaluation system is not only a good guidance system for the Labour Inspectorate, but also and more fundamentally, it enables them to assess the quality of the response provided by its component parts to the small and medium enterprises. As far as the small and medium enterprises are concerned, the evaluation system provides them with an opportunity, through continuous, voluntary processes of change, to take into account both the requirements of labour law with respect to working conditions, and also the pursuit of improved overall productivity. Hence the emphasis placed on indicators such as improvements achieved at low marginal cost, or the number of workers benefiting. Furthermore, it was advisable to pay close attention to the number of training exercises undertaken at the instigation of the Labour Inspectors so as to raise awareness of their usefulness and support the early stages of their development. Finally, there was a need to keep a record of follow-up visits and support-cum-advice interventions. Taken together, all these measures should contribute to the create of conditions favourable to the birth of a new enterprise culture based on the voluntary acceptance of continuous change.

Still, there remains the danger that this vision of a Labour Inspection system for tomorrow could be undermined by the sheer pressure of countervailing priorities. Thus in the Philippine case, the attention paid to ensuring that Labour Inspectors fulfil their visit quotas risks rendering difficult, if not impossible, the time-consuming qualitative changes called for by 'support-cum-advice' visits. As in many other countries, we find ourselves faced here with the issue of a proper allocation of available human resources for the achievement of prior objectives. An appropriately managed evaluation should help the Labour Administration, as would be the case with any other social group, to examine adequately and coherently its ordering of the priorities which society as a whole expects it to accomplish.

In conclusion, the following achievements can be credited to the project:

• it has exceeded the planned number of 'trained trainers', producing 246, including Labour Inspectors compared to a planned number of 64.
• it has provided the Department of Labour with the means of monitoring and evaluating the project's effectiveness;
• it has trained people able to undertake production of training materials;
• it has produced educational materials for all the interested parties;
• it has put 720 owners and managers of small enterprises through complete training courses, and 1,400 managing directors and 720 workers through awareness training courses; measures for the improvement of working conditions have been implemented by more than 70 per cent of the managing directors attending the complete courses and by at least 30 per cent of those attending awareness courses;
• it has provided support to more than 5,000 enterprises during regular inspections.