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| Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) |
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In the field of occupational safety and health, transition and its attendant elements of privatization, industrial restructuring, new forms of work organization, and the breakup of larger state enterprises and the proliferation of small enterprises, has had a direct effect on employment, firm size and industrial relations. These in turn have all influenced the way occupational safety and health is considered and solutions are sought.
So far, some of the major changes in this respect have been a rise in unemployment (and thus stress, exclusion and alcohol problems), job insecurity and long working hours, an accelerating change in new technology, and machine-paced work. These all lead to psychosocial hazards at work and in private life. Indeed, stress and stress-related diseases are contributing to an increase in digestive problems, cardiovascular disease, and mental ill-health that surpasses that of Western Europe.
But can we say that such conditions are so very different from conditions in Western Europe or other regions where many of the same phenomena exist as a result of economic globalization?
What is characteristic of CEE countries is a common history of a particular system of delivery of occupational health and safety services, administered before transition by the trade unions. This was based mainly on classification and certification of hazardous industries which determined if a worker was entitled to extra pay, early retirement, shorter working hours, and/or food and beverages to counteract the ill-effects of hazardous working conditions.
However, this system is gradually giving way as many countries develop legislation based on the provisions of ILO Conventions and with an eye to European Union integration. Many countries are modernizing their labour inspection services to a state system which integrates health and safety responsibilities. The development of a totally different industrial relations system is also having an effect on the way improvements concerning health and safety at work are negotiated. The long tradition of trade union expertise in the area is being joined by autonomous employers' associations in tripartite and bipartite decision-making in occupational health and safety.
The ILO SRO-Budapest aims to further these efforts through helping to strengthen national structures dealing with health and safety at work - mainly through the modernization and support of national regulatory frameworks, especially provisions based on EU directives and ILO Conventions, and reform of labour inspection services.
For example, a high-level tripartite seminar on reform and modernization of labour inspection services was held on March 2001 for several countries in the region. A major effort will be directed at advising and training officials of employers' and workers' organizations to be able to initiate or improve their own services. To this end, activities will be undertaken to "sell" occupational health and safety as an important and integral part of decent work, not as something secondary to wages and job security, as is often the case. Employers and their organizations will therefore be targeted on the benefits of improving health and safety at work, as well as on the economic costs of NOT improving.
Concerning small enterprise development, full use will be made of the ILO's WISE programme (Work Improvements in Small Enterprises). This is a training activity designed to link improvements in health and safety to improvements in productivity through locally achievable, low cost solutions. Training of workers in safe work practices and of trade union trainers in both the content and methods of education courses will also be a major component of the health and safety program.
Activities
» Subregional conferences
» Other activities and events
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| ILO Film |
| Fully fit at work |
Film about the advantages of employing persons with disabilities. As this ILO film (Fully Fit at Work) shows, not only may people with disabilities be more productive, they may actually be more skilled in some jobs than non-disabled people. Produced for the ILO by the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
Watch the film online in Polish with English subtitles. Duration: 21 min 11 sec
If the video is not displayed, download the free RealPlayer™
Press release in English and
Polish |
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