Myanmar’s parliament passed the new Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Law in March 2019, which is a major step towards the Government’s provisions for safer and healthier workplaces. In conjunction with its significantly broadened scope of coverage and extensive obligations, the ‘2019 OSH Law’ notably establishes a National Tripartite OSH Council, promotes prevention actions at the enterprise level and recognizes the importance of forming work places that are not only safe but also “good for health”. Nonetheless, a number of challenges remain for the full implementation of this landmark legislation and to build a preventative culture on safety and health in the country.
In order to ensure that all workers are safer and healthier in Myanmar, the project will implement a holistic approach to ensure that the Government, employers and workers adopt/revise governance instruments to build a promotional framework for OSH; that institutions, and in particular the Ministry of Health and Sports, take policy and operational measures to enhance access to occupational health services ; that social partners and educational institutions implement programmes to address OSH issues and that workers increasingly demand Safe and Healthy workplaces.
The project will be implemented in the framework of the Global ILO Flagship programme on OSH Safety + Health for All and will complement other OSH projects, such as the Vision Zero Fund focusing on agriculture, garment and construction supply chains and the OSH framework project funded by the Republic of Korea.
