Akiko’s Blog No.25 “Improving the Safety and Health of Young Workers”
27 April 2018
New fiscal year has begun, adorned by green shoots and leaves, as cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than usual around the end of March this year. Azaleas are blooming wonderfully now.
The ILO and the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) concluded an agreement to promote decent work in the process of preparation for and operation of the international sporting event held in 2020—2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. [ILO HQ article] This all started when the ILO Director-General Guy Ryder visited Tokyo 2020 on his May visit to Japan. He had a meeting with the Director General Toshiro Muto to discuss building a cooperative relationship, agreeing to enter into an MOU on partnership. Going forward, the two organizations will conduct various cooperation activities together.
Next, the diet finally started deliberations on the work style reform-related bills at the end of April, though they were approved by the Cabinet on 6 April.
And now, we have some announcement to make. We have translated the Resolution concerning fair and effective labour migration governance of the 106th Session of the International Labour Conference (2017), and the Future of Work Issue Briefs 1 to 12 that outline major issues for each thematic cluster, which were submitted at the second meeting of Global Commission on the Future of Work. 》 Website in Japanese
We also posted employment opportunities that are due in May, including those through JPO Recruitment (due on 7 May) and those for people who may be interested in working for the ILO (due on 14 May). 》 Vacancies list
As part of a joint global campaign throughout 2018, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (Safeday) and the World Day against Child Labour (WDACL) will focus on the need to end child labour and to improve the safety and health of young workers.
Now, let us take a look at “Improving the Safety and Health of Young Workers”, which was released on this year's World Day for Safety and Health at Work – 28 April – that focused on young workers. This brief, consisting of five chapters, notes the occupational safety and health risk for young workers and highlights the need for improvement.
The first chapter, ‘What do we mean by “young workers”?’, divides youths defined as aged between 15 and 24 into those under 18 and those between 18 and 24, setting down points to note regarding safety and health.
The second chapter, ‘Factors threatening the safety and health of young workers’, lists up risk factors that are specific to young workers, due to such facts that they are still growing and that their work skills and experience are insufficient. Further, it explains about various work hazards that young people are frequently exposed to, and considerations for hazardous economic sectors populated by young workers, such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining and domestic work.
The third chapter, ‘International labour standards that protect the safety and health of young workers’, lists up those conventions that mention considerations for young workers out of more than 40 OSH-related ILO conventions and the fundamental conventions related to elimination of child labour.
The fourth chapter, ‘A framework for national and regional action regarding OSH for young workers’, discusses improvement in collection and analysis of data and information on young workers, formulation and implementation of laws, regulations, policies and guidelines, initiative support by the tripartite constituents to meet the needs of the young, incorporation of the safety and health issues into educational or vocational training programs, and educational PR and research regarding vulnerability of young workers.
The fifth chapter, ‘Youth participation in the creation of an OSH culture of prevention’, notes that young people find it difficult to speak out, as many of them are engaged in non-standard forms of employment or informal work, and that public institutions need to help young people become actively engaged, because citizen groups, conventional OSH institutions, and social partners rarely make proposals for the sake of the youth.
1. Mainly about measures such as setting the cap on overtime hours, setting up working hours for workers who are engaged in jobs that require highly advanced professional knowledge and earn incomes above a certain level, banning unreasonable gap between compensation package for short-hours or limited-term workers and temporary workers, and that for regular workers.
New fiscal year has begun, adorned by green shoots and leaves, as cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than usual around the end of March this year. Azaleas are blooming wonderfully now.
The ILO and the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) concluded an agreement to promote decent work in the process of preparation for and operation of the international sporting event held in 2020—2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. [ILO HQ article] This all started when the ILO Director-General Guy Ryder visited Tokyo 2020 on his May visit to Japan. He had a meeting with the Director General Toshiro Muto to discuss building a cooperative relationship, agreeing to enter into an MOU on partnership. Going forward, the two organizations will conduct various cooperation activities together.
Next, the diet finally started deliberations on the work style reform-related bills at the end of April, though they were approved by the Cabinet on 6 April.
And now, we have some announcement to make. We have translated the Resolution concerning fair and effective labour migration governance of the 106th Session of the International Labour Conference (2017), and the Future of Work Issue Briefs 1 to 12 that outline major issues for each thematic cluster, which were submitted at the second meeting of Global Commission on the Future of Work. 》 Website in Japanese
We also posted employment opportunities that are due in May, including those through JPO Recruitment (due on 7 May) and those for people who may be interested in working for the ILO (due on 14 May). 》 Vacancies list
As part of a joint global campaign throughout 2018, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (Safeday) and the World Day against Child Labour (WDACL) will focus on the need to end child labour and to improve the safety and health of young workers.
Now, let us take a look at “Improving the Safety and Health of Young Workers”, which was released on this year's World Day for Safety and Health at Work – 28 April – that focused on young workers. This brief, consisting of five chapters, notes the occupational safety and health risk for young workers and highlights the need for improvement.
The first chapter, ‘What do we mean by “young workers”?’, divides youths defined as aged between 15 and 24 into those under 18 and those between 18 and 24, setting down points to note regarding safety and health.
The second chapter, ‘Factors threatening the safety and health of young workers’, lists up risk factors that are specific to young workers, due to such facts that they are still growing and that their work skills and experience are insufficient. Further, it explains about various work hazards that young people are frequently exposed to, and considerations for hazardous economic sectors populated by young workers, such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining and domestic work.
The third chapter, ‘International labour standards that protect the safety and health of young workers’, lists up those conventions that mention considerations for young workers out of more than 40 OSH-related ILO conventions and the fundamental conventions related to elimination of child labour.
The fourth chapter, ‘A framework for national and regional action regarding OSH for young workers’, discusses improvement in collection and analysis of data and information on young workers, formulation and implementation of laws, regulations, policies and guidelines, initiative support by the tripartite constituents to meet the needs of the young, incorporation of the safety and health issues into educational or vocational training programs, and educational PR and research regarding vulnerability of young workers.
The fifth chapter, ‘Youth participation in the creation of an OSH culture of prevention’, notes that young people find it difficult to speak out, as many of them are engaged in non-standard forms of employment or informal work, and that public institutions need to help young people become actively engaged, because citizen groups, conventional OSH institutions, and social partners rarely make proposals for the sake of the youth.
1. Mainly about measures such as setting the cap on overtime hours, setting up working hours for workers who are engaged in jobs that require highly advanced professional knowledge and earn incomes above a certain level, banning unreasonable gap between compensation package for short-hours or limited-term workers and temporary workers, and that for regular workers.