OSH compliance

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has always been strongly committed to the protection of workers’ safety and health. This has been enshrined in the Preamble of the ILO Constitution (1919) as well as in the ILO Declaration of Philadelphia (1944).

The constitutional principle of the protection of workers’ safety and health was strongly affirmed on June 2022, when the ILO International Labour Conference adopted the Resolution on the inclusion of a safe and healthy environment in the ILO framework of Fundamentals Principles and Rights at Work.

According to the ILO, “the principle of prevention is at the core of OSH, which is well reflected in both the fundamental Conventions, C155 and C187. C155 states that ‘the aim’ of the national policy shall be to prevent accidents and injury to health, by minimising, so far as is reasonably practicable, the causes of hazards inherent in the working environment.

C187 requires members to promote continuous improvement of occupational safety and health to prevent occupational injuries, diseases and deaths, by the development, in consultation with the most representative organisations of employers and workers, of a national policy, a national system and a national programme. The Convention calls for the establishment of a national preventative safety and health culture, where the principle of prevention is accorded the highest priority.”

Pakistan has ratified 36 ILO Conventions, including the eight core ILO International Labor Standards (ILS), and the ratification of C155 and C187 on OSH would send a strong and positive message to the ILO, EU, as well as the major brands that source from Pakistan.

These two Conventions are now parts of the core ILO ILS. The EU GSP Plus has 27 conditionalities that each country, which has been granted GSP Plus status, must fully implement and comply. Eight of these pertain to the core ILO ILS and any future GSP Plus conditionalities would include the two on OSH. Hence, it is crucial for Pakistani exporters to get their act together and jump-start the implementation of OSH standards in their working environment.

Fires in industrial establishments are a common feature. The lackadaisical and myopic attitudes of industrialists are much to be blamed. The usual fault is due to cheap and shoddy electrical wiring but there have been cases of fire in the storage of raw cotton, chemical containers, as well as gas cylinder blasts. The deadly fire in Ali Garments in Baldia Karachi where 260 workers perished on Sept 11, 2012, ostensibly due to chemicals in the store or due to allegations of sabotage (take your pick) is often quoted as the failure of the management. This tragedy is one prime example of neglect and disregard for complying with the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards. There are two ILO Conventions on OSH (C155 and C187) accompanied by two Recommendations (R164 and R197).

The Recommendations are non-binding guidelines and, in many cases, supplement a Convention by providing more detailed guidelines.

The Pakistani insurance sector has now become more active and stringent while insuring industrial units against fire and other disasters. The checklist on various aspects of safety is diligently enforced ensuing into inevitable compliance by the industrialists.

The enlightened industrialists have also taken steps to invest in setting up health and labor standards, rules, and procedures in their ecosystem. Business organizations such as Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP) are in the forefront in sensitizing, guiding, and advising industries to introduce all measures that enable them to safeguard the safety and health of the workers and at the same time protect the unit from any man-made or even natural disaster.

EFP has developed a special training programme in collaboration with ILO International Training Center in Turin, Italy. This training programme, comprising of 27 modules, was originally developed in English and has been used for training senior, middle and operational managers in the corporate sector.

These modules consist of audio, visual, and videos, and with the technical assistance of ILO ITC, EFP has translated these modules in Urdu language which makes it easy to create sensitization and awareness of OSH among supervisors and workers at the lower echelon of organizational hierarchy.

EFP is of the opinion that the absence of an effective and accountable OSH management programme or culture could have a disastrous impact on the life, production, viability, sustainability, and time of the business venture. To encourage industries to introduce, implement and showcase what they have done in their working environment, EFP holds a competition among member companies and the winners of different categories are honored and awarded trophies at the annual EFP OSH Awards Ceremony.

This annual signature event has been held regularly for nearly two decades. EFP is also fully on board in advocacy and lobbying for ratification of C155 and C187 and is collaborating closely with its tripartite partners, Ministry of OPHRD and Pakistan Workers Federation, both at the national as well as at international forums.

Pakistan is not the only country suffering the effects of occupational accidents or health issues. Workers all over the world are faced with a variety of safety and health hazards, which include exposure to dust, gases, toxic substances, noise, vibration and extreme temperatures.

Over 325 million workers suffer non-fatal occupational injuries each year while nearly 3 million people die annually from an occupational accident or disease. In the case of Pakistan, there is a dearth of experienced and knowledgeable Labour Inspectors who have command over the subject.

This is one reason why industrialists do not pay heed to the advice from Labour Inspectors who definitely need training, more so from foreign experts here or abroad. It is imperative that a tripartite consultative body of ILO constituents be formed at the Federal as well as at the Provincial levels to structure a comprehensive OSH Policy that specifically provides guidelines for industries as well as Labor Inspectors so that the latter do not indulge in resorting to imposing penalties or demanding illegal gratifications.

A final message from the Rhode Island (USA) Small Business Recovery Programme, “If the owner or manager does not show an interest in preventing employee injury and illness, then the employees will probably not give it much thought either.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024