Triple Hélice + 1: La Sociedad Civil en la Competitividad y la

This module relates to the core value of Health and Harmony with Nature, a state of physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being and the symbiotic relationship between humans and the natural environment entailing the duty to take care of their health and protect other forms of life on earth as stewards of the environment.

The module also concerns the related value of Concern for Safety and Security, which is the conscious effort to ensure the protection of persons, property, the workplace and the environment from potential injury, danger, damage or loss.

Objectives

• To become familiar with the international standards relating to health, safety and well being in the workplace

• To deepen understanding of issues faced by individuals and vulnerable groups who are at much greater risk of work-related injury and death

• To be able to observe and record potential safety problems that could lead to work- related injury and death

• To raise awareness of the value of health, safety and well being in the workplace • To develop skills in identifying health and safety preventative actions/solutions.

Content

• International documents, such as:

— The ILO Safe Work Global Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment — ILO Constitution, Declaration and Conventions

• Health, safety and well being procedures and practices

Procedure/Learning Activities

Cognitive Level: Knowing

1. Facilitator invites participants to familiarize themselves with the relevant international documents pertaining to health, safety and well being in the workplace. This could be conducted either by research in the library/internet or providing copies to them. 2. Facilitator asks participants to list all the workplace health and safety issues that

emerge from their research or reading. These include issues in general and those relating to specific and vulnerable groups, i.e. children, women, migrant workers, persons with HIV, etc.

3. Facilitator conducts a discussion of these issues with participants, focusing especially on the extent to which these are relevant to their own context. Participants are encouraged to relate concrete examples from their own experience where appropriate safety measures were practiced or not.

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Conceptual Level: Understanding

4. Facilitator takes participants on a walking field trip of their own training institution or education site and their neighbourhood to inspect. Participants are instructed to observe and record potential health and safety problems and to check if appropriate safety measures, i.e. fire or first aid equipments, protective clothing, warning signs, operating instructions, etc., are evident.

5. On their return, participants share their findings and discuss the possible risks and dangers observed. Also, participants explore potential solutions and preventive measures to address the identified hazards.

Affective Level: Valuing

6. Facilitator leads participants further into reflection using the following guide questions: a. How did you find the field trip experience? What struck you most? What did you

gain from it?

b. How conscious were you of these health and safety hazards prior to the field trip experience?

c. What accounts for your presence or absence of the value for health and safety? d. What did this experience lead you to consider or reconsider?

7. Facilitator gathers some insights and realizations.

Active Level: Acting

8. Facilitator reinforces the importance of ensuring health, safety and well being in the workplace. Facilitator challenges the participants to develop a health, safety and well- being code of practice as a group. These may include guidelines in the form of a series of procedures and steps for preventing potential hazards. The facilitator stresses that the code is an exercise in developing the value of health and safety and does not take the place of health and safety guidelines in accordance with local health and safety legislation.

9. The facilitator urges participants to take an active and ongoing interest in workplace health and safety, initiating warnings and improvements and working with appropriate local authorities.

Materials Needed

• References and readings • Papers and pens

• Materials, as called for.

Suggested Readings

The ILO Safe Work Global Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment. ILO Constitution, Declaration and Conventions

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Learning to do

BACKGROUND MATERIAL

The International Labour Organization (ILO) was founded to ensure everyone the right to earn a living in freedom, dignity and security, in short, the right to decent work, without accepting the fallacy that injury and disease “go with the job.”

One of the key ILO functions from its inception has been the establishment of international standards on labour and social matters in the form of Conventions and recommendations. About 70 of these deal with occupational safety and health matters, in addition to various Codes of Practice and reference manuals containing detailed regulations for ensuring occupational health.

According to the International Labour Organization, about 1.2 million people die each year due to occupational accidents and work-related diseases, in addition to the 250 million occupational accidents and 160 million occupational diseases incurred each year. Over 90 per cent of these occur in micro and small enterprises where working conditions are generally very poor and where workers are often excluded from labour protection.

While there are different risks in every form of work, some of the world’s most hazardous industries are in agriculture, logging, fishing, construction and mining. These are concentrated primarily in developing countries where only about 10 per cent of the workforce is likely to enjoy insurance coverage against occupational illness and injury. While there has been a decrease in serious injuries in some countries during the last 100 years, the challenge is to extend these benefits to the whole world, especially for the poorest and least protected—often women, children and migrants.

Article III of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration (1944), commits to ensuring the “adequate protection for the life and health of workers in all occupations.”

To implement this mandate and to respond to the urgent need for lowering the incidence of workplace death, injury and disease among the most vulnerable, the ILO established the

Safe Work Global Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment. Safe Work aims to create global awareness of the scale and consequences of work-related accidents, and to promote the goal of basic protection for all workers in conformity with international labour standards. The main focus is on preventive programmes for hazardous occupations and vulnerable workers due to age, gender or displacement, and those in the informal sector who lack protection.

Governments and employers need to be better equipped to address the problems of worker well being, both physical and psychological, occupational health care and the quality of the working life. Preventive efforts and improvements in working conditions would reduce human suffering and the cost to society of accidents and illness, and lead to improved productivity, work quality and cost savings.

Workplace safety issues are wide ranging, from serious accidents due to the use of dangerous heavy machinery and equipment, exposure to hazardous cancer-causing chemicals and materials such as lead and asbestos, exposure to HIV-AIDS and other viruses or radiation for hospital workers, noise and vibration issues for mining and construction workers, to office workers using toxic powders for printing and photocopying. Clearly preventive guidelines are vital, as are chemical labelling systems, protective

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clothing, operating instructions and safety data sheets. However, workers also need to be aware of the dangers, and be provided with information and training in using equipment and chemicals safely, and what to do in case of accident.

It is important to also address non-traditional aspects of worker’s health and safety such as smoking, drugs, alcohol, stress and HIV-AIDS by supporting workers in handling these issues.

Of relevance to the health of workers themselves, but also to the health and well being of the wider community, are issues related to the protection of the environment from unsafe disposal of toxic waste products, emissions, air and water pollution from both small and large enterprises.

In more recent times, the workplace has had to introduce tighter security measures to protect both workers and the public from the actions of potential terrorists, in places such as airports, bus and train stations, in shopping malls and other places. It is regrettably anticipated that this area of concern in workplace safety will continue to increase.

The relevant international documents pertaining to occupational health, safety, well-being and the environment are primarily the ILO Constitution, Declaration and various Conventions and Codes of Practice, in addition to the ILO Report on the XVIth World Congress which led to the establishment of the Decent Work, Safe Workprogramme. It is also suggested that the facilitator obtains copies of relevant national health and safety information.

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Learning to do

Module 9: