Global Occupational Safety and Health Management Handbook

Thomas P. Fuller, Thomas P. Fuller

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429509353
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Derecho
• Subtopic: Derecho medioambiental

This book was written with the belief that everyone globally has the right to a safe and healthy workplace. An 8-year old carrying bricks in the mid-day sun in Nepal, a pharmaceutical business executive on assignment in Bangladesh, or a mother polishing stone in her home in Tanzania; each has a fundamental right to a workplace free from risk of injury, illness, and death.

Global Occupational Safety and Health Management Handbook is a broad presentation and discussion of the issues and obstacles facing the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) profession today in providing safe workplaces globally. Readers can use this book to find resources to assist in the development of their programs and to become informed about the basic structures of international OSH development and governance. Readers can also rely on this book to become more aware of global OSH issues and problems that they may be personally or professionally willing and able to help address. Seasoned OSH professionals can expect to learn about new ways to look at complicated and controversial topics. Young professionals and students can read this book to better understand the important global OSH interrelationships and challenges of the future.

Features

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• Serves as a one-stop resource for information on important international safety and health topics and issues
• Provides detailed information about international OSH tripartite, nongovernmental, and professional organizations
• Describes the various global OSH educational and professional development needs, and international approaches to expanding capacity and awareness of the profession
• Discusses controversial international OSH working conditions and explains their global impacts

1Introduction to Global Occupational Safety and Health

Thomas P. Fuller

Illinois State University

Contents

1.1Introduction

1.2Growth and Globalization

1.3OSH and Globalization

1.4Numbers of Injuries and Illnesses

1.5Economic and Social Costs

1.6Lack of Awareness of OSH Program Benefits

1.7Management and Benchmarking

1.8Cultural, Economic, and Educational Differences

1.9Education, Training, and Credentialing

1.9.1Formal Education in OSH

1.9.2Global OSH Training

1.9.3Mainstreaming OSH Education

1.9.4Licensing and Credentialing

1.10International Organizations and Regulations

1.11Special Types of Workers—Children and Informal Workers

1.11.1Child Labor

1.11.2Informal Workers

References

1.1Introduction

Global Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is the study of worldwide worker injury, illness, and fatality. It is the study of the factors that influence the well-being of workers internationally. It is also the study of the differences in occupational morbidity and mortality rates between countries, why those differences exist, and what can be done to improve working conditions in all nations and geographic regions. Global OSH is the analysis of complex intersections and interactions between economics, politics, culture, and science. It is more than the typical measurement and reporting of workplace exposures to risks, but an in-depth analysis of why and how the risks and hazards exist, and what social, political, economic, and cultural factors lead to those risks.

The term “globalization” represents the expanded breadth, intensity, and speed at which the world is connected. It has been represented by the following basic characteristics:

•Social, political, and economic activities commonly span across national, regional, and continental boundaries.

•The flow of trade, investment, wealth, people, and culture increases substantially.

•Global interactions of business, politics, and information are more rapid.

•Events that occur in one nation (e.g., policy changes, political instability, economic collapse, natural disasters) are felt more deeply and significantly in distant lands (Held, 1999).

In a globalized world, the actions and policies taken in one nation can have profound impacts on other nations. OSH impacts are not excluded from this premise. Globalization of business, politics, economics, and finance greatly influences OSH activities and approaches taken in individual countries around the world.

Globalization also includes the transfer of products, services, and technology. Each of these may come with their own inherent risks, including risks to workers using, manufacturing, handling, or disposing of the products. Globalization can mean the increased transfer of toxic chemicals, dangerous equipment and operations, and hazardous waste, each with their own significant and very real OSH concerns in the receiving countries. It can also bring the transfer of knowledge and education. This is particularly important for OSH, as it relates to the transfer of risks mentioned earlier.

A major catalyst for increased globalization occurs because of economic and financial benefits. And OSH has often been closely related to business and economics. Part of the original rationale for the creation of the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration was to level the playing field between states that allowed different levels of safety within their operations that provided some with economic advantages. In international trade, the same incentives for businesses exist today globally, to find the country with the weakest environmental or safety regulations and set up operations there to take advantage of reduced operational or labor costs. Countries with governments that do not either understand or care about the risks to the environment or workers accept the hazardous activities, processes, and chemicals, for the purely economic benefit. Businesses then tend to seek those countries out to expand operations, and a viscous circle ensues. Countries compete for the business growth and reduce their national regulations further, which has resulted in a phenomenon coined “race to the bottom.”

As economics play a special role in the national levels and norms of OSH, it is important to present some related concepts and terminology that will be used throughout this book. There is no clear international consensus on terminology to describe the economic or social status of nations, yet there is a need to have common reference words to describe conditions and make basic comparisons.

Some economists consider a developed economy to be one in which the average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is US$12,000. Others may set this figure higher (Investopedia, 2018). However, many other factors can be considered in the definition including such parameters as access to safe drinking water, levels of sanitation and hygiene, food security, levels of air pollution, and climate vulnerability. The United Nations Human Development Index is a summary of social achievements of countries including such measures as economic growth, life expectancy, living standards, and expected years of schooling (UN, 2018). This index rates countries as very highly developed, highly developed, medium development, and low development (economically developing). Countries such as Norway, France, Spain, Japan, Canada, and Argentina are considered very highly developed, whereas countries such as Swaziland, Haiti, Yemen, and Afghanistan are considered in a state of low development.

The terminology is useful when discussing how social and economic activities impact OSH internationally. It is understandable that in the least developed nations, resources may be limited to fully implement desired OSH programs and protections. The ability to maintain adequate levels of OSH may also be related to the capacity to educate the workforce, or even supply adequate numbers of OSH professionals. Nutrition, sanitation, and availability of medical services, which are the important factors impacting the health and safety of the workforce, must all be considered when looking at OSH in a global context.

OSH and economics also overlap in terms of the discussion about supply and demand for products and services as they relate to the transfer of wealth. The costs and values of OSH are transferred and traded just as other services or “products.” These are related to the status of nations or businesses. These factors also relate most basically to the differences that cultures or societies may place on the value of a life, value of longevity, or overall lifetime health. Just as there are economic disparities between nations, these closely relate through OSH to disparities in occupational injury, illness, and fatality rates, and ultimately average life span in a nation.

Many OSH professionals today feel an ethical responsibility to work to improve OSH globally, particularly in disadvantaged countries with little OSH capacity or infrastructure. Numerous volunteer opportunities exist to OSH professionals who want to share their expertise and services. There are opportunities to support OSH research to better understand the issues and controls needed to reduce worker risks globally. There are also opportunities to teach and work abroad in less developed countries. And there are roles for OSH professionals to play within their own organizations to improve the health and safety of workers in foreign countries, such as ensuring corporate supply chains follow international standards for worker safety, and the avoidance of slave and child labor in supply chains.

This edition of this book represents the first step in a broader discussion of the individual chapter topics in one resource. Many other important topics have not made it to this edition but can be included in the next revisions. For the most part, the issues and topics selected for this edition represent some of the more challenging and controversial subjects. They were selected partly as a means to begin to advance our conversations. Other chapters provide basic information on international agencies and organizations, in one location, that may be of use to OSH professionals working in international corporations or those that may be traveling abroad for work.

1.2Growth and Globalization

Although international trade was known to occur between countries as early as 1900 BC, the need for locally grown food and limitations in transportation curtailed significant portions of societies’ benefits from coming from distant lands. Mass migration occurred from time to time, but mostly by foot. Exotic materials such as spices or rare metals traveled long distances, but these represented limited parts of any given societies’ trade (Stearns, 2001).

It was not until the latter half of the 19th century that industrialization and improvements in transportation brought large movements in people and products to more remote parts of the globe. Communications systems allowed for greater information exchange, societies became more urban rather than agrarian, and monetary systems based on the gold standard became more stable. By 1914, international trade had increased to 38% of the global GDP (Gun, 2017).

In the period after World War I, there was a sharp decline in trade as many countries instituted protectionist and isolationist strategies to protect their currencies and economies. The Great Depression brought further declines, and by the end of World War II, only 7% of the world’s GDP was based on international trade.

During the massive reconstructions that took place after World War II, global trade grew rapidly. In 1944, the Bretton Woods accord led to numerous international agreements meant to stabilize and standardize international trade and the world economy. The International Monetary Fund was created that allowed member countries to regulate capital flows and make their currencies convertible for trade-related transactions. These monetary policies, the expansion of commercial aviation, and the development of container shipping over the next two decades led to the growth of global trade to 30% of the world GDP by 1980.

In 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was created to provide a forum to negotiate international trade agreements on an agreed upon level playing field as a means to expand and promote global trade (WTO, 2017). With 164 member states, including China, the WTO has contributed to unprecedented international trade growth. Combined with the fall of the Soviet Union, government deregulation of banking systems, and significant advances in information technology, international trade has risen to 47% of global GDP (Gun, 2017).

As markets become more globally oriented, economically developing countries (EDCs) tend to increase their proportion of the world GDP, whereas those countries that are more developed lose percentage share of global GDP. Perhaps this explains the recent rise in protectionism in the G7 countries citing Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as indicators for popular nationalist and protectionist policies. And although discriminatory protectionist tariffs and barriers to free trade are on the rise and popular with some public and politicians, evidence indicates that overall, protectionist policies lead to lower total GDP growth for both developing and developed economies alike.

1.3OSH and Globalization

With the expanded globalization of business and global value chains of products and workers, OSH activities must “Go Global” and reach across borders. Companies and other organizations with diverse interests and operations overseas need to expand OSH to provide adequate services to all facilities. Ex-patriot employees in foreign countries need safe working conditions, the same as in the home country. New employees hired in foreign countries have the right to safe and healthful working conditions. And various nations have differences in health and safety regulation development and enforcement. Upper managements of organizations need to consider OSH delivery and operations when expanding business abroad for mostly the same reasons that good OSH programs and implementation are required at home. In addition, organizations and countries can learn from their international counterparts or competitors about the latest trends in OSH and the values that they add to businesses and governments. That is to say, what is good for Denmark could very well also be goo...