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There has been a global reckoning with the fact that the factors that affect a workers’ health and safety go way beyond the physical workplace. In a Technical Session about innovations in tripartite governance, Ms. Marie Clarke Walker from the Canadian Labour Congress touched on the ratification of C-190:

“Every person in the world of work should feel that Convention 190, the prevention of violence and harassment at work, applies to them. Convention 190 demonstrates the power of Tripartism to improve the people’s working lives.”

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Implications of the Changing World of Work for Occupational Safety and Health

Part of the world is still suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, while others have begun to heal while dealing with the aftermath. During a discussion on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. David Michaels from George Washington University highlighted the need for stronger protection standards going forward.

“COVID has opened our eyes to the need for stronger standards, not just for healthcare workers, but for all workers employed in essential industries and who work in areas where they might be exposed to this virus.”

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In a highly informative keynote that attracted over 2,000 views to date and produced over 1,200 claps from the audience, Dr. John Howard from the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health addressed common anxieties and challenged prevalent assumptions around the role of technology in the future of work:

“Technological job displacement: the question is, are more jobs being created than jobs destroyed? No historical or contemporary evidence that technological advances are driving us to a jobless future.”

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During Technical Session 5, we heard about regulating OSH as the shape of the workplace rapidly changes. As we all deal with a constantly evolving landscape, it’s important to be reminded of our collective mission. During an opening session that received a thundering 4,859 claps from you, Mr. Guy Ryder, Director General of the ILO did just that:

“A future in which public institutions, the private sector, employers, workers, and their organizations engage in collective action to achieve the still unattained goal of zero injuries, zero disease, and zero deaths at work.”

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Advancing a Culture of Prevention

Between Technical Session 5, Symposia 10, Symposia 12, the ISSA Report and more, all Vision Zero content combined have accumulated a whopping 5,589 page views to date, demonstrating the enthusiasm OSH professionals from across the globe have for the 7 Golden Rules. The Vision Zero prevention strategy was mentioned early on in the Congress, by Dr. Joachim Breuer, President of the International Social Security Association:

Can you imagine a few years ago reading such a sentence in the EU Framework: "All efforts must be deployed to reduce work-related deaths as much as possible in line with the Vision Zero approach."

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In our Congress’ Opening Session, Mr. Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head for the Toronto International Film Festival spoke about the power of storytelling when communicating learnings. Knowing this, we should therefore not be surprised that a session that approached the subject of building a culture of prevention through workplace stories was amongst the 10 most-watched sessions of the congress. Here is one of our favorite quotes from Symposia 9, from Mr. Ricardo Vyhmeister of the ISSA Mining Advisory Council:

“Building a strong safety culture is a process of change. It cannot be accomplished in a day. Success requires sustained commitment”

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Our spectacular Closing Session featured a trip around the world and beautiful performances by Canadian artists and received 3,896 claps from the audience. During one of the final addresses of the Congress, Dr. Cameron Mustard from the Canadian Institute for Work & Health had this to say:

“Across many, many sessions, speakers reminded us that successful occupational health and safety initiatives at the workplace will only succeed if the initiatives are developed with the participation of workers and their representatives. I would hope that all of us as delegates carry this key principle forward in our work.”

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