Occupational Health and Safety in the Least Developed Countries-A Simple Case of Neglect (original) (raw)
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Toxicology, 2004
The 2.4 billion working people in the developing countries often have to endure employment conditions, which do not meet even basic occupational safety and health (OSH) standards. The lack of work safety, excessive work loads, and occupational physical, chemical and biological exposures result in occupational diseases, injuries and as many as 1.2 million fatalities each year. Furthermore, as little as 15% of workers in the developing countries have access to occupational health and safety services. Some collaboration between the industrialized and developing countries in the field of OSH has been practiced for 30 years but its volume has been modest compared to other sectors of development assistance. The lessons learned from 30 years of experience are that the most important OSH improving factors in developing countries include legal and policy instruments, national OSH programs, infrastructure for OSH implementation, and OSH services. The establishment of OSH expert human resource...
Legacy of Implementing Industrial Health and Safety in Developing Countries
Journal of PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY and Applied Human Science, 2001
Aiming to develop public attention to the hindrance of national and international efforts on industrial health and safety, this paper explores some important issues, such as the reasons for the lack of motivation to implement necessary measures in developing countries. Examples are likewise given to show why working people are significantly exposed to a number of occupational problems that are reflected in a deterioration of their health, safety and well being. In lieu thereof, an introduction of health and safety is not itself a solution, if certain changes are not rationalised according to the local need. While health and safety intervention is concerned, then local need is of prime importance. If individual situation is not clearly outlined, then preventive and control measures can be treated as a de fact o me asure. He nce immediate at tent ion, collaboration and cooperation is needed from all the concerned parties such as local government authorities, s e m i-g o v e r n m e n t o r p r iv a t e o r g a n is a t io n s a n d international communities for proper implementation of work regulations as well as industrial acts and rules in various workplaces in each of the developing countries.
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This book is written for professionals in developing countries, for occupational safety and health specialists, production engineers, managers and trade union representatives. The book links occupational safety and health with production and productivity, showing the positive relationship between good and safe working conditions and sustainable high productivity. The book makes use of research results, and is intended to be used in connection with training activities, but does not concentrate on research or training. The focus is action for change to eliminate or reduce risks at workplaces.
Annals of Global Health
This convention focuses on the organisation of occupational health services and addresses issues such as the need for the formulation, implementation and review of occupational health and safety (OHS) policies in member states. The present article comments on the organisation of OHS in southern Africa [2], the International Labour Organization (ILO) and policies in general. Occupational Health and Safety Organization in Southern Africa [2] In the four regions of Africa, very few research efforts have been focused on examining existing OHS legislation in order to suggest required improvements for actioning by policy makers. However, in the Annals of Global Health, Moyo and colleagues [2] make a valuable contribution in this regard, in the context of southern Africa. More importantly, the publication of their findings in an open access scientific journal is a giant step towards drawing the attention of OHS practitioners, policy makers and the scientific community to the fundamental concerns requiring correction. Given the value of the conclusions arising from their work, Moyo and colleagues [2] may also need to consider additional platforms for sharing their findings, such as the annual Public Health Practitioners Association Conference (PHASA), hosted by South Africa, which is regularly well attended by researchers, policy makers and OHS practitioners from various developing and developed countries. On the other hand, the authors' country selection may not necessarily mirror the status of OHS laws in the remaining unreviewed majority of other southern African countries. Consequently, further work may need to also concentrate on such nations as well as the eastern, western and northern African countries, in order to identify their peculiar scenarios requiring redress. About two decades back, Auria [3] rightly observed that the bulk of published OHS articles were unfortunately small-scale, local and not national and strategic. Fundamentally, Moyo and colleagues' regional study is a step ahead rather than repetition of previous research shortcomings raised by Auria [3]. In their study, Moyo et al. [2] describe, discuss and analyse OHS laws in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia and observe, among other issues, the severe shortage of occupational medicine specialists. Similar human resource challenges stifling the performance of OHS services have been reported in various other developing countries [4-6]. Although massive improvements in such critical expert staffing levels in resource-constrained countries might appear difficult, some positive improvements in African countries, such as South Africa, fruitfully demonstrate that these limitations are solvable. Consequently, the need for researchers' sustained efforts in convincing policy makers to take practical
The Occupational Health Needs of Workers: The Need for a New International Approach
2014
Rights declares, all people have a right to the highest level of health attainable, then surely the health of those who produce all valued products used by society is of basic concern. Yet, workers are one of the most vulnerable groups in the population. The effects of the health hazards they face are often added to those of poor living environments, poor nutrition, and unsatisfactory housing. Workers' health status usually reflects the general health conditions of the population. At the same time, their working conditions influence the socioeco nomic status, health status, and living environment of their dependents. This is particularly true for developing countries where, for the majority of workers, survival depends on work undertaken in exploitative conditions, with low incomes and unhealthy working conditions.
Safety and Health at Work
This article addresses three key issues. First, the commonalities, differences, strengths, and limitations of existing occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation of low-and middle-income countries were determined. Second, required revisions were identified and discussed to strengthen the laws in accordance with the best international practice. Finally, proposals for additional OSH laws and interventions were suggested. A literature search of OSH laws of 10 selected low-and middle-income countries was carried out. The laws were subjected to uniform review criteria. Although the agricultural sector employs more than 70% of the population, most of the reviewed countries lack OSH legislation on the sector. Existing OSH laws are gender insensitive, fragmented among various government departments, insufficient, outdated, and nondeterrent to perpetrators and lack incentives for compliance. Conclusively, the legal frameworks require reformation and harmonization for the collective benefit to employees, employers, and regulatory authorities. New OSH legislation for the agricultural sector is required.