Work, Health, Safety and Wellbeing (2220)

Assignment 1 - Critical Analysis of a core issue

Lecturer: Mr Philip Tay Hong Hui

Class: LF01
Group:

Group Members Student Number

Word Count: 1092

Table of Contents

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1.0 Introduction 3

2.0 Literature Review 3

2.1 Definition 3
2.2 Analysis of the Literature 4

3.0 Implications for Singapore workplaces 6

4.0 Conclusion 7
4.1 Integrated Framework diagram 8

5.0 Reference List 9

Appendix 10

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1.0 Introduction
Many people take occupational safety and health (OSH) for granted and are only reminded of it
when an accident happens. The necessity of OSH as human right negligence will be briefly
explained in this report. As both businesses and workers benefit from having a conductive, safe
and healthy working environment. We will discuss OSH as human rights and the significance of
bolstering present standards, which are becoming increasingly volatile as a result of shifting
social climates. Following a discussion of the concept and literature research of OSH as human
rights, an observation on implication of OSH as human right in Singapore's workplace, and an
integrated framework diagram demonstrating the key findings of this report,

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Definition

As defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO) OSH is the science concerned with
recognising, predicting, assessing, regulating, and managing dangers emanating from the
workplace. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that favourable working
conditions are deemed part of basic human rights; approved by the UN General Assembly in
1948 (Alsamawi, Murray, Lenzen and Reyes, 2017). Despite the fact that these rights had been
in place for decades, they were not regarded as fundamental principles until 2008. The scope of
OSH as human rights has gradually and continuously evolved throughout time in response to
social, political, technical, and economic changes. In 2008, ILO formulated the core OSH
principles, stating that "all workers have rights," (Alli, 2008). To ensure that nothing violates

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these workers' rights, governments and employers should establish OSH policies, consciously
improve. Literature shows that the concept of human rights is still in transition (Waring, 2019).

2.2 Analysis of the Literature

OSH Convention of ILO (No. 155 article 3 )(d)) defined "health" in regard to work as "...not just
the absence of illnesses/infirmity; but encompasses the physical/mental factors impacting health
that are directly connected to workplace safety"(Dibaba, 2021).

According to (Reese, 2017) OSH as human rights is a legislation that provides three rights to all
workers: The right to know about issues concerning health and safety. The right to be involved in
choices that may have an impact on one's health and safety. The right to refuse work that might
compromise one's health and safety, as well as the health and safety of others.

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As (Jones, 2020) puts, OSH is a fundamental right for all workers, and more openness, due
diligence, and standardization of reporting standards may help make this a reality. OSH is a
concern for human well-being that is rising nowadays as the industrialization and sectors of the
economy develop, leading to an increase in workplace health problems. Workplace safety is now
regarded as a priority setting for health promotion in the twenty-first century by the World
Health Organization (WHO). According to statistics from ILO and WHO, many workers in
manufacturing industries suffer from occupational injuries, and property damage has resulted in
an economic catastrophe (Burton, 2010). Regardless of the fact that individuals work and spend
the majority of their working hours at work, insufficient resources and attention are given to
workplace health and safety. Workplace hazards and threats can harm employees' health and
well-being, as well as having an influence on the communities in which they work and the
environment as a whole (Alli, 2008) yet it have been neglected in emerging nations' industrial
development policies and objectives; companies are primarily concerned with output volume or
profit, obliterating the latent effect of a poor working environment, (Jilcha and Kitaw, 2016).
According to (Barratt and Thompson, 2012), New Zealand is a "human rights state," New
Zealand employees, on the other hand, have a high rate of workplace accidents and deaths,
notably in the mining sector, where profit tends to take precedence above safety.

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Therefore, it typically implies that the situation relating to workers' well-being has changed, that
certain measures have been made to provide workers with a healthy and safe working
environment. Many countries' quality, health, knowledge, and safety criteria have become more
strict in recent years than they had been before, but still the organization's primary concern and
objective is profitability.

OSH has come a long way as a human right, from not being mentioned in the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights to becoming a fundamental principle after UN experts
urged the ILO to recognise and embrace safe and healthy working conditions as one of its
fundamental principles and rights at work (UN Human Rights, 2019). Revitalizing worker rights
in the workplace is critical to the future of worker health and safety as a basic human right. The
interpretation of labor law should be guided by human rights. In a world of insecure
employment, increasingly unorganized labor, and dangerous workplaces, applying human rights
rules to new circumstances is essential. Future generations' human rights must likewise be
safeguarded.

3.0 Implications for Singapore workplaces

In Singapore, the Workplace Safety and Health Act (2006) establishes legislative criteria for
workplace safety, health, and welfare. Primary Southeast Asian safety and health rules were
enacted as part of the Act, which resulted in around 25 subsidiary legislations (Tan, 2005). OSH
as human rights negligence, have a significant impact in the rising rate of fatalities and injuries in
hazardous workplaces. However, this issue has no bearing for Singapore employees because the
country already has an occupational safety and health division (OSHD) in place to ensure and
encourage workplace safety and health. As of 2018, OSHD reduced workplace fatalities to fewer
than 1.8 per 100,000 workers. Dedicated to assisting Singapore in becoming a global leader in
terms of safety and health standards (MOM, 2019). Protocols are already in place, run by
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM), to limit the number of fatalities and injuries caused
by workplace safety and health violations.

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4.0 Conclusion
Ultimately, we may infer that poor management and human care can result in high accident and
fatality rates. Organisations' upper management values profitability and key performance
indicators over the well-being of its employees, resulting in an intolerable working environment
as well as a poor work-life balance ratio. Furthermore, anytime accidents occur as a result of
lower productivity owing to reduced workforce, as well as the expenses of correcting these
events, organisations would suffer financial losses. It has also been demonstrated that higher-
level cohesion reduces the frequency of deaths and workplace-related occurrences. There must
be transparency and regulative third party checks to ensure that employees are given fair
treatment.
Lastly, employees may only feel confident in the organisation if they work in a safe/healthy
atmosphere, which in the long term will benefit both the firm and the employees.

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4.1 Integrated Framework diagram

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5.0 Reference List

● Alsamawi, A., Murray, J., Lenzen, M. and Reyes, R., 2017. Trade in occupational safety
and health: Tracing the embodied human and economic harm in labour along the global
supply chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 147, pp.187-196.
● Alli, B. O. 2008. Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety. International
Labour Office – Geneva: ILO, (2nd edition).
● Barrett, J. and Thomson, L., 2012. Returning dignity to labour: Workplace safety as a
human right. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, vol. 37, iss.1, pp.82-89.
● Burton, J., 2010. WHO Healthy Framework and Model: Background and Supporting
Literature and Practices. World Health Organisation, pp.15-116.
● Dibaba, S., 2021. The Human Right to Health: In International, Regional and National
Legal Instruments. Global Scientific Journals, 9(6), pp.694-670.
● Hilgert, J., 2012. The future of workplace health and safety as a fundamental human
right. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, vol. 34, iss.3, p.715.
● Jilcha, K. and Kitaw, D., 2016. A literature review on global occupational safety and
health practice & accidents severity. International Journal for Quality Research, 10(2),
pp.279-310.
● Jones, R., 2020. Meaningful OSH performance reporting and a new social license to
operate. INSTITUTION OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH, pp.1-15.
● Ministry of Manpower (2019), “Legislation for workplace safety and health”, [online].
[Accessed February 24, 2022] <https://www.mom.gov.sg/legislation/workplace-safety-
and-health>
● Reese, C., 2017. Occupational Safety and Health: Fundamental Principles and
Philosophies. 1st ed. London : Taylor & Francis Group, pp.17-123.
● Tan, K.Y.L. (2005), Essays in Singapore Legal History, Marshall Cavendish Academic
and the Singapore Academy of Law.
● United Nation Human Rights, 2019. OHCHR | UN experts urge ILO to back safe and
healthy work conditions as a 'fundamental' right. [online] Ohchr.org. [Accessed 16
February 2022].

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Appendix
● The business case in a nutshell source: WHO Healthy Workplace Framework & Model

Source: United Nations, 1997

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● Insights into the safety scenario of Singapore from its occupational injury

Source: Analytics And Intelligent Systems, 2017

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