Presentation for China Migrant Labour Occupational Health and Safety Project – June 2009 Knowledge – a Prerequisite to Strengthening Labour Inspection

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Changing World of Work We are seeing drastic changes in organizations and how they do business. Dramatic changes taking place in: Workplace structure and job content Work methods, processes, equipment and technologies Workplace environment, are having a profound impact on the work of health and safety inspectorates throughout the world. The speed of these changes is increasing and the scope and the extent of the changes are expanding.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Advancing Knowledge Advancing knowledge on a whole range of emerging complex concerns such as: nanotechnology, pandemics, mental health, violence in the workplace, as well as new findings on well known problems are constantly expanding the occupational health and safety landscape.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety New and Emerging Risks Introduction of: new technologies, new working methods, and physical, chemical, biological agents contribute to emerging risks affecting the health and safety of present and future generations.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Pattern of Injuries and Illnesses Along with these changes: the pattern of work-related injuries and illnesses, their causal factors, as well as, effective ways of dealing with them are also changing.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Occupational Health Concerns With advancing knowledge of the effects of work on the health and safety of people, occupational health concerns have been receiving prominent attention. For example, toxic substances and the exponential increase of their prevalence in the workplace represent a growing concern, and stress and musculoskeletal disorders continue to make the biggest contributions to work-related ill health.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Holistic & Integrated Approach The growing importance of corporate social responsibility, health promotion and new strategies for occupational health and safety are taking a holistic and integrated approach that is associated with not only chemical, biological, physical and psychosocial concerns, but also with: Organizational culture Job design Human interactions, and Life-style considerations

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Involvement of Everyone There is an increasing emphasis on the active involvement of everyone concerned, including workers, supervisors, managers, practitioners, employers and enforcement authorities.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Keeping Abreast Confronted with this rapidly changing world of work, the regulatory process of every country is faced with the daunting challenge of keeping abreast to ensure that: in the contemporary changing work relationships responsibilities continue to rest on those with real control and influence on health and safety. all relevant risks continue to be given due attention the diversity of organizations – large, medium, small, micro and sole operator – are recognized, and structural changes such as re-structuring, downsizing, privatization, outsourcing, etc. are taken into consideration.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Health and Safety Inspectorates Handicapped At a time when enforcement agencies are called upon to widen their operational activities far beyond traditional safety centered practices to incorporate wider health concerns through a comprehensive approach and fulfill expanding expectations of the public, health and safety inspectorates in most countries are severely handicapped by the need to spread the limited resources available to them even thinner.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Toward Increasing Impact Many inspectorates are increasingly resorting to activities such as awareness raising, information and advice, education and training, etc. in an effort to increase the impact of the limited number of available inspectors on greater numbers of enterprises beyond that possible with inspections and investigations.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Approach There is an increasing interest in an evolving prevention policy using a management systems approach to: Improve health and safety performance across the organization Take account of on going change Building occupational health and safety as a primary organizational objective Plan and act on all potential sources of harm Follow Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle – continuous improvement Build the necessary knowledge and capacity

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Based Prevention Strategy Use of a prevention strategy based on management systems is able to provide occupational health inspectors with optimum capabilities to influence organizational behaviour and improve occupational health and safety outcomes proactively in a comprehensive manner by combining enforcement functions with awareness raising knowledge transfer, education, advice and information services.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Knowledge is Critical Critical to the success of this strategy is the ability of the inspector to build the crucial knowledge and understanding on the wide range of issues and concerns they face on a daily basis and to keep abreast of the ongoing developments with respect to that knowledge.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Innovative Tools Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, based on its decades of experience in knowledge transfer in the field of occupational health and safety, has developed information technology based tools for use by enterprises as well as by health and safety inspectors to implement a prevention strategy based on management systems, building the necessary know-how to suit specific circumstances. These tools provide instant access to the information, knowledge, advice and instructions needed with respect to the needs of specific sectors and occupations.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Tools for Implementing a Management System Comprehensive integrated approach Senior management commitment and leadership A comprehensive approach to risk management concerning all potential sources of harm Compliance with legal and other requirements Active involvement of all parties concerned Development of occupational health and safety knowledge and competencies Monitoring and continuous improvement

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Knowledge Base The essential knowledge base is built as profiles of topics of importance linked to the sources of required knowledge within the structure of a comprehensive management system called OSH Works delivered to end-users on the world-wide-web. A description and demonstration is available from CCOHS’ website at:

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Instant Access to Knowledge Using these tools, occupational health and safety inspectors will have instant access to the knowledge they need to address issues concerning different industries, operations and occupations as and when needed during the course of their daily work.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety CCOHS Website

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Thank You For further information contact Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Web Site: