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4 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 35/2000
A proposal that would have undermined workers' right to a global say on workplace health and safety has been rejected by members of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).
Taking part in the poll were national standards organisations affiliated to the ISO. The proposal before them would have declared the ISO competent to set global standards in the field of occupational health and safety management.
Any ISO efforts on this would have cut across work already well under way within the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). And the ISO, unlike the ILO, excludes organised labour.
The ILO sets ratifiable and binding international standards on a wide range of labour-related matters. Worker, employer and government representatives from all over the world meet on equal terms within this "tripartite" UN agency. All three groups draw up and adopt the ILO's standards, and all three monitor national governments' compliance with them once they are in force.
Occupational health and safety is a major focus of these ILO norms, and organised labour has been one of the main driving forces behind the adoption and application of the standards.
No such labour representation exists within the ISO, where strong corporate influence is brought to bear.
For this reason - and because the explicit aim of the ISO bid was "a faster response to market needs" in health and safety management - the world trade union movement had campaigned against the proposal. Labour internationals that spoke out included the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
Following the ISO vote, responsibility for global standards on occupational health and safety management systems will rest with the ILO.
The ILO has already drafted non-mandatory guidelines on occupational health and safety management systems, drawing on a detailed review of standards and codes of practice worldwide. These guidelines are due to be tested this year.
"We greatly welcome the outcome of the ISO vote," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, "and we look forward to the setting of binding and effective ILO standards on occupational health and safety management, with the full participation of workers and their trade unions."
Taking part in the poll were national standards organisations affiliated to the ISO. The proposal before them would have declared the ISO competent to set global standards in the field of occupational health and safety management.
Any ISO efforts on this would have cut across work already well under way within the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO). And the ISO, unlike the ILO, excludes organised labour.
The ILO sets ratifiable and binding international standards on a wide range of labour-related matters. Worker, employer and government representatives from all over the world meet on equal terms within this "tripartite" UN agency. All three groups draw up and adopt the ILO's standards, and all three monitor national governments' compliance with them once they are in force.
Occupational health and safety is a major focus of these ILO norms, and organised labour has been one of the main driving forces behind the adoption and application of the standards.
No such labour representation exists within the ISO, where strong corporate influence is brought to bear.
For this reason - and because the explicit aim of the ISO bid was "a faster response to market needs" in health and safety management - the world trade union movement had campaigned against the proposal. Labour internationals that spoke out included the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
Following the ISO vote, responsibility for global standards on occupational health and safety management systems will rest with the ILO.
The ILO has already drafted non-mandatory guidelines on occupational health and safety management systems, drawing on a detailed review of standards and codes of practice worldwide. These guidelines are due to be tested this year.
"We greatly welcome the outcome of the ISO vote," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, "and we look forward to the setting of binding and effective ILO standards on occupational health and safety management, with the full participation of workers and their trade unions."