Get the knowledge: How products impact worker safety

Identifying companies that implement safer practices ensuring worker health and safety is protected throughout supply chains can be a real game changer.

 

Data from the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that someone dies every 15 seconds from work-related diseases or injuries. The vast majority of these premature deaths, 2.9 million of them in 2021, are caused by illnesses, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Around 10% of deaths relate to occupational injuries. 

 

An occupational disease is any disease contracted primarily as a result of an exposure to risk factors arising from work activity, including chronic exposure to toxic industrial chemicals, pesticides or other agricultural chemicals, radiation and dust, among other hazards. Approximately 160 million cases of occupational disease are reported each year.

Global divide

According to the ILO report, there is a clear divide between the situation in developed countries and elsewhere, because of the “tremendous progress” in workplace safety and health made in higher income countries, in terms of reducing the burden of occupational injuries caused by accidents. However, the data on deaths from work-related diseases keeps rising globally. It increased by 600,000 between 2014 and 2021.

 

Work-related cancer rates are similar around the world. But developing countries and those with economies in transition have proportionally higher injury and illness risks at work compared to developed countries. 

 

One problem with the data is the long time that can lapse between exposure to triggers of disease and the disorders manifesting themselves. While future studies can improve the estimates, the report says there is no reason to wait for further research to start taking action to reduce both injuries and illnesses.

 

Many work-related diseases, such as occupational cancers can be eliminated by reducing exposure to chemicals and materials that cause the diseases. But all too often companies cut costs and fail to provide adequate protection. Also enforcement of regulations can be weak, especially if agencies are underfunded, and fines and punishments insufficiently robust to drive good practice.

 

Looking at the regional comparisons for work-related mortality shows the high price paid by workers in Asia, where nearly twice as many people die compared to high-income countries  (see example of chrome plating industry.

 

Dirty secret of chrome-plating industry Chrome-plating is a process used to create ‘shiny things’, for example, hooks and door knobs sold by the decorative hardware sector. The process uses a compound called chrome 6 (Cr6), which is known to cause cancer to exposed workers, as well as being an environmental pollutant, if it is released into water systems.   The chemical isn’t present in the finished products, so an EU-ban on the chemical Cr6 doesn’t stop it being used to chrome-plate products in other parts of the world that are then imported into the region.   As a result of the hazards associated with Cr6 use, the European electroplating industry is highly regulated, with worker safety and environmental care written into well formulated and enforced legislation. The rules require companies to invest in local exhaust ventilation, waste filtration, personal protective equipment and health screening for workers.   However, the cost of implementing such measures has effectively seen the European plating sector ‘migrate’ to low-cost countries where the legislation does not exist, or is not enforced.    Steve Collinge, of Insight Retail Group says: “Consumers are simply unaware of the extent to which the hard-working people in the electroplating sectors of low cost, mainly Asian countries, risk their lives.”    These pictures below were taken in China in August 2019 and show part of the process of chrome plating, specifically, the use of completely open plating tanks without Local Exhaust Ventilation, banned in Europe, but it is still permitted and remains in widespread use in both China and India.    Some companies, including Ikea, Rothley and Ironmongery Direct, have worked with suppliers to switch out Cr6-based chrome plating in favour of chrome 3, which is safer. However, it is reported that many retail outlets are reluctant to stock the alternative products, turning a blind eye to the likely impacts on many workers in Asia.   If you need to buy chrome-plated products in hardware stores (all the shiny stuff), it is worth asking retailer customer service desks about how they are made, and if you can get items that have been plated using the chrome 3 process.

The cost of poor health and safety

According to ILO and World Health Organization (WHO) data, work-related cancers, caused by exposure to substances such as asbestos, silica and other carcinogens, killed nearly 850,000 people in 2021; while work-related cardiovascular diseases, which can be caused by certain chemicals, overwork and shift work, killed over 900,000 people.

 

Health and safety also embraces mental health at work, psychosocial factors and stress. One recent assessment of WHO and ILO data, carried out by Paul Whaley at Lancaster University showed that long working hours has a significant impact on health.

 

For example, working 55 hours or more a week was associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared with a working week of 35 to 40 hours. Most brands publish standards they expect their suppliers to meet in terms of hours workers are expected to toil.

 

These show some companies permit long working hours, between 60-70 hours per week, in supplier factories in low-income countries. 

 

Various steps can be taken to prevent illnesses and deaths - classically, protection, prevention and health promotion need to be implemented to reduce and eventually eliminate work-related harm. Equally, legislation, enforcement, compensation, occupational hygiene and workplace measures are all important. 

Vision of zero harm

Jukka Takala, one of the ILO report authors, and past president of the International Commission on Occupational Health, says: “Applying a mindset of Vision Zero and Zero Harm at work, where companies set goals to eradicate exposures and implement forward-thinking policies, is needed to eliminate or radically reduce the burden of injuries and illnesses from work.”

 

Reporting by companies of their workplace injury or illness data is patchy. While they may have good procedures and data for their own operations, most find it challenging to audit beyond their direct suppliers, so visibility down their value chains is not there.  

 

Kofi Annan, past UN secretary general once stated that safety and health at work is a basic human right and exposure of workers to toxic substances should be considered a form of exploitation.

 

Takala points out that as well as being a basic human right, health and safety at work has huge economic benefits. He quotes a study by Professor G Ahonen which showed that for the EU the costs of training, enforcement, promotion of workplace safety, and corporate wellness campaigns is a fifteenth of the  €3tr/year currently spent covering sick leave, accidents, permanent disability, early retirement and presenteeism (when someone is at work but not functioning due to illness). 

Benefits of worker safety

Critically, Takala points out that health and the ability of people to work are key assets to sustainability. It is estimated the global workforce contributes some $75tr/year to global gross domestic product (GDP) – that’s $22,000 for every worker. “This GDP provides the economic and material resources, which sustain all other societal activities, including health and social services, training and education, research and cultural services,” he says.

 

"Human labour also supports social fabric, education, general knowledge and social cohesion, he adds. “Motivated, safe and healthy workforces are linked to all the UN Sustainable development goals. You cannot eliminate poverty without workers, you cannot eliminate hunger without workers.”

 

Motivated, safe and healthy workforces are linked to all the UN Sustainable development goals

 

The ILO draft code of practice provides a number of regulations and guidance documents, as well as industry initiatives and companies, as examples of improved safe working practices and transparency (see Check it out, examples of health and safety initiatives). 

 

Takala notes that some companies, like Ikea and Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), are cited as having better policies on worker health and safety. He notes that both are Swedish companies that are pushed by Swedish trade unions to check their suppliers carefully.

 

For example, Ikea sends delegations to check working conditions at suppliers before entering into contracts with them. He recommends that people should check if a company has a proper occupational, safety and health management system in place.  

 

In general, several studies have shown that countries with strong worker unions or representation have the best safety and health systems and conditions (link to human rights article). Takala says: “I believe this can be extended to social responsibility and sustainability.

 

In Australia researchers followed the share prices of companies that have proper occupational, safety and health (OSH) management systems and compared to those that did not. In 20 years there was a clear difference that the shareholders from companies with a proper OSH management system had higher return.”

 

Ocki opinion Often health and safety is portrayed as an unnecessary burden, both for employers and, in some cases, employees. There’s some exasperation about following lengthy risk assessments, training, and investment in personal protective equipment, when people feel they can just apply some common sense and get on with the job.    I remember a friend responsible for health and safety at her company telling me about a risk assessment she had to do of the staff kitchen, and the endless discussions about the risks and protocols for boiling the kettle!    But there is an extremely serious side to health and safety that gets lost in a lot of media coverage. I remember a few years back one UK tabloid ridiculing the EU for planning to bring in controls to stop hair dressers wearing high heels. In fact, the story was mostly wrong.   Hairdressers employee representatives were working with the European Commission to bring in a voluntary protocol to protect their members from many hazards, including the cocktail of hair dyes and treatment products that do make the profession a pretty dangerous one. Studies show incidence of cancer, as well as musculoskeletal problems, is higher among hairdressers compared to the general population.    As the data shows, health and safety is a matter of life and death.  If you work in a dangerous industry and feel your employer has strong protocols that set it ahead of others, do encourage them to talk about it to help move others up the scale. Conversely, you might be worried about your work conditions. Again, we’d be interested to hear from you, in confidence, if you prefer, and learn about your concerns. Get in touch via getinvolved@ocki.co.uk.   If you want to find out more about the products and services you buy, you can usually find some information on company websites and sustainability reports. If they don’t go into details, look up a customer email and send in a query. As Ocki grows, we plan to provide this type of service as a tool.

Check it out

• International Labor Organization Comparative Analysis of the Burden of Injury and Illness at Work in Selected Countries and Regions
• Decent Work, Safe Work from the ILO provides an overview of the most recent estimates of occupational and work-related accidents and diseases and what is being done to improve conditions
• Conspiracy of silence by Steven Collinge LinkedIn post of the need to protect chrome plating workers
• Examples of health and safety initiatives
• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work publishes online interactive risk assessment tools ( for example on leather and tanning)
• IndustriALL Global Union represents 50m miners, energy and manufacturing workers in 140 countries at the intergovernmental level. It publishes guidelines on various topics, including topics like “Silica and Sandblasting”.
• Adidas Group’s Health & Safety Guidelines
• Levi Strauss & Co. 2017. Safety and Health Guidelines
• NIKE. 2020. Code Leadership Standards.