ASEAN strengthens occupational safety and health standards in the region

Focal points of the ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network (ASEAN-OSHNET) wrapped up a two-day workshop in Bali today to plan for the five-year priorities and collaborative projects on safety and health in the workplace.

The workshop reviewed the accomplishments of its 2016-2020 Work Plan and identified areas for further collaboration. The work plan was projected to be 100% completed by 2020 and its results would be tracked using the ASEAN OSH Scorecard.

The focal points identified key thematic areas of cooperation in strengthening OSH capacities, standards and best practices, occupational health in the workplace including HIV prevention and control, OSH in the future of work including green jobs, and OSH promotion and recognition at the workplace. They also developed an indicative list of 20 projects for implementation in 2021-2025. The ASEAN-OSHNET Awards for companies that excel in maintaining high safety and health standards in the workplace will continue biennially.

Technical support and sharing of expertise were explored with International Labour Organization and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries  to support the ASEAN-OSHNET Work Plan implementation in 2021-2025. Selected ASEAN Dialogue Partners and external parties were also identified as potential collaborators.

Further, the focal points expressed interest to broaden cooperation with other likeminded regional networks such as EU Information Agency for Occupational Safety and Health; Baltic Sea Network on Occupational Health and Safety; Latin America Occupational Safety and Health Network; and Inter-African Association for the Prevention of Occupational Risks.

The draft ASEAN-OSHNET Work Plan 2021-2025 will continue to be discussed after the Workshop for finalisation and adoption by the 26th ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting in mid-2020.