Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

Manual 3:HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENTFOR WORKER HS&E REPRESENTATIVESIt is important that if we demand that employers meet their obligations,that workers observe appropriate obligations placed upon them. In manyworkplaces, refusal by workers to observe health, safety and environmentregulations may attract disciplinary action from the employer and legalsanction by the government.Self-employedworkersEqualopportunitiesand health,safety and theenvironmentTheenvironmentIn some countries, self-employed workers have duties to look after theirown HS&E and also to ensure that their work activities do not create HS&Eproblems for other persons and for the environment.Fairness, justice, equality and unity form the guiding principles of tradeunionism. The needs and experiences of members, whether permanent,temporary or casual workers, are influenced by many factors such as race,class, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, language anddisability. Members should be treated equally and their individual needsand problems responded to positively and objectively.It is part of the worker HS&E representative’s job to be sensitive to theseneeds and help promote equal opportunities at work, particularly inrelation to health, safety and the environment. Discrimination divides andit can cause ill health.Health and safety is often linked with the wider environment. For example,the agricultural worker often lives and works in the same environment, andfor her/him occupational health and general health are more closelyrelated than in the case of the factory worker. Agricultural work, and this isone of its most distinguishing characteristics, is carried out in a ruralenvironment where there is no clear-cut distinction between working andliving conditions. The many workers and their families who live where theywork face extra dangers. For example, exposure to pesticides and otheragrochemicals in water, air, contaminated soil and residues in the farmproduce they eat.As we have seen on page 63, hazards can also affect the environment andwider community.67 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers