Global Ohs
Global Ohs
Global Ohs
Occupational health and safety should have higher priority on the international
agenda, but improvement of OHS infrastructures and systematic preventive
approaches in industrializing countries are extremely slow. Although many
countries have developed laws and enforcement activities, working conditions for
the majority of the world's workers do not meet the minimum standards and
guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International
Labor Organization 11 (ILO).
1. Working Remotely
People have been allowed to work from home in large numbers for the first time
ever. Businesses are finding out that it might be more efficient and profitable to
have people work from home. In 2021 and beyond, we can expect to see a
migration to jobs that allow working from home at least part of the time.
This will bring new challenges to health and safety practitioners as the home is
not necessarily a regulated workplace. The employer must adapt their support
systems to ensure that employees working from home are safe, such as
ergonomically safe workspaces.
2. Mental Health
With people working remotely, we see the loss of social interactions and the loss
of the feeling of being connected to workplaces. This is given rise to more
psychological hazards rather than physical ones.
Psychological safety is still fairly new, but establishing a psychologically safe
work experience will become more of a focus for companies in the coming year.
With more employees working remotely, there are many more opportunities for
misunderstandings and for conflict to arise. Mental health is closely linked to
psychologically safe workplaces, and companies must consider their approach
to remote performance management.
3. Psychological safety
In talking about psychological safety, and one often thinks of the toxic workplace.
This is not a well defined term and generally means that harassment and
workplace violence are simply rampant within the workplace.