When the US Congress enacted the country's Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1971, its aim was to ensure the safety of workers and workplaces across the United States. Accordingly, workers should be provided by employers with a place of employment free from recognised hazards to safety and health, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, noise pollution, mechanical threats or unsanitary conditions. Drawing on this basic definition, occupational safety and health (OSH) management is an investment in the real sense of the term. However, this fact is still misunderstood or not well-applied in some contexts, and OSH expenditures are often still regarded as a burden by entrepreneurs, authorities and sometimes even by representatives of employees. But recent economic impact studies have proven that investment in prevention through OSH is synonymous with investing in the development of an enterprise in order to attain long-term profit-making that enhances strategic direction, from competitiveness and productivity to market access. This type of investment is ultimately concerned with generating long-term profits that can be expressed in the viability of the entity itself. Most studies converge on the generated return on investment expected from occupational risks prevention. On average, the return is 2.2, meaning that for each dollar invested, the company earns 2.2 dollars in return, and this applies to whatever sector of activity or size of business. Additionally, the return on investment can even be higher, in sectors with high incidence, such as construction, and in small and medium-sized enterprises. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has always worked in line with its core mandate of promoting jobs and protecting workers worldwide. As a result, it has endorsed the execution of an OSH strategy across its offices around the world involving stakeholders and constituents ranging from governments to employers and employee representatives and with the support of international financial institutions. Within the framework of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which falls on 28 April each year and promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases worldwide, the ILO Cairo Office is celebrating the successful implementation of its OSH strategy from a macroeconomic perspective and the generalisation of this strategy to a diverse range of constituents. With regard to Egypt, the implementation of an OSH management system was challenging at first because it was mandatory to put in place an effective policy and programme for occupational risk prevention at both the national and enterprise levels. The ingredients for a successful recipe included a participatory approach through social dialogue, previously limited, in order to identify priorities in different set-ups and sectors. Assessment was carried out via a systematic approach according to an OSH management system allowing periodic follow-up of measures undertaken and the implementation of corrective actions if necessary. To fulfil this strategy, initiatives were executed relying on two pillars: Building the capacities of stakeholders, including those of employers, employees and government inspectors; and providing technical support for the implementation of an occupational risks prevention systemic approach. The ILO Cairo Office undertook several training sessions, such as those intended to help strengthen labour rights in Egypt's free zones. Working with the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), it executed a capacity building programme for OSH managers. Workshops were held in Alexandria, 10 Ramadan City and FEI headquarters and trained 114 business representatives. Other measures that should help to strengthen the national OSH system are currently being examined, including the revision of regulatory provisions on compensation for injuries arising from occupational injuries and diseases. Given the specificity of the Egyptian context, the ILO initiated OSH management that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the informal economy based on a prevention policy for occupational risks. The introduction of OSH in these two sectors that are potential drivers for sustainable economic growth is an important tool not only to ensure the viability of the business units concerned, but also to minimise the social consequences of occupational injuries and diseases. A suitable national OSH management system would not take too much time to be inculcated in the Egyptian context, especially given the truth of the old adage that “prevention is better than cure.” The writer is the director of the International Labour Organisation Cairo Office.
