Enhancing workers’ safety and health is a shared priority of the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA) and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). Through a dedicated taskforce of experts and with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the two ministries have drafted and published on 4 October 2020 a […]

Manal Azzi, Senior Specialist, Occupational Safety and Health
Violence and harassment is a persistent and pernicious issue in the world of work.
It transcends national boundaries, socioeconomic conditions, occupational sectors and working arrangements. It can manifest itself between co-workers, managers and subordinates, or between workers and their clients or the public, threatening the safety and health of all those subjected to it.
Violence and harassment takes different and shifting forms, not just physical or sexual. Psychological harassment, in particular, can be insidious and abusive in the most subtle of ways, and the mental toll it takes can lead at times to suicide.
The negative impact on workers’ well-being also affects businesses, contributing to absences from work and increased staff turnover, related to fear, illness and injury. These changes imply significant costs for enterprises, and can also damage productivity and performance.
During the current public health crisis, violence and harassment has appeared to increase. The unprecedented restrictions imposed on people during the pandemic have exacerbated stress levels. In some cases, this has led to violence and harassment being directed against essential personnel, healthcare workers and others on the pandemic frontlines.
© Nenad Stojkovic
There have been reports of doctors in Wuhan, China, being beaten and threatened in overcrowded hospitals. Essential workers in grocery shops have been subjected to violence and harassment when those stores ran out of supplies. More recently, a security guard in the United States was killed attempting to enforce a policy of wearing face masks in a store.
There has never been a more important time to recognize and address the causes and manifestations of work-related violence and harassment. A new ILO report, Safe and healthy working environments free from violence and harassment, does just that. It examines the scope of violence and harassment in the world of work and looks at existing occupational safety and health frameworks, initiatives and areas of action for preventing and addressing workplace psychosocial risks, including better Occupational Safety and Health management systems and training.
Last year, at the Centenary International Labour Conference, the ILO’s 187 member States adopted the groundbreaking Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190) and accompanying Recommendation (No. 206). In doing this, they defined a global commitment to eliminating this scourge.
However, such an overarching commitment needs to be backed by grassroots action. Systems, cultures and individuals that perpetuate such harassment or allow it to continue need to be called out and corrected. We all want to build a ‘better normal’, post-COVID. Workplaces free from violence and harassment should be part of that equation.

Even before the term COVID-19 had entered our vocabulary, burnout, stress and anxiety were significant issues in the workplace. With the pandemic, things have become much worse. In recent months many workers have felt helpless in the face of the profound changes they have experienced.

That’s why it’s so important to talk about mental health clearly and openly.

Teleworking has become the new normal. It has brought new stresses on workers, as they find themselves isolated or juggling family and professional responsibilities and experiencing blurred lines between their work life and personal life, while working from home. The phenomenon has been so sudden and so massive that no teleworking rules provide an adequate protection in this new workspace.

© Aleksandr Safonov – Dreamstime.com

Frontline workers, such as health care and emergency workers but also those involved in the production of essential goods, in delivery and transportation, or in ensuring the security and safety of the population, are also facing many stressful situations as a result of the pandemic.

These past few months they have suffered Increased workloads, longer working hours, with almost no rest and with the constant fear of being infected at work and passing the virus to family, friends.

Many have also been physically attacked. One of several disturbing stories I’ve heard about was of a grocery shop owner in Pakistan who was beaten with sticks by customers over the shortage of flour in his store.

All this has deeply affected workers’ mental health and wellbeing.

On top of that, many are worried about losing their jobs. Mass layoffs are affecting all sectors of the economy. With unemployment at the highest level since the Great Depression it’s no wonder we all feel uncertain about the future.

Faced with this incredible level of uncertainty, workers may experience mood swings, low motivation, exhaustion, anxiety, depression, burnout and even suicidal thoughts. A range of physical reactions can also occur, such as digestive problems, changes to appetite and weight, dermatological reactions, fatigue, cardio-vascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, headaches or other unexplained aches and pains. It can also lead to an increased use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs as a way of coping.

© KB Mpofu / ILO

If not appropriately assessed and managed, these psychosocial risks can trigger or deepen distress and turn into real mental health problems.

To protect the well-being of workers during these times of crisis and change, the ILO has published a new guide for employees, employers and managers – “Managing work-related psychosocial risks during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

It contains ten areas for action in the workplace, both in times of lockdown and during the return to work.

The guide includes advice on how to organize the physical environment in the workplace, including layout and points of exposure to hazardous agents; how to assess the workload and work assignments in the specific context of COVID-19; how to deal with violence and harassment; and how strong and effective leadership can have a positive impact on employees.

It also tells workers how to protect themselves from unfair dismissal in situations where they refuse to work for fear that their life or health could be endangered.

Living through this pandemic is tough. Many of us have not been in this situation before. We have no rules or experience or role models to turn to. That’s why having guidelines and talking about mental health in the workplace is vital, in order to break the taboo.

Liliam Marrero, General Secretary of UNFETRAH-FENAMUTRA

Personally, COVID-19 has impacted me very badly. I have been a domestic worker and care-giver all my life. For more than seven years I have taken care of a 95-year-old woman in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. But now I am in quarantine at my house with no salary. My employer terminated me without payment because she can’t pay me.

I know that the impact of COVID-19 on domestic workers in the Dominican Republic has been pretty traumatic.

From the moment I wake up I listen to the messages from our members – their needs, pains and suffering. We communicate with our members through our WhatsApp groups. As a union leader my day-to-day workload has tripled because the needs and demands from members have increased. Our responsibilities towards them have expanded to support their health conditions and basic needs, like food and care. We have mobilized support from other organizations and churches. I have arranged for the union’s Executive Committee members to deliver food, soap, hand sanitizer and toothpaste for the kids, to a neighbourhood where many domestic workers live.

My first fear is for those who might be infected but don’t have the possibility to get a medical test. The COVID-19 test is expensive, more than $DR 5,000 (USD$86). That is roughly half the monthly salary of a domestic worker here. While domestic workers were eventually allowed to receive some income support through a government programme called “Quedate en casa”, my union estimates that only 40 per cent of domestic workers have received it. Hence, my fear is that domestic workers will be left on their own.

Papuan domestic worker © A. Mirza / ILO

A second fear is about the financial challenges the domestic workers’ families and kids are facing. I get phone calls every day from our members telling me that they don’t have enough food. On top of this they cannot go out to work or look for a new job, since many employers do not want domestic workers to come into their houses.

These worries are growing every day because soon they will have neither food nor savings.

While my union work is hard, our commitment now is stronger. We cannot let our members become sick with COVID-19 because most likely they will not be diagnosed and receive medical treatment. Our strategy is prevention and information on how to take care of ourselves.

We also must continue to advocate for social protection. We were doing such great work to get social protection for our sector and starting to see results, but now all that has stopped.

Here in Dominican Republic, the government has ratified ILO Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers. But COVID-19 has exposed the needs our sector has. To make sure domestic workers never face this situation again, we need laws that will implement the rights and protections that Convention No. 189 grants us. We want to be given the labour rights and protections that other workers have.

The trade union Union Nacional FENAMUTRA de Trabajadoras del Hogar, represents 1,200 domestic workers in the Dominican Republic, including Haitian migrant domestic workers.

Fadllil Kaafi manages the web seminars from his home due to the lockdown Thursdays have become an important day for Fadllil Kaafi, 27 years old, since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia in February 2020. The youngest member of the Indonesian Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Council (DK3N) under the Ministry of Manpower has been managing and organizing a weekly online interactive talkshow on issues related to OSH and COVID-19 every Thursday. The interactive talkshow titled “Hangout Online with DK3N” or also known as GO DK3N has been livestreamed since end of March, reaching out to young Indonesians. The participation of Indonesian youth in taking necessary steps to protect themselves and their families, support their communities and prevent the spread of the outbreak is crucial. About half of the 130 million population is under the age of 30.“When the outbreak just started, together with senior members of DK3N, we were thinking out loud what we could do to help mitigating the spread of the COVID-19,” said Fadllil. “What was the best way to reach out to young people and empower them? Of course, social media.”Engaging young people to prevent the spread of COVID-19 Fadllil shared his works in promoting OSH for young people at the SafeYouth@Work tripartite results and sustainable workshop at the ILO’s International Training Center in Turin, Italy OSH is not a new issue for Fadllil. It was his university major when he got selected to attend the ILO’s SafeYouth@Work Congress during the XXI World Congress on Safety and Health at Work in Singapore in 2017 along with 124 other youth champions from 29 countries around the world. As an OSH youth champion, he has been active raising youth awareness on the issue of safety and health at work, including through an online OSH platform and a game board OSHNopoly. During the question and answer session, they were enthusiasts and stayed until the end of the session. Our hard work and days of working late really paid off.” Fadllil Kaafi When he started to work at DK3N last January 2020, he launched an initiative using digital platforms and social media to engage young people on the issue of safety and health at work.“I was nervous because this was also the first initiative from DK3N to engage young people. The organization was considered a formal governmental institution that mostly work with companies, unions, government institutions, experts and so forth,” he said.On the day of the first interactive talkshow, the responses were beyond his expectation. More than 170 young participants registered with more than 300 views. “During the question and answer session, they were enthusiasts and stayed until the end of the session. Our hard work and days of working late really paid off,” told Fadllil who has been managing and organizing the talkshows from his home due to the lockdown. Posters of web seminars, including the World OSH Day seminar Since then, the interactive talkshows live every Thursday, presenting various speakers from OSH experts and safety and health officers. The topics raised also varies from myths and facts of COVID-19, practical information about disinfectant and sterilization as well as the roles of youth in the COVID-19 pandemic. The talkshow also focussed on how to work effectively and safely in the construction sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the construction sector employs more than 8 million workers, a large proportion of whom are young workers.After four weeks, GO DK3N has reached about 3000 viewers. And the number is increasingRecognizing the important role of youth “We need more young people involved in OSH related issues and be part of the organization like DK3N. Young people’s inspirational vision can bring innovative ideas on how to better promote OSH and reach out to wider audiences using technology, particularly during a crisis like this,” said Dr Ghazmahadi, Director of OSH Inspection of the Ministry of Manpower. Young people’s inspirational vision can bring innovative ideas on how to better promote OSH and reach out to wider audiences using technology, particularly during a crisis like this.” Dr Ghazmahadi, Director of OSH Inspection of the Ministry of Manpower He added that the involvement of young people could further encourage other youth to apply OSH practices from an early age. “As a result, they will have a good OSH awareness when entering the world of work and, in turn, can promote the culture of prevention at the workplace.” Information and knowledge are key to eliminate the COVID-19 crisis. Thanks to Fadllil work more young people protect themselves and their families, and contribute to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.” Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia Similarly Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia, appraised the commitment shown by Fadlil as one of the ILO’s OSH youth champions to consistently promoting OSH related issues to Indonesian young people and the public at large.“Information and knowledge are key to eliminate the COVID-19 crisis. Thanks to Fadllil work more young people protect themselves and their families, and contribute to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.,” she stated.Meanwhile, in the midst of his weekly programme, Fadllil who is now finishing his graduate study has a bigger goal: “I just hope that culture of prevention will be part of youth’s daily culture and OSH is part of our every day’s routines as we tend to take actions only after bad incidents or accidents occur,” he concluded.

Corinne Vargha, Director, ILO International Labour Standards Department, and Alette van Leur, Director, ILO Sectoral Policies Department

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented situation worldwide. To slow the spread of the disease and lessen its impact, governments around the globe have restricted travel and closed borders. Numerous ports and airports have shut, ships denied entry and planes grounded.About 90 per cent of global trade is moved by maritime transport thanks to the work of the world’s two million seafarers. In addition, commercial fishing is a major source of the world’s food. Many seafarers are on board for extended periods of time so to avoid fatigue, crews need to change on a regular basis. This involves some 100,000 seafarers every month. However, because of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, around 90,000 seafarers are currently stuck on board cruise ships without passengers and sometimes even without pay. A similar number have been forced to stay on-board commercial ships for much longer than their planned period of service. According to claims received by the ILO, numerous seafarers in need of immediate medical care ashore have not been allowed to disembark at many ports around the world. Seafarers and fishers on board are effectively stranded. Meanwhile those waiting to return to sea have often lost their source of income. © International Maritime Organization The ILO is calling on governments to adopt without delay all possible measures to facilitate crew changes and the repatriation of seafarers and fishers, while taking steps to minimize the risk of contagion. The protection of seafarers’ and fishers’ safety and health must remain a priority during the pandemic.The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, has proved to be a strong and practical instrument that has supported both seafarers and ship owners during this pandemic.As seafarers and ship owners are looking to the Convention for protection the ILO has therefore issued an Information note providing advice on its implementation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also issued a sectoral brief on COVID-19 and maritime & fishing. The ILO is also joining forces with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) to develop and implement a global coordinated response to the problems created by the outbreak of COVID-19 in the maritime sector.By Corinne Vargha, Director, ILO International Labour Standards Department and Alette van Leur, Director, ILO Sectoral Policies Department

Lode Godderis, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Belgium
We need to be aware of the long-term consequences on the health of all workers. One can expect a drop out of personnel, not only due to infections with COVID-19, but also due to stress, frustration and isolation.
Big health inequities due to pandemic and economic recession are to be expected. For white coat workers, it will be mainly the mental health toll as a result of the high work load during the crisis. For white collar workers, their mental health will instead suffer from the effects of isolation and quarantine. Finally, for blue collar workers, job insecurity and loss of income could lead to mental health issues.
However, it is possible to turn the tide. If we reflect on previous pandemics followed by an economic recession it becomes clear that countries that invest in social protection, support programs and provide sufficient employment opportunities can mitigate the mental health crisis that follows a pandemic.
The overworked white coat workers will need time to recover from this period at the same time that healthcare services will be pushing for a return to normal operational levels. For people who worked remotely from home during the crisis, it will be important for them to mentally prepare to return to work. This group of people might be wary about returning to work, fearing an increased risk of infection but also uncertain about the future of their job. The final group of workers concerns a large population of people that have already lost their job, are working reduced hours or are facing severe cuts in their wages.
Nathan Laine / Hans Lucas AFP
Recessions typically exacerbate pre-existing health inequities and have a larger impact on the health of vulnerable disadvantaged groups, such as people with disabilities and diseases and the unemployed. For these workers, we must take extra supportive measures to ensure these populations can resume their roles in society and avoid severe financial or mental health consequences.
So far, pandemic planning has not sufficiently addressed these underlying inequalities and social determinants. However, if we can take advantage of the extraordinary wave of solidarity that we are experiencing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of the economic recession might have an unexpected positive impact on our health. This cannot happen without appropriate measures to avoid health inequities.
Governments should develop plans to reduce the gaps in disease burdens both nationally as well as internationally. Efforts should be mainly focussed on the lower social class workers, where measures can yield larger reductions in diseases. International collaboration is also necessary to support low- and lower-middle-income countries in which a large proportion of the citizens are poor.
The presence or absence of supportive policies that target social inequities will dictate the course to financial and mental health security following the COVID-19 crisis. This means that despite a recession, the creation or maintenance of safe jobs will ultimately minimize the impact on health of the workers post-corona.
By Lode Godderis, Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Belgium

This is an extract of an article commissioned to mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
See here for the full blog and the contributions of other Occupational and Safety and Health Experts: