United Nations Tweeted That Every Workplace Should Have Zero Tolerance Policy

A workplace environment needs to be pleasant and safe, for every employee that is working there irrespective of their gender. Promoting workplace safety policies and ensuring their regulation is a part of business owners’ and management systems’ jobs. The United Nations tweeted on the occasion of World Day For Safety And Health At Work, that every workplace must have a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment & all forms of violence, including verbal & physical abuse. The day promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. It is an awareness-raising campaign intended to focus international attention on the magnitude of the problem and on how promoting and creating a safety and health culture can help reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen that having a strong Occupational Safety and Health(OSH) system, which includes meaningful participation of governments, employers, workers, public health actors, and all relevant parties at the national and enterprise level, has been crucial in protecting working environments and safeguarding the safety and health of workers. At the workplace level, a strong OSH culture is one in which the right to a safe and healthy working environment is valued and promoted by both management and workers. A positive OSH culture is built on inclusion, through the meaningful involvement of all parties in the ongoing improvement of safety and health at work. In a workplace with a strong OSH culture, workers feel comfortable raising concerns about possible OSH risks or hazards in the workplace and management is proactive in collaborating with workers to find appropriate, effective, and sustainable solutions. This requires open communication and dialogue built on trust and mutual respect.

The employers are responsible for ensuring that the working environment is safe and healthy. And workers are responsible to work safely and to protect themselves and not endanger others, to know our rights and to participate in the implementation of preventive measures.

Emerging risks at work
New and emerging occupational risks may be caused by technical innovation or by social or organizational change, such as:

• New technologies and production processes, e.g. nanotechnology, biotechnology
• New working conditions, e.g. higher workloads, work intensification from downsizing, poor conditions associated with migration for work, jobs in the informal economy
• Emerging forms of employment, e.g. self-employment, outsourcing, temporary contracts

Over To You:
It has been learned from previous crises that employers may play a critical role in preventing and controlling outbreaks. Adequate workplace safety and health measures can help to control the disease’s spread while also safeguarding workers and society as a whole.