The fourth avenue of influence of the WHO Healthy Workplace Framework: The potential of responsible business practices in promoting workers’ health

Preventing the ‘shift of consequences to society’ is clearly an ethical principle. Thinking in terms of “respecting rights”, especially respecting fundamental human and labour rights is another ethical principle of growing business relevance (ILO, 2009). Companies are increasingly acknowledging that they have to cope with the consequences of their actions thereof. Since each year 2.2 million workers are deprived of the right to life by occupational accidents and work-related diseases (ILO, 2005), enterprises are therefore increasingly being expected not only to meet legal requirements but also ‘go beyond the law’ by acting responsibly to address such problems by creating healthier workplaces.     While a number of tools exist for use at the enterprise level most focus on specific hazards, industries or sectors, no comprehensive “blueprint” for good practice exists (EU-OSHA, 2004). To provide companies with such a ‘blueprint’, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the basis of the Global Plan of Action on Workers’ Health, in April 2010, launched the Global Framework for Healthy Workplaces. In identifying common denominators across all regions, it aims to provide global guidance on how to create a healthy workplace.     This paper explains the 4th avenue of the WHO healthy workplaces framework and presents the link between responsible business practices (more specifically enterprise internal responsibility) and occupational health and safety (OHS). Using examples from the literature and good practice case studies it identifies the key stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities for the promotion of workers' health. It explains how enterprise internal responsibility (EIR) can be used to promote workers' health and suggests indicators for benchmarking a EIR approach to OHS at the enterprise level. Lastly it demonstrates the benefits of using a comprehensive approach at the organisational level to reduce the health impact of hazardous, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions.