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Appendix B: Human Rights Standards on Workers’ Health and Safety, Workers’ Compensation

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

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Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Article 26

All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Article 3

The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the present Covenant.

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Article 7

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in particular:

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(b) Safe and healthy working conditions;

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(d) Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays.

Article 9

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to social security, including social insurance.

Article 12

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:

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(b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;

(c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases;

(d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

ILO Convention No. 121: Employment Injury Benefits Convention (1964)

Article 4

1. National legislation concerning employment injury benefits shall protect all employees, including apprentices, in the public and private sectors, including co-operatives, and, in respect of the death of the breadwinner, prescribed categories of beneficiaries.

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Article 6

The contingencies covered shall include the following where due to an employment injury:

(a) a morbid condition;

(b) incapacity for work resulting from such a condition and involving suspension of earnings, as defined by national legislation;

(c) total loss of earning capacity or partial loss thereof in excess of a prescribed degree, likely to be permanent, or corresponding loss of faculty; and

(d) the loss of support suffered as the result of the death of the breadwinner by prescribed categories of beneficiaries.

Article 9

1. Each Member shall secure to the persons protected, subject to prescribed conditions, the provision of the following benefits:

(a) medical care and allied benefits in respect of a morbid condition;

(b) cash benefits in respect of the contingencies specified in Article 6, clauses (b), (c) and (d).

2. Eligibility for benefits may not be made subject to the length of employment, to the duration of insurance or to the payment of contributions: Provided that a period of exposure may be prescribed for occupational diseases.

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Article 23

1. Every claimant shall have a right of appeal in the case of refusal of the benefit or complaint as to its quality or quantity.

2. Where in the application of this Convention a government department responsible to a legislature is entrusted with the administration of medical care, the right of appeal provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article may be replaced by a right to have a complaint concerning the refusal of medical care or the quality of the care received investigated by the appropriate authority.

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Article 25

Each Member shall accept general responsibility for the due provision of the benefits provided in compliance with this Convention and shall take all measures required for this purpose.

Article 26

1. Each Member shall, under prescribed conditions—

(a) take measures to prevent industrial accidents and occupational diseases;

(b) provide rehabilitation services which are designed to prepare a disabled person wherever possible for the resumption of his previous activity, or, if this is not possible, the most suitable alternative gainful activity, having regard to his aptitudes and capacity; and

(c) take measures to further the placement of disabled persons in suitable employment.

Article 27

Each Member shall within its territory assure to non-nationals equality of treatment with its own nationals as regards employment injury benefits.

ILO Convention No. 130: Medical Care and Sickness Benefits (1969)

Article 7

The contingencies covered shall include—

(a) need for medical care of a curative nature and, under prescribed conditions, need for medical care of a preventive nature;

(b) incapacity for work resulting from sickness and involving suspension of earnings, as defined by national legislation.

Article 8

Each Member shall secure to the persons protected, subject to prescribed conditions, the provision of medical care of a curative or preventive nature in respect of the contingency referred to in subparagraph (a) of Article 7.

Article 9

The medical care referred to in Article 8 shall be afforded with a view to maintaining, restoring or improving the health of the person protected and his ability to work and to attend to his personal needs.

ILO Convention No. 155: Occupational Safety and Health Convention (1981)

Article 4

1. Each Member shall, in the light of national conditions and practice, and in consultation with the most representative organisations of employers and workers, formulate, implement and periodically review a coherent national policy on occupational safety, occupational health and the working environment.

2. The aim of the policy shall be to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with or occurring in the course of work, by minimising, so far as is reasonably practicable, the causes of hazards inherent in the working environment.

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Article 9

1. The enforcement of laws and regulations concerning occupational safety and health and the working environment shall be secured by an adequate and appropriate system of inspection.

2. The enforcement system shall provide for adequate penalties for violations of the laws and regulations.

ILO Protocol 155 Protocol to the Occupational Safety and Health Convention (2002)

Article 2

The competent authority shall, by laws or regulations or any other method consistent with national conditions and practice, and in consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers, establish and periodically review requirements and procedures for:

(a) the recording of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and, as appropriate, dangerous occurrences, commuting accidents and suspected cases of occupational diseases; and

(b) the notification of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and, as appropriate, dangerous occurrences, commuting accidents and suspected cases of occupational diseases.

ILO Convention No. 161: Occupational Health Services (1985)

Article 5

Without prejudice to the responsibility of each employer for the health and safety of the workers in his employment, and with due regard to the necessity for the workers to participate in matters of occupational health and safety, occupational health services shall have such of the following functions as are adequate and appropriate to the occupational risks of the undertaking:

(a) identification and assessment of the risks from health hazards in the workplace;

(b) surveillance of the factors in the working environment and working practices which may affect workers’ health, including sanitary installations, canteens and housing where these facilities are provided by the employer;

(c) advice on planning and organisation of work, including the design of workplaces, on the choice, maintenance and condition of machinery and other equipment and on substances used in work;

(d) participation in the development of programmes for the improvement of working practices as well as testing and evaluation of health aspects of new equipment;

(e) advice on occupational health, safety and hygiene and on ergonomics and individual and collective protective equipment;

(f) surveillance of workers’ health in relation to work;

(g) promoting the adaptation of work to the worker;

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Article 13

All workers shall be informed of health hazards involved in their work.

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Article 15

Occupational health services shall be informed of occurrences of ill health amongst workers and absence from work for health reasons, in order to be able to identify whether there is any relation between the reasons for ill health or absence and any health hazards which may be present at the workplace. Personnel providing occupational health services shall not be required by the employer to verify the reasons for absence from work.

United States Commitments in North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation

The United States shall ensure that its labor laws and regulations provide for high labor standards, consistent with high quality and productivity workplaces, and shall continue to strive to improve those standards in that light.

The United States shall promote compliance with and effectively enforce its labor law through appropriate government action.

The objectives of this Agreement are to . . . promote, to the maximum extent possible, the labor principles set out in Annex I:

  • prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses: prescribing and implementing standards to minimize the causes of occupational injuries and illnesses;
  • compensation in cases of occupational injuries and illnesses: the establishment of a system providing benefits and compensation to workers or their dependents in cases of occupational injuries, accidents or fatalities arising out of, linked with or occurring in the course of employment.


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