IOSH in action

It shouldn’t matter where you work or what you do. You should expect to go home unharmed. Sadly, this is not the case for many – especially women in emerging economies in the informal sector. That's why we're working with our global partners and members to improve conditions for women in four hard-to-reach communities, with the ultimate aim of saving lives.

Supporting workers in Ghana and Kenya

We are supporting four projects – shea butter farmers, textile workers, fishmonger women and quarry scavengers. We know we need to move quickly. Very sadly, two of the women we spoke to during our initial discovery have died because of dangers they faced at work. This brings home the human cost of poor working conditions on workers’ physical and mental health.

We know better ways of working will protect and save lives, as well as help increase productivity, product value and earning potential. We also know there is more to do and we’re documenting progress.

Our first steps

Identify projects

We decided to support four projects where we believe we can help workers at risk of chronic harm.
Carry out risk assessments

IOSH staff, members and local experts did risk assessments for each community.
Agree interventions

We established the interventions needed to mitigate occupational safety and health (OSH) risks.
Galvanise support

With our partners, we've been gathering support from those who can fund and action change.

Who we’ve been working with

Commonwealth Business Women Africa
Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services, Kenya
Lana Empire Africa
Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Ghana
Workplace Safety Professionals Association of Kenya

Special thanks to

Chris at Lumiere films
Film Etoile

Move from informal to formal economy

Working alongside ministerial and labour-focused partners, we have supported the transition of these communities from the informal to formal economy. They are now working as recognised co-operatives.

Being in the formal economy brings better protection for workers through government legislation, regulatory frameworks and extended societal support. This provides better trade infrastructure and procedures, resulting in accelerated trade.

Watch the documentaries

We first visited these communities in 2023 and have been documenting progress. Our first set of films include an overview and a spotlight on each of the projects. New films coming soon will showcase latest developments.

Play the films

Our projects

Shea butter farmers

Shea butter production forms the basis of work for the women in North Ghana. The end product is a high-value range of oils, used as an ingredient in cooking and in the beauty industry. But the women retain little of its value. Many are unfit to work by the time they reach their 40s because of heat exposure and musculoskeletal disorders – but continue to do so with significant injury or illness.

Shea butter farmers
Textile workers

The highly skilled textile weavers of North Ghana work as individual home workers, with few – if any – occupational safety and health safeguards in place. They produce highly desirable products yet make very little money. And musculoskeletal disorders are common, damaging young people’s bodies in their physically formative years.

Textile workers
Fishmonger women

These women sit in the middle of a value chain in Kenya. They buy fish from men, process it and then sell it on to end consumers via male agents. By handling the fish, they can suffer significant workplace harm, such as fish spike injuries to hands and feet. Debts mount up when they can't work, leaving them to make very difficult decisions to survive.

Fishmonger women
Quarry scavengers

The Masai women of East Kenya are experiencing extremely tough lives. They had to leave their traditional industries because of a three-year drought, and the only outlet for them is to scavenge for rocks in the waste of the quarries. For a 10-hour rock sifting day, they earn at most $1. The work is tough and labour intensive and death in the quarries is common.

Quarry scavengers

Duncan Spencer CFIOSH

Job role: Head of Advice and Practice; •
Company: IOSH

“There is a very real human angle to this. Two of the individuals we interviewed for this project are now no longer with us because of the dangers they faced on a daily basis.”

Why these projects? Why now?

Our strategy, Activate 2028, is all about action – to deliver a safe and healthy world of work for everyone.

We work with our strategic partners to identify how we can help in-country. We work at global level, through national leaders and local institutions to deliver high-impact projects on the ground. Our video explains all about this 'golden thread'.

As well as supporting these communities directly, the projects also offer an opportunity to better understand compounding risk factors these workers face. These include the informal economy, gender equality, agricultural work, garment industries and remote rural locations. This understanding will strengthen and inform our policy positions, so we can continue to address the workplace issues that contribute to ill-health, injury and death.

This work also contributes to five of the United Nations' Social Sustainability Goals.