IOSH
The road to safe and healthy work
Principles of good occupational safety and health
We have developed principles of good occupational safety, health and wellbeing in consultation with our members, partner organisations, businesses and other stakeholders. These help to define what good occupational safety and health (OSH) looks like. They are designed to support our work to drive and promote a safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental principle and right at work.
What is good OSH?
A safe and healthy working environment is now recognised as a fundamental principle and right at work. We must act to make this a reality for all workers.
As the global Chartered body for OSH professionals, we have a clear role in this. Our mission is to drive action from everyone that can influence and prioritise OSH around the world.
Our 10 guiding principles
- Prevention: injury and ill-health at work is preventable.
- Worker rights: workers' safety and health are embedded in rights frameworks and are vital components of sustainable development.
- Accountability: accountability and enforcement create a deterrent against poor safety, health and wellbeing practices at work and help to build sustainable practices.
- Commitment: good occupational safety, health and wellbeing is built upon a combination of leadership, commitment and policy.
- Collaboration: collaborative approaches involving all appropriate stakeholders, including workers and representatives, create more resilient and comprehensive safety, health and wellbeing systems.
- Evidence-driven risk mitigation: risk-led and evidence-driven approaches facilitate proactive, proportionate responses to existing and future occupational safety and health issues.
- Knowledge provision: free and open exchange of trustworthy information creates shared knowledge and understanding of occupational safety, health and wellbeing.
- Learning and improvement: timely, accurate and relevant data can be used to inform action, support learning and make improvements to safety, health and wellbeing.
- Rehabilitation: compensatory, protective and rehabilitative systems protect workers after injury or ill health and support their sustainable return.
- Ethical values: recognising the diversity of occupational safety and health needs and respecting difference ensures more equitable systems that protect all workers.
Features and responsibilities
The tabs below describe the features of each guiding principle and key responsibilities relevant to governments and regulators, businesses and duty holders, and workers.
- Prevention: prevention should be the guiding principle for all occupational safety, health and wellbeing efforts.
- Worker rights: ongoing consensus is required to realise the fact that safety and health are fundamental rights for all workers and a core component of sustainable development.
- Accountability: all agencies must be held accountable by an enforcement body for their decisions, actions and adherence to health and safety law.
- Commitment: the collaborative design and implementation of a national policy and an effective legal framework formalises commitment to occupational safety, health and wellbeing.
- Collaboration: all government agencies and social partners have a role to play in creating and maintaining safe and healthy workplaces.
- Evidence-driven risk mitigation: risk-led and evidence-driven approaches facilitate proactive, proportionate responses to existing and future occupational safety and health issues.
- Knowledge provision: broad knowledge and understanding of safety, health and wellbeing issues is developed through reporting, consultation and the provision of free, openly available and trustworthy information.
- Learning and improvement: national statistics on physical and psychological safety and health outcomes can and should be used to inform future actions.
- Rehabilitation: compensation and rehabilitation systems support the sustainable return of workers who have been absent because of work-related injury and/or ill health.
- Ethical values: embedding ethical values strengthens efforts to improve the safety, health and wellbeing of all workers.
- Prevention: preventing injuries and ill health is a fundamental driver of all occupational safety, health and wellbeing efforts.
- Worker rights: realising the safety and health rights of workers and their representatives is a fundamental responsibility across all operations.
- Accountability: assigning clear responsibility for all holds leaders, duty holders and individuals to account for their duty to meet safety, health and wellbeing objectives.
- Commitment: leadership at all levels helps promote the value of good safety, health and wellbeing and facilitates both legal compliance and a broader culture.
- Collaboration: proactive and open collaboration between different organisational functions and with external bodies supports resilient and comprehensive OSH management systems.
- Evidence-driven risk mitigation: proportionate responses to existing and future OSH risks to all workers require the assessment and advice of competent people.
- Knowledge provision: knowledge about occupational safety, health and wellbeing issues should be sought and shared proactively, collaboratively and without prejudice.
- Learning and improvement: the adaptation and improvement of occupational safety, health and wellbeing systems are built on ongoing organisational learning and improvement.
- Rehabilitation: a sustainable return to work after work-related injury and/or ill health absence should be the aim of organisational rehabilitation systems and processes.
- Ethical values: embedding ethical values strengthens efforts to improve the safety, health and wellbeing of all workers.
- Prevention: workers should possess the understanding that work-related injury and illness is preventable.
- Worker rights: workers should be made aware of and be able to assert their own rights in relation to safety, health and wellbeing.
- Accountability: workers should be supported to understand and act according to their responsibilities to themselves and to others.
- Commitment: workers should be able to take care of their own work-related safety, health and wellbeing and that of anyone else who may be affected by their actions.
- Collaboration: safety, health and wellbeing performance is driven by workers’ participation and collaboration with peers, management and workers' organisations.
- Evidence-driven risk mitigation: workers should co-operate with risk controls and should be able to report when they become ineffective, or where they perceive a new risk emerging.
- Knowledge provision: workers sharing and receiving knowledge and information makes a vital contribution to the development of safe and healthy workplaces, systems and cultures.
- Learning and improvement: workers support the continuous improvement of occupational safety, health and wellbeing systems through personal and organisational learning activities.
- Rehabilitation: workers’ active participation in developing and implementing rehabilitation processes for work-related absence helps to support a sustainable return to work.
- Ethical values: workers should recognise the diversity of others and take responsibility for treating them with respect and without prejudice.
Using the principles
These principles will guide our actions. They also offer benchmarks for determining good safety, health and wellbeing performance and implementing workplace health and safety rights.
And they will help governments and businesses fulfil their obligation to provide safe and healthy working environments through foundational national frameworks to worker protection elements.
How we developed the principles
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Identifying the need for principles
2023/24
Recognised the need to articulate what ‘good OSH’ is and how to measure it.
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First principles
2024
Drafted suggested OSH principles to aid consultation and discussion.
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Collaboration
April 2024
Held more than a dozen events with a range of stakeholders, including members, to propose universal elements of good OSH.
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Check and improve principles
April 2024–March 2025
Developed the principles based on feedback from different stakeholders.
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Consultation
February–March 2025
Held consultations with appropriate bodies to ensure principles are relevant, reflect the current world of work, and in line with other standards, frameworks and legislation.
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Finalise and launch principles
March 2025
Amended principles based on latest feedback, and produced initial guidance and a report on the consultation journey.
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Calls to action
From April 2025
Ask governments and regulators, businesses and duty-holders, and workers to implement these principles.
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Continue sharing and adding resources
From April 2025
Create guidance and content to support the implementation of the principles, including OSH metrics development.
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