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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 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.

Woman and man working with a robot arm

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

  1. Rights: workers’ safety, health and wellbeing are both human rights and vital components of sustainable development.
  2. Prevention: injury and ill-health at work are always preventable.
  3. Commitment: good occupational safety, health and wellbeing is built upon a combination of policy, commitment and leadership.
  4. Collaboration: collaborative approaches involving diverse stakeholders, including workers, create more resilient and comprehensive safety, health and wellbeing systems.
  5. Accountability: accountability and enforcement create a deterrent against poor safety, health and wellbeing practices at work.
  6. Evidence and risk: risk-led and evidence-driven approaches facilitate proactive, proportionate responses to existing and future OSH issues.
  7. Knowledge and information: free and open exchange of trustworthy information creates shared knowledge and understanding of occupational safety, health and wellbeing.
  8. Learning and improvement: timely, accurate data can be used to inform action, support learning and make improvements to safety, health and wellbeing.
  9. Rehabilitation: compensatory and rehabilitative systems support the sustainable return of workers after injury or ill health.
  10. Equity, diversity and inclusion: diversity of perspectives and a respect for 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.

  1. Rights: ongoing political consensus is required around the idea that safety, health and wellbeing are a fundamental right for all workers and a core component of sustainable development.
  2. Prevention: prevention should be the guiding principle for all occupational safety, health and wellbeing efforts.
  3. Commitment: a clear national policy and an effective legal framework formalise commitment to occupational safety, health and wellbeing.
  4. Collaboration: all government agencies have a role in creating and maintaining safe and healthy workplaces.
  5. Accountability: all individuals must be held accountable by an enforcement body for their decisions, actions and adherence to health and safety law.
  6. Evidence and risk: risk-led and evidence-driven approaches facilitate proactive, proportionate responses to existing and future OSH issues.
  7. Knowledge and information: broad knowledge and understanding of safety, health and wellbeing issues can develop through reporting, consultation and the provision of free, openly available and trustworthy information.
  8. Learning and improvement: collected national statistics on physical and psychological safety and health outcomes should inform future actions.
  9. Rehabilitation: compensation and rehabilitation systems support the sustainable return of workers who have been absent because of work-related injury and/or ill health.
  10. Equity, diversity and inclusion: embedding diversity, equity and inclusion for all workers strengthens efforts to improve safety, health and wellbeing at work.
  1. Rights: respect for the safety, health and wellbeing rights of workers is a fundamental responsibility in all business operations.
  2. Prevention: preventing injuries and ill health should be the guiding principle for all occupational safety, health and wellbeing  efforts.
  3. Commitment: leadership at all levels helps promote the value of good safety, health and wellbeing and facilitates both legal compliance and a broader culture of care.
  4. Collaboration: proactive and open collaboration between different organisational functions support resilient and comprehensive OSH management systems.
  5. Accountability: Assigning clear responsibility holds individuals to account for meeting safety, health and wellbeing objectives.
  6. Evidence and risk: proportionate responses to existing and future OSH risks to all workers require the assessment and advice of competent people.
  7. Knowledge and information: knowledge about occupational safety, health and wellbeing issues should be sought and shared proactively, collaboratively and without prejudice.
  8. Learning and improvement: the adaptation and improvement of occupational safety, health and wellbeing systems is built on a commitment to ongoing organisational learning and improvement.
  9. 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.
  10. Equity, diversity and inclusion: embedding diversity, equity and inclusion for all workers strengthens efforts to improve safety, health and wellbeing at work.
  1. Rights: workers should be aware of and assert their own rights and entitlements in relation to safety, health and wellbeing.
  2. Prevention: work-related injury and illness are preventable.
  3. Commitment: workers should commit to taking care of their own work-related safety, health and wellbeing and anyone else’s who may be affected by their actions.
  4. Collaboration: safety, health and wellbeing performance is driven by workers’ participation and collaboration with their peers and management.
  5. Accountability: workers should know, understand and act according to their responsibilities to themselves and to others.
  6. Evidence and risk: workers have a duty to implement risk controls faithfully and report when they become ineffective, or where they perceive a new risk emerging.
  7. Knowledge and information: workers sharing knowledge and information makes a vital contribution to the development of safe and healthy workplaces, systems and cultures.
  8. Learning and improvement: workers support continuous improvement efforts through both personal learning and organisational learning activities.
  9. Rehabilitation: workers’ active participation in developing and implementing rehabilitation processes for work-related absence helps to support a sustainable return to work.
  10. Equity, diversity and inclusion: 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

  1. Identifying the need for principles

    2023/24

    Recognised the need to articulate what ‘good OSH’ is and how to measure it. 

  2. First principles

    2024

    Drafted suggested OSH principles to aid consultation and discussion.

  3. Collaboration

    April 2024

    Held more than a dozen events with a range of stakeholders, including members, to propose universal elements of good OSH.

  4. Check and improve principles

    April 2024–March 2025

    Developed the principles based on feedback from different stakeholders.

  5. 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. 

  6. Finalise and launch principles

    March 2025

    Amended principles based on latest feedback, and produced initial guidance and a report on the consultation journey.

  7. Calls to action

    From April 2025

    Ask governments and regulators, businesses and duty-holders, and workers to implement these principles.

  8. Continue sharing and adding resources

    From April 2025

    Create guidance and content to support the implementation of the principles, including OSH metrics development.

Share your feedback

We welcome your thoughts on these principles for good OSH.

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