Skip to content

Countdown to Samoa Commonwealth meeting begins

Date posted
07 October 2024
Type
Opinion
Author
Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher
Estimated reading time
3 minute read

Chief Executive Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher and another 300 invitees attended a reception with the King and Queen at St James’s Palace in London on 02 October. Vanessa shares her experience of briefly introducing herself and IOSH to His Majesty King Charles.

This occasion marked the start of our countdown to IOSH attending The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (or CHOGM) in Samoa, two weeks from now.

On Monday 21 October IOSH President-Elect Kelly Nicoll, Head of Strategic Engagement Alan Stevens and Strategic Engagement Manager Marcel Le Roux begin a packed schedule. They will attend meetings to advocate for good occupational safety and health across 56 Commonwealth member states. These represent approximately one third of the world’s population – 2.7 billion people. IOSH has members in 38 of the 56 member states.

These meetings happen only every two years, each time in a different Commonwealth state. It’s IOSH second attendance since becoming an Accredited Organisation (AO) to the Commonwealth in the ‘Professional and Civil Society Organisations’ category in November 2020.

Being at CHOGM signifies for IOSH a tremendous opportunity to engage and influence. It offers direct access to heads of government and state, foreign ministers and finance ministers. It also gives us the chance to meet with the director-generals of the most influential UN agencies and chief executives from some of the most powerful corporations in the world.

While there, Kelly, Alan and Marcel will:

  • network and raise awareness of the occupational safety and health profession, IOSH, and our policy positions among the Commonwealth delegates
  • participate in the four Commonwealth fora, ie Women’s, People’s, Youth and Business
  • represent IOSH at the Business Forum Roundtables – as a key partner of CWEIC, the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, leading and supporting round table discussions on global standards, SMEs and economic growth, and skills migration and labour market dynamics
  • showcase the four projects we’re supporting to mitigate occupational safety and health risks among female workers in parts of Ghana and Kenya, and how other global partners are aligned with these
  • meet representatives of large businesses from the Commonwealth
  • attend Ministerial meetings and roundtables with, for instance, Foreign Ministers 
  • meet other Accredited Organisations and their delegations.

We will also co-host side events with partners such as the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network, Commonwealth Trade Union Group and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative on:

  • Gender Based Violence – presenting IOSH’s stance and policy positions, and
  • the Right to OSH – focusing on ILO conventions 155 and 187, explaining why it is important for countries to ratify the conventions and put in place national OSH policy frameworks.

This is just the latest IOSH engagement with The Commonwealth. IOSH has developed and consistently supported activities including three webinars on ‘Empowering YOUth’ between April and September. We’ll share more news from Samoa while we’re there.

Last updated: 28 October 2024

Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher

Job role
Chief Executive
Company
IOSH
  • IOSH’s impact 2023-24
  • Research call on key OSH areas
  • Flying the flag for IOSH