OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
FOR INFORMAL WORKERS
“Social Protection in Africa:
Sharing Experiences on the Informal Economy”
EC & AU Commission Capacity Building Workshop
10-11 March 2011, Nairobi, Kenya.
Masuma Mamdani, Senior Researcher, Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania.
Francie Lund, WIEGO (SP-OHS Programme Director) and Senior Research Associate, Univ. of KwaZulu, Durban, SA.
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WIEGO
• A global research and advocacy network, working in
some 40 countries, promoting and advancing the
interests of poorer informal workers, especially women
• Informal work is normal and not residual
• Does NOT represent member-based organisations
(MBOs), works with, builds & strengthens networks of
informal worker organisations (MBOs).
• Gives MBOs and informal workers visibility, voice, and
validity (recognition)
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WIEGO
PROGRAMME AREAS
• Social Protection, Urban Policies, Global Trade - 3
content programmes
• Statistics Prog: fundamental to greater visibility and
recognition, changed the way labour force data is
collected in many countries, inc. 14 Afr countries
• Organization & Representation: Advocacy wing in
direct contact with ‘worker org’, Sharing & Learning
(workshops, policy dialogue, regional meetings, papers,
articles, development and dissemination of accessible
materials)
EXPANDED DEFINITION OF
THE INFORMAL ECONOMY (IE)
•
IE - the diversified set of economic activities, enterprises, and workers that are
not regulated or protected by the state.
•
IE (or informal employment) includes :
– Self-employment in informal enterprises:
 employers
 own account operators
 unpaid contributing family workers
–

Wage employment in informal jobs:
 non-standard employees of informal enterprises
 non-standard employees of formal enterprises
 casual or day labourers
 industrial outworkers (also called homeworkers)
IE inside and outside informal enterprises (whether carried
out for formal sector enterprises or households)
WIEGO promoted this expanded definition in collaboration with the ILO and the International Expert Group on Informal Sector Statistics
(the Delhi Group): it was endorsed by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2003
SEGMENTED LABOR MARKETS/
EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURES
What do we mean by ‘segmentation’?
• Constraints exist which prevent individuals from moving into better
employment opportunities (or improving the quality of existing
employment)
What causes ‘segmentation’?
• Discrimination, social norms, unequal wealth/assets, unpaid care
responsibilities, lack of credit, lack of public goods/services, etc
Why does ‘segmentation’ matter?
• Reinforces existing patterns of poverty and social exclusion.
• Issue of equity: gender, racial, caste segmentation.
• Issue of basic rights and the choices available to individuals.
• In summary: a social justice issue
SEGMENTATION OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY:
BY SEX, AVERAGE EARNINGS, AND POVERTY RISK
Poverty Risk
Low
Average Earnings
Segmentation by Sex
High
Employers
Predominantly Men
Informal Wage
Workers: “Regular”
Own Account Operators
Men and Women
Informal Wage Workers: Casual
Industrial Outworkers/Homeworkers
Predominantly
Women
High
Low
Unpaid Family Workers
WORKING POOR IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY
In Unregulated Factories:
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garment makers
shoe makers
In Small Workshops:
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scrap metal recyclers
shoe makers
weavers
garment makers and embroiderers
paper-bag makers
On Streets or In Open Spaces:
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street vendors
push-cart vendors
garbage collectors
roadside barbers
construction workers
In Fields, Pastures, and Forests:
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small farmers
agricultural labourers
shepherds
forest gatherers
At Home:
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garment workers
embroiderers
shoemakers
artisans or craft producers
assemblers of electronic parts
EMPLOYMENT, INFORMALITY, POVERTY
•
Employment - the most important way in which the benefits of growth can be
shared.
•
Most of the world’s poor – especially in developing countries – are working.
•
Informal rather than formal employment is on the rise.
•
The vast majority of the working poor – those who earn less than US$ 1 per
day - earn their living in the informal economy where:
– average earnings are low
– risks are high
Poverty reduction is not possible without
a)
Increasing formal employment opportunities AND
b)
Increasing the assets and earnings AND
reducing the risks of those who work in the informal economy.
POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORM:
THROUGH DIALOGUE AND NEGOTIATION
• Tripartite dialogues and negotiations
• Multi-partite initiatives (involving multiple relevant
stakeholders –e.g. Fair Trade and Ethical Trade, the Global
Compact)
• Multi-partite reform processes
• Process should involve all relevant key stakeholders government (national & local), private sector, civil society
(trade unions + MBOs of working poor + NGOs working
on labor and employment issues, employer associations)
Social Protection: The Context
• Vast majority of poor who work informally:
– precarious & high risk exposure
– have no social security coverage to protect against short term
risks or life-time contingencies
– cannot afford private insurance, have little access to social
insurance
• Poorer people live and work in poor communities, where it
is hard to insure against risk
• In developing countries:
– state systems of social insurance do not target informal workers,
wage employed or self-employed
– state systems of social assistance for poorer and vulnerable
people do not target able bodied people of working age
DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR
DIFFERENT SECTORS
Domestic workers:
Street and market vendors:
• more potential for
integrating into
existing labour policy
and legislation in line
with ‘extend social
protection’ campaign
• Focus on local government (not
national government) policies
• Encourage infrastructural service
delivery to reduce risk AND
increase productivity AND protect
both informal workers and the
public
DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR
DIFFERENT SECTORS
Industrial outworkers:
• Encourage infrastructural
delivery to private homes
• Extend employer/ owner-ofcapital insurance to include
private homes
• Integrate social protection
for informal workers into
trade agreements/ codes of
conduct
Waste-pickers:
• negotiate with
municipalities/private sector
for provision of safety
equipment and reduction of
hazards at the place of work
• provide access for workers
to local government/private
sector social provision –
health services and health
insurance, training courses,
educational bursaries
OHS FOR INFORMAL WORKERS
• How to re-think OHS as a more inclusive discipline, for
different types of informal workers?
• What institutional reform would be necessary – at
national and local government level - to reach more
workers?
• How can informal workers be integrated in inclusive and
sustainable platforms for negotiation and policy
development?
OHS PROGRAMME DESIGN
Countries
• Africa :
• Asia:
• Latin America:
Ghana, Tanzania
Ahmedabad and Pune
Brazil, Peru
Occupational groups, including
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street vendors
indigenous caterers
homebased workers
informal recycling workers
domestic workers
agricultural workers
seaweed farmers
RESEARCH
• Understanding the Context
The informal economy in the country
Institutional mapping and analysis of OHS
• Participatory research on risks and hazards
with MBOs
Focus groups discussions, mobility mapping, time and
motion studies, household/ enterprise interviews,
photography, health checklists
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TANZANIA MAINLAND: DATA ON
OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES
• Available data - hugely underestimated
• Reporting is limited to the workers covered by the
system - those largely working in the formal sector
(around a tenth of workplaces are registered)
• Environmental hazards are widespread - especially in
the informal sector and in SMEs where the majority of
the work force is employed.
• Workers - often unaware about OHS issues and remain
vulnerable to occupational injuries
TANZANIA: OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVED
STATISTICS ON OCCUPATIONAL INJURY AND
DISEASE FOR INFORMAL WORKERS
• Strengthening routine collection at district/council
level?
• Targeted (and nested) questions in periodic surveys
(HBS, LFS, DHS, census) at national level?
• Coordination of ongoing data collection activities?
• Strengthening the role of Municipalities or Councils at
the Local Government (LG) level in the management
and implementation of OHS
• Improved statistics => improved understanding of
OHS complexity => informed policies
TANZANIA SOCIAL PROTECTION FRAMEWORK
Many protective laws, policies, programmes & projects,
Involving multiple state and non-state actors
Scattered, ill-coordinated and the general impact of
these has been limited.
It is therefore not just about building new systems and
new programmes. It is also about assessing the
effectiveness or rather weaknesses of existing
systems and programmes.
GHANA: POOR OPERATORS LACK INCENTIVE TO
MAINTAIN CLEAN WORKING ENVIRONMENTS
• Indigenous Caterers Association, Accra: survey
of 20 chop bars (informal eating establishments)
Bar operators on average spent around US$
1,142 annually on water, refuse removal, use of
toilets, cleaning equipment, employee health
certificates & fire fighting equipment
How to make OHS more affordable for informal
businesses?
GHANA & TANZANIA:
INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
• Lack of horizontal coordination between local
government departments that have jurisdiction over
various aspects of health and safety
• Not enough fit between between LG and national govt
• Lack of institutionalised communication between LG
and informal workers
• Poor dissemination of public information (laws,
policies, regulations, by-laws…)
• Insufficient regulation of privatised services
INTERVENTIONS: PREVENTION OF RISKS,
IMPROVING WORK CONDITIONS
• Participatory health screenings on morbidity
and risk
• Development of prototypes of improved
equipment
• Assessment of impact of new/ modified
equipment
• Exchanging good practices between
countries; and between national, regional and
international organisations & networks of
informal workers
Women in Informal
Employment:
Globalizing and Organizing
www.wiego.org
(with OHS microsite)
www.inclusivecities.org
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